|
|
First, review the questions below. And then if they don't help, you can submit a Support Ticket to us.Category: Stats & Stat Changes| # | Question |
|---|
| 1. | If Tim Tebow is on the field the same time as Mark Sanchez, how will that impact scoring for my league that uses the TMQB position?
Answer: Since we don't have a record of exactly how any given player is lined up for any given play, MyFantasyLeague.com scores the TMQB position by simply adding up all of the statistics for all players that we have listed at the QB position for a given NFL team to arrive at a point total for the TMQB position. So, if Tebow (who is currently listed in our database as a QB) lines up as a WR, and catches a 15 yard TD pass from Sanchez, your PHI TMQB position will get credit for both a 15 yard TD pass as well as a 15 yard TD reception on that same play.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 2. | How do I implement stats changes when they occur?
Answer: When a stat change is issued by the NFL and the Elias Sports Bureau, you (as commissioner) will need to go to the For Commissioner > Statistics Changes screen and choose whether or not to have them applied to your league for the current week. There is a button at the bottom of each week's description of the stat changes to "Apply Stat Changes". If you've already applied them for the week and you change your mind, then you'll see a "Remove Stat Changes" button at the bottom of the screen. Note that all official stat changes for the current week will appear for you to review and select on Thursday mornings. They will not show up for the current week until then.
If you want them to be applied automatically each week, then you can select the check box at the top of the screen. With the automatic process option, the changes will be applied on Thursday morning each week shortly after 10:00am ET. Note that the automatic processing option will retroactively update all past weeks, so if you turn on the auto apply option in Week #5, it will update weeks 1 through 4 as well.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 3. | What can you tell me about the lifecycle of statistics on the MyFantasyLeague.com site?
Answer: Here at MyFantasyLeague.com, we pride ourselves in not only the timeliness, but also the accuracy of the statistics we deliver to our customers each week. We report more than 100 individual player statistics for about 1500 NFL players, and over 90 team statistics for 32 NFL teams each week - that's a total of about 153,000 pieces of data we offer each week. Our goal for each of the 17 weeks of the NFL season (for a total of 2.6 million pieces of data) is to be 100% accurate in our reporting of that data.
We've written this document to explain in detail exactly how we report this data to you, so that you may better understand what to expect from us.
At various times throughout the NFL week, we categorize the data we provide to you differently. These different categories of data are explained below.
Live Scoring Results
Live scoring results are the most timely, but also the least accurate of all data we provide on the site. Live scoring results are provided to you while games are in progress, and in near-real time - between the time a play happens on the field, and we report it on our site can sometimes be less than a minute. With that timeliness comes the risk of sometimes providing data that is not 100% accurate.
For example, let's say the following sequence of events happens:
- Tom Brady throws a 40 yard TD pass to Randy Moss.
- That TD pass is called back due to an offensive line holding penalty.
What can (and does!) happen is that we might update your league results on the site after the referee signals "touchdown" for the TD pass, but before the touchdown is nullified by the penalty - thus, we may temporarily display the Brady-to-Moss TD pass on our site. Of course, very shortly that TD pass (along with the corresponding fantasy points) would be eliminated.
While this example is one of the more extreme things that can happen during the course of an NFL game that might cause us to temporarily display incorrect data on your "live scoring" page, other events might cause this, too. As a rule of thumb:
The more unique the play that happens on the field, the longer that it will take your league's live scoring page to correctly reflect that play.
In other words, routine rushing and passing plays are almost always reported accurately the first time. Other plays, like safeties, blocked kicks, fumbles, etc., may take many minutes, and in some cases, a quarter or more, to be correctly displayed on your live scoring page.
To that end, please do not be concerned if you see what you believe are incorrect results being displayed on your league's "live scoring" page, especially if the play in question has just happened - rest assured that this is just due to the dynamic nature of the data that we receive from the NFL, and shortly that information will be corrected.
Preliminary Weekly Results
About one hour after the last game is over on a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday, we issue what we consider Preliminary Weekly Results. Preliminary weekly results are typically about 99.99% accurate. The most common mistakes that happen with Preliminary Weekly Results are very unique plays, or, official NFL statistics changes. To give you an example of the these two things, let's look at a sample correction we made to our 2003 week 3 Preliminary Weekly Results:
- After reviewing game film from the Giants/Redskins game in Week #3, the NFL changed a 27-yard reception for Jeremy Shockey and correctly awarded it to Jim Finn. This changes the following stats for that game:
- Jeremy Shockey's receptions decrease from 6 catches for 92 yards to 5 catches for 65 yards.
- Jimm Finn's receptions increase from 1 catch for 5 yards to 2 catches for 32 yards.
Please note that we describe all changes made to the Preliminary Weekly Results via our Stats Changes commissioner news each week, to let you know what (if any) statistics changes were issued between the time we issued Preliminary Weekly Results and Final Weekly Results.
Note that the accuracy of our "Preliminary Weekly Results" is one way we like to differentiate ourselves from some of our competitors - they might offer "live scoring" results, but those not-so-accurate results are the only results displayed on their league pages until "final" results are issued, in some cases as late as Tuesday mornings! What good is scoring if you don't truly know how many points you have until sometime Tuesday morning? With MyFantasyLeague.com, you can go to bed on Sunday night and know where you stand!
Official NFL Statistics Changes
Occasionally, the Elias Sports Bureau (the official Statistician of the NFL) will make official statistics changes after a week's games have been completed. Note that there is no set schedule for when these corrections are announced - they might be announced a day after a game is over, and at other times, it may be weeks later.
When changes happen after we've issued "Final Weekly Results" for a given week, we allow you, as the league commissioner, to decide if you'd like to include or exclude these late statistics changes from your league results. You can do this from the "For Commissioners > Stat Changes" menu option to manage these stat changes as needed. We generally will only post official stat changes for the week up until Thursday at noon. If any changes occur after Thursday for a given week, then they will not be posted as official changes on MyFantasyLeague.com.
How we handle "Official NFL Statistics Changes" is another way we like to differentiate ourselves from some of our competitors. Some of our competitors force you to accept all of the official NFL statistics changes, while others expect you to manually adjust your scores in the case of offficial NFL statistics changes. We think it's best for you to decide how to handle these stat changes, so you can optionally include or exclude them from your leauge scoring results on a week-by-week basis.
A Special Note About Tackles
One of the more common questions we get about the statistics we report is "Why are you reporting a different number of tackles for Joe Blow than xyz.com is?" The answer to that question follows.
- First, (and most importantly!) tackles are not official NFL statistics. This article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette goes into some detail on this topic, but since tackles are unofficial, different sources count them, and thus report them, differently.
- Next, some sites report all tackles (including special teams tackles, offensive tackles, and "miscellaneous" tackles), while other sites report defensive-only tackles. MyFantasyLeague.com "Tackles" category includes all tackles, while our "Defensive Tackles" scoring category includes only tackles made while the player is playing defense. Most other sites simply refer to "tackles" without explicitly stating whether they are referring to all tackles or defensive-only tackles.
A Special Note About Blocked Kicks
Another common question we get is "The NFL team XXX blocked a kick this week - why aren't you reporting it as a blocked kick?" The NFL characterizes "blocked" kicks differently from "deflected" kicks - in short, a kick is (usually, but not always) reported as "blocked" if it does not pass the line of scrimmage. If the ball does pass the line of scrimmage, it is typically (again, not always) considered a "deflected" kick, and therefore not reported by the NFL or us as a blocked kick. In the end, it's really the NFL's call as to whether a ball has been statistically blocked.
In addition, per the NFL's statistics, any blocked kick is also always considered a missed kick. As a result, if your league doesn't want to double up on points for blocked kicks, just define the missed kick scoring categories.
A Special Note About "Miscellaneous" Plays
If you've played fantasy football for a few years, your're probably well aware of the controversy surrounding the Keenan McCardell fumble recovery touchdown in week 5 of the 2003 NFL season. The controversy basically boiled down to "was it an offensive touchdown or a defensive touchdown?" Us fantasy footballers need to know the answer to that question so we know what scoring "bucket" to put that play in. Unfortunately, as Elias Sports Bureau (the official statistician of the NFL) was reported saying in as San Jose Mercury News article, the NFL does not have simple offensive or defensive categories for reporting all plays that can happen on any given Sunday:
The Elias Sports Bureau, the NFL's stat keeper, classifies McCardell's score simply as a return touchdown - not an offensive or defensive score.
In other words, there are "miscellaneous" plays that happen in the course of an NFL game that don't fit neatly in any scoring category. How you handle these "miscellaneous" plays is entirely up to your and your league-mates.
What MyFantasyLeague.com has done in this case, and will attempt to do in future cases of these miscellaneous plays, is do our best to categorize the play the way we think it's most logical to, and the way that we think most of our customers will want us to. As a result, we've developed our Special Plays reference page. In addition, we will always provide a mechanism for you to over-ride our decision, if you deem appropriate. Referring back to the above article:
The point is that it's a judgment call for the commissioner and no matter what the ruling, someone will not be happy.
In other words, we strongly encourage your league to have explicit rules in place regarding what to do with these miscellaneous plays should one happen in the future. Some sample rules you might want to consider having include:
- In the case of a miscellaneous play that does not fall into one of our previously defined scoring categories, all owners will vote regarding how to handle this play.
- In the case of a miscellaneous play that does not fall into one of our previously defined scoring categories, the commissioner will solely be responsible for making a decision regarding how to handle this play.
- In the case of a miscellaneous play that does not fall into one of our previously defined scoring categories, the league will defer to our league hosting service for making a decision regarding how to handle this play. Implied with this option is the understanding that we will not change our position based on the feedback from any single league.
Again, the above are just example rules regarding how you can handle scoring miscellaneous plays that you might not explicitly have covered in your league rules - the point is, you need to make sure that you have an agreed-upon way of resolving disputes, before the disputes even arise.
In Summary...
When we issue our Final Weekly Results each week, statistics are as clean as we can possibly make them. If you are having problems with the site generating correct scores for you, the vast majority of time it is not due to a problem with the raw statistics we are reporting. Instead it is likely a problem with the way your league scoring system has been configured. You should never use the score adjuster to account for what you feel are incorrect raw statistics as this will only mask the true nature of the problem - which is invariably something other than incorrect raw statistics.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 4. | How does MFL Account for Stats Changes?
Answer: Occasionally, the Elias Sports Bureau (the official Statistician of the NFL) makes official statistics changes after a week's games have been completed. Note that there is no set schedule for when these corrections are announced - they might be announced a day after a game is over, and at other times, it may be weeks later.
When changes like this happen after we've issued "Final Weekly Results" for a given week, we allow you, as the league commissioner, to decide if you'd like to include or exclude these late statistics changes from your league results. Be sure to select the For Commissioners > Statistics Changes menu item to manage these stat changes as needed. Note that we publish any official stats changes that are made through Thursday morning for the current week. Any official stat changes that are made by the Elias Sports Bureau after Thursday morning of a given week will not be included as an option on MyFantasyLeague.com. Any official stat changes made after Thursday of a given week would need to be manually applied by the commissioner if a league wants to include those changes.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 5. | Where do you get your stats from and where is an accurate place to check stats?
Answer: We receive our statistics directly from the NFL via a live feed from the major statistics provider for NFL games, Stats, Inc..
Based on our 14 years of experience in this industry, there is absolutely no publicly available, 100% reliable place on the Internet for you to get official NFL statistics from, unfortunately. The most accurate place we've found are Gamebooks found on NFL.com.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 6. | When are NFL Stats made official?
Answer: Stats are official shortly for the current week shortly after the completion of the last game of the week (typically the Monday Night Football game). However, official stat corrections can occur at any time. Typically, if there is an official stat correction, it will happen on Wednesday night or Thursday morning after the Elias Sports Bureau has reviewed the film for each game. Any official stat changes that are announced by Thursday morning of the current week will be made available on MyFantasyLeague.com by using the For Commissioners > Statistics Changes menu item.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 7. | Why are you reporting a different tackle total for a player than NFL.com (or another site) is reporting?
Answer: First, (and most importantly!) tackles are not official NFL statistics. This article from the Tennessean.com goes into detail on this topic, but since tackles are unofficial, different sources count them, and thus report them, differently.
Next, some sites report all tackles (including special teams tackles, offensive tackles, and "miscellaneous" tackles), while other sites report defensive-only tackles. The MyFantasyLeague.com "Tackles" category includes all tackles, while our "Defensive Tackles" scoring category includes only tackles made while the player is playing defense. Most other sites simply refer to "tackles" without explicitly stating whether they are referring to all tackles or defensive-only tackles.
See our All Supported Scoring Rules page for a detailed description of these, as well as all other, league scoring rules that we support.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 8. | How do I use the Strange Plays page?
Answer: This option points to the Strange Plays
web page that is updated weekly as needed with all the rarely occurring plays such as blocks, defensive and ST TDs, safeties, etc.
How helpful was this answer?
|
| 9. | How do I use the Statistics Changes page?
Answer: This screen allows the commissioner the ability to determine whether or not to use NFL post-game stat changes for a given week. Since the NFL may update stats at any time following a game (even more than a week later), the ability to go back to past weeks has been included. To use, simply go to the week in question and check/leave unchecked the box corresponding to the week's stat change. Details regarding what exact statistics changes have happened will be explained on this page.
Please also see this detailed information regarding the statistics on the MyFantasyLeague.com site - Statistics Lifecycle .
How helpful was this answer?
|
Didn't See Your Question Above? Please review the resources on the left-hand side of this page, or,
|
