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Experts Poll: James Serra is on fire

Posted Jan. 26 at 07:50 AM

What a day for James Serra of First Place Sports Software. Earlier, he won the tight ends portion of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll competition; now he’s won the defensive section as well.

This one was close. Serra beat David Dorey by only 2 points – essentially nothing in a category where all 20 competitors scored over 30,000 points.

With the back-to-back category wins, Serra has moved to an overall lead of over 1,000 points. Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Sports), Chris Liss (Rotowire.com), Rick Hawes (Fanball) and Dorey are next in line. But we’re only halfway done grading, and we always save the most telling categories for last – quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.

Scoring is based on a complex formula that awards points for every selection by every expert at every position. For each guy, 120 picks are scored, with players weighted more heavily the higher they are ranked.

At the defense position, Serra won out in large part because he got it right with the Pennsylvania defenses. He was the only guy to rank the Eagles No. 1, and they were the top-scoring defense in this format. Serra also was one of only two experts to drop the Steelers down to 6th; most of the other experts ranked them first.

However you slice it, Serra is the leader for now.

Defenses are graded using the scoring system of 6 points for touchdowns (including special teams plays) and 2 points for every takeaway, sack and safety. The only controversial play was Robert Meachem’s fumble return for New Orleans after he stripped a defensive back following an interception. That type of TD was specifically not allowed in the rules laid out last May (though the Saints did receive 2 points for a takeaway on the play). Only one expert (Jeffrey Kamys) ranked the Saints in his top 20 anyway.

When the scoring is done for all six positions, the top 11 finishers will win spots in our Mock Draft league (with the No. 1 finisher getting to choose where he would like to select). That field should be set in a few days.

The Fantasy Index picks aren't included in these results. Out of fairness to the competition, we stay in the administrator role. (Most notably, our picks aren't locked into the same deadline, which usually is around May 20.) But if you plug in our magazine picks, which are printed in early June, we would have placed 3rd in this category, with 32,410 points. We'd be sitting at 3rd overall right now with 77,947 points.



FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL: DEFENSES

  Points  
  32,446  James Serra
  32,444  David Dorey
  32,332  Rick Hawes
  32,312  Louis Tranquilli
  32,264  Jeffrey Kamys
  32,172  Bob Henry
  32,140  Lenny Pappano
  32,136  Scott Pianowski
  32,014  Chris Liss
  32,010  Christopher Harris
  31,938  Alan Satterlee
  31,816  Michael Nazarek
  31,802  Sam Hendricks
  31,766  Pretzel May
  31,752  Colin Darlington
  31,742  Cory Bonini
  31,684  Kevin Marshall
  31,672  Bo Mitchell
  31,592  Nathan Zegura
  31,552  Scott Endsley



FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL: OVERALL (so far)
Includes kickers, tight ends and defenses:

  Points
  79,101  James Serra
  78,028  Scott Pianowski
  77,863  Chris Liss
  77,757  Rick Hawes
  77,235  David Dorey
  77,102  Pretzel May
  76,960  Alan Satterlee
  76,909  Christopher Harris
  76,617  Sam Hendricks
  76,586  Nathan Zegura
  76,570  Bob Henry
  76,506  Michael Nazarek
  76,215  Jeffrey Kamys
  76,208  Louis Tranquilli
  76,186  Lenny Pappano
  75,891  Kevin Marshall
  75,857  Colin Darlington
  75,726  Bo Mitchell
  75,471  Scott Endsley
  74,966  Cory Bonini


FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL: DEFENSE MULTIPILIER NUMBERS
Below are the 2009 stat totals for the 32 NFL teams for defensive production. They are ranked using the scoring system of 6 points for TDs and 2 points for each sack, safety and takeaway.

  Points  
  204  Philadelphia
  196  New Orleans
  180  Green Bay
  178  San Francisco
  164  Minnesota
  162  Arizona
  162  Denver
  156  Pittsburgh
  154  Miami
  152  Baltimore
  152  San Diego
  150  NY Jets
  146  Carolina
  146  Chicago
  144  Cleveland
  144  Dallas
  144  Tampa Bay
  142  Buffalo
  142  Cincinnati
  142  Houston
  142  Tennessee
  138  Indianapolis
  136  New England
  136  NY Giants
  132  Kansas City
  130  Atlanta
  120  Detroit
  120  Seattle
  114  Oakland
  114  Washington
  96  St. Louis
  78  Jacksonville


—Ian Allan


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