Know Your Scoring System

Regardless of which game or games you have picked to play, the ultimate goal is simple enough, kick the rest of the league's butts.

OK, so how do you go about doing that? Obviously, gathering knowledge about players and their teams is an important element. There certainly are enough sources of information out there, pre-season publications, web sites, radio and TV shows dedicated to Fantasy Football, and of course, the office know-it-all who is always willing to tell you why your entire lineup stinks.

This information, while essential (except perhaps for the know-it-all) is not all important. It must be used in concert with an equally critical piece of data found within the rules. It's the description of the scoring system. The information contained here can make or break your season. If you want to win, you need to understand how you scoring system works.

Why is this so important? Well, because the scoring system determines the aspect of a player's performance that are of most value. It tells you not only which players are best at a certain position but also which positions are most important. Given that each provider sets their individual scoring format, player and positional rankings can vary significantly from game to game.

Let's look at an example. In last year's ESPN leagues, KC wide receiver/kick returner Daunte Hall was a mediocre choice at best, right? Right....except for the ESPN Yardage Only leagues. There he ranked as the third best offensive player in the NFL, just ahead of Peyton Manning.

Wait a minute, Daunte Hall ahead of Peyton Manning? How can this be? Simple, the ESPN Yardage Only scoring system doesn't award points for passing or rushing TDs and does count kickoff and punt return yards on an equal basis with rushing and receiving yards. Under that format all of Manning's TDs didn't earn a single point while all of Hall's receiving and return yards did.

Not convinced yet? How about another example? One of the most popular new games on the scene last year was Best Buy's entry into the Fantasy Football world. Free to play and offering great prizes, the game allowed you to pick a new lineup every week. This was a salary cap game in which every player or team cost a certain amount. The trick is to get the best performers while staying at or below a $240 fantasy salary cap.

One of the roster slots in the Best Buy game is for a team defense. So how do you determine which team to pick? Start by looking at the scoring system. Best Buy awarded points as follows:

• 3 points per sack, interception, or fumble recovery
• 10 points per defensive TD
• 2 points per sack

Wait a minute, there's nothing here about points allowed or yards given up. Why, the other team could score 70 points and gain 900 yards and it doesn't matter. That's right, doesn't matter.

A defense that pitches a shutout and holds the opposition to under 100 yards but gets not turnovers, defensive TDs or sacks will be clobbered by one that allows tons of points and tons of yards but gets the turnovers, sacks, and maybe a defensive TD or two.

Now, let's spend a minute looking at scorings systems in general. Each game obviously carries with it some type of scoring system to translate player performances into what we all care about, "Points". Unfortunately, there are about as many scoring systems out there as there are games. Generally though they will fall into one of three categories:

1. The game providers default performance system
2. A customized league performance system
3. A salary cap system

Default performance scoring systems are set by the game provider based on what they feel offers the most realistic version of the game. There are many similarities between formats, but the subtleties in each system still provide valuable information. Two of the most important offensive categories are yards gained and TDs. Most formats try to equalize these categories between rushing/receiving yards and passing yards by requiring more passing yards to earn a point.

Some common rushing formats are:

• WCOFF, AOL: 20 passing yards vs 10 rushing/receiving yards per point (a 20/10 system)
• ESPN, CBS/NFL, Best Buy: 25 passing yards vs 10 rushing/receiving yards per point (a 25/10 system)
• Yahoo!: 50 passing yards vs 20 rushing/receiving yards per point (same as a 25/10)
• Fox/Sporting News: 1 point per passing yard, 2 points per rushing/receiving yard (again same as a 25/10)

For TDs:

• WCOFF, ESPN, AOL: 4 points for a passing TD vs 6 points for a rushing/receiving TD (a 2/3 system)
• Yahoo!, CBS/NFL: 6 points for passing, rushing, or receiving TDs (a 1/1 system)
• Fox/Sporting News: 60 points for passing, rushing, or receiving TDs (a 1/1 system)
• Best Buy: 5 points per passing TD vs 10 points per rushing or receiving TD (a 1/2 system)

What does this mean?

• For yards gained, the lower the first number in the ratio (that is 20/10 vs 25/10) the more important a passing QB is in the system, that is less passing yards required to earn a point. Conversely, the higher the first number, the greater the value of a running QB.
• For TDs, the closer the ratio is to 1 (i.e. 1/1 is better than 2/3 which in turn is better than 1/2) the more important the QB position, especially a passing QB. Conversely, a smaller ratio, deemphasizes the value of the QB position but does strongly favor the rushing QB such as a Vick or Culpepper.

Turning to custom performance scoring systems, things get a lot trickier. These are usually created by your league commissioner who, chances are either has no idea what he or she is doing, or knows exactly what he or she is doing based on who they plan to draft. In either case, you need to understand the impacts of their customizations.

During the 2003 season I was in a customized league where offensive players were awarded 1 point every time they carried the ball. Realizing the impact of this scoring option early on allowed me to stack my offense with ball carriers giving me a tremendous advantage and leading to an easily won league championship.

Why was this so important? Simple, the ball carrier (RB, QB, TE, WR) got a point just for touching the ball, even if they lost yardage. A running back who gained only 75 yards on 35 carries (42 points) would easily outdistance one with 175 yards on 12 carries (29 points). See the value of understanding the system?

Hopefully you can start to see how your scoring system will shape your lineup. In our next post we will examine just that, using your league rules and scoring system to form the best possible lineup.