The CFFL Story Chapter 7: To Infinity And Beyond

By and large, the CFFL scoring rules have been pretty straightforward. From the beginning I didn’t want a QB-heavy league so TD passes were 4 points, and I didn’t want a point-per-reception (PPR) league because I felt that put too much importance on 3rd down RBs and possession WRs. More on PPR in a minute.

Over the years we’ve made a few tweaks to the scoring rules, all of which I think were to our benefit. The first and biggest scoring change was made in 2006 when we doubled the yardage scoring. We went from 1 point per 20 rush/rec yards and 50 passing yards to 1 point per 10 rush/rec yards and 25 passing yards. As you would expect, scoring went way up starting in 2006. Case in point, the final score of the 2005 championship game was 58.5 – 38. After the change, the final in 2006 was 88.5 – 83.

Side note: in 2003, Schizophrenia scored 18 points in the championship game.

The next year we added TE as a permanent part of the starting lineup. Prior to that TE was optional and could only be played in the WR/TE slot. To accommodate this change we expanded rosters and the draft from 14 to 16. If I recall I made this decision unilaterally, because I felt at the time that there were enough quality TE’s to go around. I don’t think anyone disagreed but someone reminded me that we were supposed to vote on rules changes, so I haven’t made any dictatorial moves like that since.

The only other change we’ve made was in 2016 when we voted to score .5 PPR for TE’s. The idea here was that TE quality had slipped over the years and the scoring for the TE position needed a boost. I think it’s worked out pretty well.

So I find myself struggling with the dilemma that on one hand I like the league the way it is and don’t want to go changing things up too drastically, but on the other I don’t want to stay stagnant either. So from time to time ideas for scoring changes pop into my feeble brain and a few have stuck, to the point that I want to float them to the group.

First, I wouldn’t be opposed to expanded PPR scoring. As I said before, I originally didn’t like PPR because it made receiving RBs and possession WRs too valuable. But in today’s NFL, all RBs catch passes and true possession WRs (lots of catches, low yards/catch, low TDs) seem to be disappearing. I’d be ok if we wanted to boost TE PPR to a full point and add .5 PPR for RB/WR.

Or better yet . . . add a point per receiving first down for all positions. I saw an overly detailed statistical analysis a year or two ago that argued that points per receiving first down is more fair then regular PPR, as it doesn’t reward the RB or WR that makes a six yard catch on 3rd and 7.  CBS has a scoring category for it so I’d be up for adding it.

I also wouldn’t be against changing to .1 point per rush/rec yard and .04 points per passing yard. That would give us the same scale we have now but scores would get carried out to one decimal place, which would make the possibility of tie games even more remote than they are now.

The other position that concerns me is team defense/special teams (DST). The scoring rules are fine but NFL defense is becoming such a crapshoot from week to week that the fantasy scoring is becoming less about drafting a strong DST for the season and more about cruising the weekly waiver wire for matchups against weak offenses. While I shouldn’t be opposed to anything that increases transaction fees, at the same time I don’t want to pick up a different DST each week. I definitely do not want to adopt individual defensive player (IDP) scoring but I’m open to any ideas on how to improve DST scoring.

My last ideas are more wish list than anything else since CBS doesn’t have these categories, but I would be very interested in scoring for punters and for team offensive lines. Punters would get points per net punting yards, plus points for punts downed inside the 20 and minus points for touchbacks (with big bonus points for hitting the overhead scoreboard). Offensive lines would get points for total team rushing yards, minus a point per sack allowed.

If anyone has other scoring changes they’d like to propose, email me or go ahead and put it out there on the site or in the Facebook group. If anything gains enough traction we can vote on it at the next draft.