Results of NFFC Rules Survey

[Greg Ambrosius]

Thanks to the 518 different NFFC owners who responded to our Rules Survey last week. We really did get good insight on the three rules changes we are considering for 2013. Here are the results of each one:

For question 1: The NFFC currently has two FAAB periods per week: A full FAAB on Wednesday night and a partial FAAB on Friday night. We are presenting two options for 2013, so please pick one:

• 77.3%/395 responders chose A (The current setup where we have two FAAB periods: full FAAB late Wednesday night and a second FAAB on Friday night for all remaining free agents)

• 22.7%/116 responders chose B (A change to Wednesday night FAAB for just the players involved in the Thursday Night Game and then FAAB for all remaining players on Friday night. No players who were cut on Wednesday could go into the Friday free agent pool)

For question 2: Would you like to see individual NFL players receive special teams points for punt and kickoff TD returns, along with rewarding the team Defense/Special Teams that produced the TD 6 points? In essence, a Special Teams would get 6 points AND the individual player would get 6 points for those NFFC owners.

• 51.8%/267 responders said yes

• 48.2%/228 responders said no

For question 3: The NFFC currently awards 6 points to QBs for each passing TD and -1 point for each Interception. Would you be in favor of increasing points for interceptions from -1 to -2?

• 55.0%/283 said yes

• 45.0%/232 said no

Here are our thoughts:

Question 1: We really wanted to get feedback from you folks on the current FAAB setup to see if 1) the current setup was working for you; and 2) to see if a better solution was out there. It seems from the posts on the message boards and the feedback from this survey that overwhelmingly NFFC owners have adjusted to the Wednesday full FAAB. We all know it's not ideal on Wednesday, but with the Thursday Night NFL Game every week, it's a situation everyone seems to be willing to live with. Nothing will change with FAAB next year, so thanks for the feedback.

Question 2: Last year when we ran this same question in our survey, 43.1% of respondents wanted the individual NFL player to also get points along with the D/ST, while 56.9% said NO. This year, almost 52% were in favor of both the player and the D/ST getting the 6 points for a return TD. It's not a big majority, but you can see the sway going in that direction. We will talk about this further, but Tom and I are leaning toward making this rule change and allowing the rare special teams TD to go to the individual player and to the D/ST.

Question 3: This is the second straight year that our NFFC owners have voted to change interceptions from -1 to -2. Last year, the results were 54.4%-45.6% in favor of this rule change and this year the total was 55%-45%. We decided not to change the rule last year, but even though it's a small change we do believe the time is right to penalize QBs more for INTs since we are giving 6 points per passing TD. This is likely a rule change we will make in 2013.

Thanks for the feedback all. We definitely will have some slight rules changes when it comes to teams qualifying for the Championship Round next year and providing a safety net to make sure all of the best teams from the 13-week regular season are included in the post-season race for the grand prizes. Last year with the help of this survey, we increased our Wild Card berths from the Top 10 percent overall in scoring to the Top 15 percent overall in total points through Week 13. We now believe even that might not be good enough for our Main Events. We can increase that to the Top 20 percent and still not raise the total number of teams in the Championship Rounds by very much. So we will continue to look at that and make those changes, while also making sure the third highest scoring teams in the Classic and Primetime aren't left out of the Championship Rounds even if they lose 3rd place due to a H2H team winning that portion of the league title.

I think all of these are good changes that make the contests even stronger and fairer for our customers.

[Jack_Bauer]

Greg,

Great stuff. A couple quick questions. Though one is in general and I suppose not for you specifically to answer.

-Can someone explain to me what the downside is to having the individual player (who returned a kick) also get credited for the TD that they actually scored? Other than "that isn't how it has always been" I am struggling to see why anyone would vote against that.

-Has any consideration been given to the second Faab run (lets call it the "emergency pick up faab") on Saturday rather than Friday night? The goal being to further protect NFFC owners from the unforeseen things that occasionally can happen that can leave a team/owner stymied with a zero in a lineup.

[Sandman62]

Regarding question #2 on kick/punt return TDs... will individual players also be penalized for fumbling on such plays?

And Jack, it already has been explained, whether or not you agree with it.

[Greg Ambrosius]

-Has any consideration been given to the second Faab run (lets call it the "emergency pick up faab") on Saturday rather than Friday night? The goal being to further protect NFFC owners from the unforeseen things that occasionally can happen that can leave a team/owner stymied with a zero in a lineup.

The second FAAB will remain on Friday night. We know a lot of owners watch the latest news reports before the FAAB deadline and putting it on Saturday would further disrupt the lives of our owners. At some point, there needs to be a cutoff time and news can still come out after that. Saturday night could be done to cover all bases, but I think it would make it tougher for many owners and still might not cover an unforeseen injury/accident after the deadline.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Regarding question #2 on kick/punt return TDs... will individual players also be penalized for fumbling on such plays?

I would think so. We're now rewarding and penalizing players who have the ball in their hands, right? So -1 for a fumble on special teams will have to be enforced.

[JETS SB]

Good stuff. I think question 1 is a no brainer since such a high majority wanted it to stay the same. I voted for a change, but I am ok with it staying as is.

Question 2 is interesting since the vote was so close. Personally it makes such a small difference, I think if we do it, there will be so few instances that it effects anyone, that making the change is the right thing to do... but I suppose that is your call and I believe that there were many who voted against it, only because they are comfortable in the current system and dont want to change anything.

Question 3 is also a good call since -2 for ints is what everyone coming from most other contests and fantasy leagues, is used to.

[ulbkumn]

Downside of player receiving points for return TD is that a player like David Wilson, Randell Cobb, and Darren Sproles willing likely be worth a 1st round pick next season.

[CALI CARTEL]

Downside of player receiving points for return TD is that a player like David Wilson, Randell Cobb, and Darren Sproles willing likely be worth a 1st round pick next season.

You vastly overestimate the impact of those KR/PR TD's, a MONSTER season is 5 of them, a big year is 2 or 3, it's not a huge impact on the overall rankings of players.

The only thing I don't like about it is the double dipping, when you say have David Wilson and the Giants DT both starting -- while all Passing TD are "double dippers", it's just not the same to me, I don't think that a Special Teams TD should be awarded 12 points (split between the Returner & DT).

I've played in leagues before with 4 PT Defensive TDs (you get 6 on all Turnover TD's anyways when you factor in the 2 pts for the turnover itself), if there's double dipping allowed on the Return TD's, could we possibly make all Defensive/Spec Team TD's 4 points? This would take a little sting out of these monster games like Seattle, while still awarding 6 to the Returners.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Surprised people want to make qb play more important than it is now here, considering it is already too important in many people eyes. Seems odd.

[kjduke]

Surprised people want to make qb play more important than it is now here, considering it is already too important in many people eyes. Seems odd.

You're right Chad. My guess is that some voters could've been thinking this will punish/reduce QB scoring, but the net impact will be creating a bigger gap in production between elite and common QBs. Makes the position even more important.