Pats D: Maybe Fantasy Football has it right?

[Uncle Rico]

So, I was looking at NFL.com yesterday and noticed a graphic that showed the Pats defense this year ranked at #1. Really? So I looked more closely and it turns out it was for Fantasy Football.

Now, I have never had anything to do with Fantasy Football and probably never will. (See sig below). But I was curious and did some exploring. Turns out EPSN's formula has them ranked second behind Pitt; a site called Fantasy Playmakers has them first. Fantasy Football Rankings and Fantasy Points Leaders

I find this interesting because the league and every analyst ranks NFL defense based on one stat -- total yards. As Pats fans, we've seen this year's D give up tons of yardage but we've also know from the beginning that they had something special going on; we've known that no single stat tells the story. Maybe this is one time when Fantasy Football has it right.* Hey, if the NFL can adopt a labyrinthine "passer rating formula," why not an official "team D" formula?

*And, yes, the fact that this formula favors the current Pats helps my perception of it. But it's still an intriguing idea, a formula for ranking team D.

 

[2000army]

Being a Homer ... I picked the Pats D and Jets D ... and benched the Jets D all year ... worked out great for me. I won the championship!

 

[Sicilian]

Patriots are ranked number 1 in fantasy because of all the TDs they score on defense.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Fantasy football team defense ratings often put a high premium on getting turnovers and scoring on D, hence the boost for the Pats.

Points given up is the best single real world stat IMO, and we steadily moved up from the low 20s all the way up to #8 I think, and top 5 for the last half of the season.

 

[Potstickas]

Points scored on D, Turnovers, and Sacks rack up them fantasy D points.

Pats were big on the turnovers obviously. Second half of the year pats were pretty consistent high scoring fantasy D team. First half of the year Blew.

 

[Ring 6]

Fantasy football team defense ratings often put a high premium on getting turnovers and scoring on D, hence the boost for the Pats.

Points given up is the best single real world stat IMO, and we steadily moved up from the low 20s all the way up to #8 I think, and top 5 for the last half of the season.

IIRC, we were 1st the last 5 games, 4th in the 2nd half, and 5th since week 3.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Even if Fantasy puts too much emphasis on D TDs, turnovers and sacks, they are valid parts of measuring performance. It seems to me the NFL could tweak these formulas and come up with something like it did with passer rating.

I do agree that, as it stands, points allowed is the best measure (subracting TDs not scored on the D). The emphasis on yards just seems wrong.

 

[jmt57]

Patriots are ranked number 1 in fantasy because of all the TDs they score on defense.

Generally speaking I think many football fans let fantasy stats cloud their perception of how good certain football players are. A player that gains a lot of yardage on a team where the touchdowns go to another player doesn't get enough credit, while that guy that comes in for the short yardage touchdown tends to get over rated. Similarly quarterbacks that throw for a lot of yards get rated very highly while quarterbacks who turn the ball over the least may be ranked lower.

However in this case, that one sentence above brings up a great point that those who look solely or primarily at yardage stats miss. Those that dismiss turnovers as if they were simply luck, or strictly due to lack of execution by the opposing offense without giving any credit to the Pats defense are off in their analysis. While the Pats defense may not be as good as their fantasy football rankings would make them appear, they are also nowhere as bad as those that recite yardage stat rankings would have you believe either.

 

[Nikolai]

As long as opposing coaches during these playoffs play the Pats like their D sucks, I'll be happy. I expect that quite a few, and Payton especially, have a healthy respect for the Pats D and will plan accordingly (in the event of a NO-NE SB, of course ).

 

[ausbacker]

Turnovers and points allowed are the best measuring stick of the effectiveness of a defense in my opinion. The Patriots were the form defense for much of the second half of the season.

 

[billdog3484]

if im not mistaken i think the saints D was #1 fantasy Defense last year

 

[strngplyr]

Doesn't fantasy defense also include special teams? "DST" - defense/special teams. Our ST did some nice things this year that surely helped as well. 4 TD's (2KR, 1PR, 1Blocked FG).