Ask the Experts
Posted Aug. 11 at 08:50 PM
ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them:
Would you prefer an 18-game schedule with 2 preseason games, or the current 16-4 split?
JEFFREY KAMYS
I prefer the current setup, I think 18 regular season games starts to push the limit of what the human body can take. Certainly it would be more exciting to have an additional 2 weeks of real NFL games, but seriously if that were to happen, I think you would see shorter careers and more injuries. 4 and 16 works fine, I wouldn't change it.
Kamys is president of Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports. His company, via the web, offers player news, injury reports, cheat sheets, projections, weekly matchups, statistics, and a customized team tracker. Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports also e-mails preseason newsletters and reports throughout the season. For more info visit www.docstats.com or send email to webmaster@docstats.com.
LOUIS TRANQUILLI
I vote 2 and 18. The longer the season the more likelihood of the best fantasy football players rising to the top and reducing luck as much as possible.
Tranquilli is the founder and the primary "brains" (if you stretch it) of BFDFANTASYfootball.com. BFD is about delivering the information players want, not fluff, just opinions that matter to fantasy football players. Lou has worked with NFL players and gives a unique perspective because of it.
SCOTT SACHS
Thanks for allowing me a soapbox to vent my spleen. I would like to see a 1, 3, 16 solution. Obviously, we would have 16 games in a 17 week season keeping the byes (hate 'em, but oh well). The first week of preaseason would be a full-scale game-like scrimmage between regional rivals held in a major non-NFL city, i.e., Las Vegas, Columbus, Portland, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Albuquerque, Louisville, Hartford, Birmingham, etc. The two teams could even have a dual practice in the stadium before the scrimmage. Proceeds of all Week 1 preseason games would benefit NFL alumni like ex-players and coaches. The HOF Game in Canton, OH would be that week, too, ideally back to its original timeslot of Saturday afternoon at 3:30. The rest of the scrimmages would be Saturday early & later evenings, maybe some televised doubleheaders on the networks due to time differences. Weeks 2-4 of preseason, you would play games again. I would also mandate the NFL to NOT play preseason or regular season games in Canada, Europe, or Mexico ever again. The idea of playing outside our borders to grow the NFL's popularity has definitely "jumped the shark." The way American Football can continue to grow globally is with direct TV broadcast overseas and via the Internet, slickly packaged by the NFL and the networks. Growth will NOT be stimulated by putting teams in harm's way by traveling to a foreign land to play a game in front of 99% non-partisan curiosity seekers with no vested interest in the outcome--preseason or regular season. OK, I'm now off the soapbox, unless you want to discuss the moving of the umpires which will result in 25% more holding penalties, but that's another issue for another time, isn't it?
Scott Sachs is “The Coach,” at Perfect Season Fantasy Football, offering Live Talk & Advice from early August through the NFL Playoffs. The Coach has 22 years experience in a 24 team league, 19 years in playoffs with multiple Championships, including the league’s only Perfect Season! Free content and subscriber options at www.perfectseasonffb.com, or email questions or info requests to perfectseasonffbquestions@gmail.com.
IAN ALLAN
Looking back at the ‘70s, it’s amazing to me that they used to have six preseason games. Six. They had a 14-game regular season, and that would come after a marathon slate of exhibitions. (One of the highlight preseason games, recall, pitted the Super Bowl champions against a college all-star team — can you imagine that game occurring today?) But six games is far too many. They obviously don’t need four, either, because the regulars hardly play in the first and fourth games. It will switch to 18 and 2, and teams will be ready to go on opening day.
Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at the company's website, www.fantasyindex.com.
SAM HENDRICKS
Let’s be clear up front. This is all about greed. A longer regular season means more money for everyone. And from a fantasy football perspective I am just as greedy as the next person. I want 2 more real games. Sure it leads to more injuries which mean the best team may be the healthiest team not necessarily the best team. This could also lead to more players taking the last few games off. Some will say what about the records? 2,000 yards rushing -- no problem. 5,000 yards passing -- broken. But we said the same thing with the change from 14 to 16 games (in 1977) and the NFL changes rules so often the “halo” of the records is a little brittle anyway. A better question is what will the 18-game seasons mean to FF? More 16-team leagues with 15-game regular seasons or 14-team leagues with 13-game regular seasons and an increase to the semifinal and Super Bowl from 1 to 2 games each. Labor Day as the kickoff weekend; call me greedy and Vegas here I come.
Sam Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at his website, www.ffguidebook.com, at all major bookstores, and at www.amazon.com. He is a 20-year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF), National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall (out of 228 competitors) in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC).
MIKE NAZAREK
Selfishly speaking, I prefer the 16-game schedule since the staff and myself won't have to produce another two fantasy football weekly newsletters. Seriously, I believe the season is long enough as it
stands right now. Do we really want to be playing football in March? It's either that or start the season in August.
Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers an online rookie draft kit, preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, fantasy auction & regular drafting programs, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is the one and only four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached at miken@ffmastermind.com.
KEVIN PAYNE
I'd easily say 4 preseason and 16 regular season games without hesitation. In fact, I might go only two preseason games and 16 regular season games if given the choice. 18 regular season games is too many; the injuries would pile up and you'd see more teams throw (sit starters) for games between Weeks 16-18 to protect their players. Football is easily the most physical game on the planet and the extra resgular season games (could potentially be 22 to get the to Super Bowl) wouldn't give a team's best side versus another.
RotoWire.com is a fantasy sports news site that focuses on MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, auto racing (mostly NASCAR), golf, college football, college basketball and soccer. The web site features player news, draft kits, mock-draft software, in-season tools, feature stories and statistical data to help fantasy players in each sport. RotoWire hosts a three-hour daily radio show on Sirius-XM, XM 147, Sirius 211 11 AM - 2PM ET, has partnerships with Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, NFL.com and FoxSports, among others. To sign-up for a free-trial to RotoWire.com, go to RotoWire.com/trial..
RICK HAWES
This is an easy one for me. The "exhibition games" suck except for the second one where the starters play for about a half (in some cases) and the third one where the starters (sometimes) play into the third quarter. Other than that, the first and fourth games are dog-and-pony shows that rip off the fans' hard-earned money. I do have concerns that an 18-game regular season could result in more injuries, but when push comes to shove they should either reduce the preseason from four to two games, or make it so season-ticket holders don't have to purchase those worthless tickets as part of the overall package.
Hawes is the Managing Editor of NFL content at Fanball.com and OwnersEdge.com. These sites offer league management software, daily play fantasy games, up-to-date news, free and premium content, Live Advice, custom projections and cheat sheets, staff rankings, IDP analysis, and a vast array of fantasy tools to help you bring home the championship hardware. If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, you can join our NFFC High-Stakes football contest, listen to us on the Fanball Fantasy Drive show at Sirius (211) and XM (147), or pick up one of our six magazines, including the Pro Football Draft Preview, as well as five Fantasy Football publications. For more information send e-mail to rhawes@fanball.com.
CORY BONINI
Can I choose two preseason and 16 regular-season games? Given my available choices, I feel strongly about keeping the 16-game schedule intact. First of all, players are put through enough of a beating as it is. How does the NFL plan work out player compensation changes by adding two meaningful games to the schedule. Starters rarely play in the preseason, aside from the third contest. It opens the door for more injuries, compensation questions, play fatigue, a lessened level of late-season play (which includes the Super Bowl) and potential burnout by the fans. Players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever before - how battered will players become by Week 18? One of the unique, beautiful qualities of the NFL is its seasonal brevity. It also further disconnects today's game from the history of the NFL. Players will commonly top 2,000 rushing yards, for example. The standards for the Hall of Fame voting will have to change over time, and it seems to cheapen the overall sanctity of the game. Proponents of this modification will argue that changing to the current 16-game schedule in 1978 improved the game. It did, and 16 is the perfect number of games. Also, it screams greed by the NFL.
Since 1996, KFFL.com has been combining its award-winning news service with top-notch fantasy analysis. KFFL.com offers industry-leading services, including daily news, draft guides and in-season advice. Now 100 percent free, KFFL.com is your destination for fantasy baseball, football and NASCAR cheat sheets, tips, sleepers and much more. KFFL.com has won more than a dozen expert championships and was listed as "One of the 10 essential sports-related online destinations for fans, athletes and fantasy owners" by Time.com. KFFL.com has provided content to USA Today, Yahoo! Sports, FOXSports.com and many other quality organizations.
DAVID DOREY
I personally prefer the current 16 game schedule since I think it is pretty much perfect and hey – who wants to work that hard for two more weeks each year? Seriously though, shifting away from 16 to 18 games increases the chances that a player is injured by the end of the year when he is needed most by both fantasy owners and his NFL team. It also would erase the meaning of every NFL record over the last 32 years of 16 game schedules since there will be far more 1000 yard seasons, 4000 yard passers and someone will break 2000 rush AND receive yards with some regularity at least potentially. That all said, I am okay with it going to 18 games if it simply means NO LOCKOUT OR INTERUPTION NEXT YEAR!
Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.
ANDY RICHARDSON
Sometimes in negotiations you ask for something you know will be unpopular with the other side and you won't get it, in order to make something that you really want seem more palatable by comparison. I hope that's the case here; the owners won't get the 18-game season and know it, but maybe this will help them get a cap on rookie salaries. The season is plenty long enough as is.
Richardson has been a columnist and contributor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and web site for the past nine years. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.
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Posted by PAUL KUCHAR | Aug. 11 at 10:49 PM
How could any ff player not like two more real games? I guess if ff is your JOB you may be against it. But, if two more real games sounds bad to you, you should find another hobby! Nothing the NFL has talked about in the last ten years could be more fan-friendly than more of what we all supposedly love....real NFL games.
Posted by ANDY RICHARDSON | Aug. 12 at 12:13 AM
Actually, preseason games are as much work if not more. There are far more players to keep track of, like third~string running backs and such. An 18~2 split wouldn't mean more work, really.
Posted by David Nay | Aug. 12 at 12:34 AM
Would trhere be a running back alive at the end of 18 games..........
Posted by ADAM HOLTZ | Aug. 12 at 12:50 AM
I remember hearing one of the NFL "experts" on TV recently talking about the 18+2 schedule, and remarking that with such a schedule change, there would be a second bye-week added to the schedule, making for a 20-week regular season. It would reduce wear-and-tear from so many games back to back, and would allow a third "extra week" of regular season football games to be pumped into viewers homes - even more money to go around.
Posted by ANDY RICHARDSON | Aug. 12 at 01:21 AM
So... with a 20 week reg season, would week 1 be mid august....Or would the reg season run through the month of january? Either way, I see a downside weather-wise....
Posted by Moishe Steigmann | Aug. 12 at 01:49 AM
Many astute comments above which I need not repeat. I think we're missing an additional critical factor, though: MANY teams are realistically and/or statistically alive within the last two weeks of the season in a 16-game schedule. Add more games, and we dilute the number of in-it teams toward the end. The fewer the games, the important each one is. Why are NFL fans more passionate about each individual game than any other? Because each game matters MUCH more. Even adding two games, I believe, would significantly diminish the impact of any single game and the competitiveness of the last two weeks.
Posted by Chris Nash | Aug. 12 at 06:33 AM
STOP Changing Things!!! Keep the game in America! Keep it 16 weeks for regular Season! Quit trying to Dilute the Product!!!
Posted by BRIAN LASKIEWICZ | Aug. 12 at 08:01 AM
Player safety needs to be a concern regardless of which schedule prevails. Concussions have gained significant attention recently, and further advances in helmet design are probably necessary. As far as other types of injuries (ACL, etc.), some combination of rule tweaks and advances in equipment technology may help out. As far as 18 games, there is precedent to look at. The WFL employed a 20-game schedule in 1974 and had an 18-game season schedule for 1975 (not completed due to financial collapse). The USFL had an 18-game rregular season in 1983, 1984, and 1985, and had that format set up for 1986 before the infamous antitrust outcome. The CFL has gone with an 18-game regular season since about 1987. So as long as long as player safety can be addressed, it should be possible. In all of these examples, preseasons have been shorter than the current NFL 4 or 5 game format (which looks like madness given the risk of player injuries in games that do not even count). As far as scheduling goes, the NFL should also use this opportunity to come up with a more logical bye formula. Yes, bye weeks (around since 1990) can be annoying for football fans and fantasy leaguers, but given wear and tear, they will remain with us. Prior to the 1999 expansion Browns, the NFL favored a system that saw entire divisions off (with adjustments for 5th place teams). A 31-team NFL understandably brought about an unusual formula. But the existence of 4-team divisions since 2002 has made the bye week scheduling seem random or illogical since then, when having 1 or 2 entire divisions off would be easier to keep track of and create more fairness within each division. The NFL should definitely have 2 bye weeks in-season if there is an 18-game schedule for each team. The League should consider the idea of confining bye weeks to smaller stretches of time to balance out scheduling among teams. For example, under the current format, the entire AFC could be off in Week 8, the NFC in Week 9 (or vice versa, and for fantasy leaguers, those weks could be treated as a double-week game to avoid any bye problems). Under an 18-game, 20-week format, the season could accordingly be arranged into thirds: bye weeks around weeks 7-8 and 12-13). In these examples, there would be no instance of playoff games where 1 team is significantly better rested (bye week 10) than its opponent (bye week 4, for example). In conclusion, player safety needs to be a concern regardless. An 18-game season is reasonably possible. This schedule debate also provides the NFL with an opportunity to create a more logical and fair allocation of bye weeks.
Posted by JOHN MACHO | Aug. 16 at 01:56 AM
1. In hockey and baseball, there are too many games, so they don't mean as much. In football, there are too few games, so they mean too much. More real games mean the better teams will prevail. 2. A few more injuries will necessitate larger rosters (more jobs). Free agency has already ruined the identity and loyalty fans had for players. These guys make millions a year(too much), so let's spread it around a bit. 3. No way should ticket holders be forced to pay full price for practice games (preseason). 4. Many players are hurt in practice, or get hurt/incarcerated/suspended off the field. Making 2 preseason games into real games is not as significant as some are making it out to be. 5. As a fan, I can't get enough real football.