Current Rule: 1) A player gets -2 points for a fumble lost to the opponent; 2) A player earns +2 points for a fumble recovered from the opponent.
Rule Change: 1) A player gets -2 points for ANY fumble; 2) A player earns +2 for ANY fumble recovery
Rationale: Our current rules states that a player gets -2 points for a fumble lost to the opponent. However, this doesn’t account for the loss of yardage/down that the offense suffers when a player fumbles the ball. Even if the same team recovers the ball (this usually happens on offense, but you’ll see it on defense after a turnover, too), there is a cost to a fumble. Thus, the penalty for ALL fumbles, not just those lost to the opponent.
Things will mostly stay the same with the proposed rule change:
If a player fumbles and recovers his own fumble, the net change is 0 just like the current scoring system (-2 for the fumble, +2 for the recovery). Likewise, if the defense recovers the ball, it’s -2 for the offensive player and +2 for the defensive player just like the current scoring system.
The difference, of course, happens when a player fumbles the ball and it is recovered by another member of the same team. Under the new rules, the OTHER player is rewarded for being head’s-up enough to recover the fumble and saving the fumbler’s bacon. In that instance, the net scoring for the offense and defense is still 0 points, but the fumbler is punished and the head’s up guy is rewarded.
Examples:
1) Mark Sanchez drops back and fumbles after getting crushed by Dolphins rookie Dion Jordan. The fumble is recovered by a fat lineman.
Scoring: -2 for Sanchez, +2 for Jordan (forced fumble), +2 for the fat lineman.
2) Mark Sanchez drops back, but loses the football when he trips over his lineman’s feet. Chris Ivory swoops in and recovers the fumble.
Scoring: – 2 for Sanchez, +2 for Ivory.
3) Kyle Williams fumbles yet another punt return, but rather than losing it to the Giants and costing them a Super Bowl trip, the ball is recovered by LaMichael James, the Niners go to the Super Bowl, Alex Smith is crowned Super Bowl MVP and we still are only hearing about the “potential” of some dude named Kaepernick. (too soon?)
Scoring: -2 for Williams, +2 for James, +Career respect for Smith.
Cons: QB scoring is going to take a hit on this as most of the fumbles recovered by other offensive players will come at their hands (think botched snaps and hand-offs). Other players will occasionally suffer (most likely WRs and showboating CBs), but not to the extent of QBs. Of course, 7 of the top 10 scorers last year with QBs, so it won’t be horrible. Plus, good QBs don’t fumble as much as bad QBs.
Mechanism: We can do this now due to an update in the scoring options on MyFantasyLeague. Or past options were limited, but now we can implement these scoring options:
Fumbles = -2 points
Fumbles recoveries from opponent = 2 points
Number of own fumble recoveries = 2 points
This will take very little time to implement and can be ready to go at the start of the season.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.© 2013, Adam Franssen. All rights reserved.
I dont see the point and will likely vote no unless something changes my mind. I just dont like it nor think its necessary. Its going to add unforeseen issues that you didnt include in your examples, like players reaching for 1st downs and losing the ball out of bounds. So I’m supposed to be happy when a 10 yard play is suddenly -1 points? Or, my RB dives over the pile from 3rd and goal from the 1, fumbles the ball, and some OL recovers it for a TD. It looks like he crossed the plane, but the call on the field was a fumble. Not enough evidence on replay to overturn, but the OL recovered anyway, so the replay crew just leaves the call as is. So not only did my RB not get the TD on the offensive TD, he gets -2 points? No thanks.
But I will abstain from voting for the moment.
Fumbles seem to occur a lot more on passing plays than on running plays. I can see a lot of botched snaps that are recovered by the RB or OL really hurting the QBs. The scoring would affect us all equally, I suppose, but I can see this just leading to a more frustrating viewing experience. I bet a lot of the recoveries would go to lineman, which would help precisely nobody. Of course, if this rule was in effect last year, then Danny Woodhead’s fumble would have counted against him, and I would have beaten the Dragons, and I would have advanced to and won the Immersion Championship…
This whole thread is worthwhile thanks to that link, Josh. Great site.
I tend to agree with Enright.
The point, obviously, is to reward players for good plays and penalize players for bad plays. This rule closes a loophole in scoring.
Hammond’s point that he would have won the championship with the rule in effect is spot on. Since the rule affects all players, there will be winners in every losing scenario. When Enright’s RB fumbles on some obscure play, his opponent benefits. When Enright’s RB recovers a QB fumble, his opponent suffers.
Listen, if your RB dives over the goal line – and it looks like he broke the plane, but under replay blah blah blah – and he fumbles, fuck him! If not for the head’s up teammate, the play is a turnover instead of a TD – the fumble-recovering teammate is the hero. That’s pretty much my feeling on any other unforeseen examples you can come up with – don’t fumble and I won’t worry about it.
I DO agree that the fumble out of bounds would suck as would other fumbles that wouldn’t have resulted in a turnover (like OL recoveries). It looks like MFL doesn’t have a mechanism for fumbles not recovered, but we COULD try this:
Fumbles -1
Fumbles lost to opponent -1
Number of own fumble recoveries +1
Fumble recoveries from opponent +2
That way, if you fumble and you recover it, there’s no scoring change. If you fumble and the opponent recovers, you lose 2 points and the opponent gets 2 points. If a player fumbles and his teammate recovers it, the fumbler lose a point for making a bad football play and the recovering player gets a point for making a good football play.
It doesn’t solve the RB fumbling out of bounds dilemma, but it does mitigate matters by changing it to a 0 for the RB instead of a -1. Seriously, though, don’t fumble. Find an NFL coach that disagrees with me.
Ooh, this new scoring option is enticing. I like the idea of losing a point for mishandling the ball, and then losing another point if the defense recovers it. Right now, if you fumble, and your own team recovers, you are just extremely lucky. But with this option, you get punished for being a butterfingers, and punished more for costing your team possession of the ball.
I’m all for this option, because it’s not quite as devastating as the fumble costing you two points no matter what. I also like how it rewards the offensive players for finding the fumble. I’d want to have whatever RB plays with Mark Sanchez.
I obviously like this much better than the original proposal. Can the site even handle that type of scoring?
My point is the “good plays” are made by the defense in these examples and they are already being rewarded, with a forced fumbled catagory (even those recovered by offense), a sack (if its a QB behind the line) and fumble recoveries.
Shall we make tipped passes automatically incomplete, even if they’re caught by the WR and ran in for a TD, because it was a bad throw?
I just looked and MFL doesn’t have a tipped passes category. It’s a great thought – I would certainly be interested in adding them as +1 for defensive players. I’ll send them a note.
Speaking of untapped potential, we can now award “QB hits” on MFL. That would be an interesting add – it doesn’t always change plays, but defensive coordinators love QB hits. It would really ramp up the value of DEs that get to the QB but don’t get the sack – guys like Chris Long come to mind.
It does have a tipped passes category … its called “Passes Defensed”
P.S. I realize that you’re being asinine on the tipped ball point, but still, it would be a good thing to reward defensive players for.
I also realize you’re being a bit myopic in ignoring the “good play” made by the recovering offensive player. Nor are you acknowledging the penalty to a fumbler on a botched snap, hand-off, or kickoff in which the defensive player isn’t involved.
In any case, I figured I’d try to offer an idea to improve the league. If we don’t want to do it, or feel that it won’t actually improve the league, that’s cool, too.
“Nor are you acknowledging the penalty to a fumbler on a botched snap, hand-off, or kickoff in which the defensive player isn’t involved. ”
And this is already accounted for, by their NOT being a forced fumble points awarded.
Look, its not the end of the world if this one passes, it just seems like we’re adding a rule for the sake of adding a rule. And this rule is one of the original, never debated, default rules of fantasy football. That and we havent talked football for awhile, so you have me engaged again.
I like the idea of -1 points for the fumble and -1 for the fumble lost to the opponent. Will the MFL scoring handle it correctly if we decide to do that? I know there was an issue with double scoring sacks with TFLs that we had to address.
I’m also in favor of adding QB hits. I think it could be 0.5 points across the positions, because it’s not a tackle, but it’s something. Usually DL score more for tackles than LBs and CBs and S, but in this case I think making the QB hit score equal across positions would be fair enough, since DL are more likely to get to the QB anyway. Also, it might be a good way to try to beef up DT scoring a bit.
I like the -1 for a fumble, and -1 for opponent snatched fumble. Bad plays are bad plays, and if they give you an error in baseball for something that doesn’t have a direct effect on the game, we should too. +2 for recovery, even if it’s your own team, you just saved their asses.
Definitely like the QB hit. Propose all that as a new rule change and I’ll be in.