Monday Night Effect! (1 Viewer)

[varmint cong]

I'm sure in the past this was probably discussed, but its time to revisit- Do players and teams perform better when the nations watching or under the lights of Mon or Sun night football. I generally think they do and even marginal players have more value. Wonder if statistical data supports this trend. Discuss....

 

[Memphis Foundry]

That's a good question on whether performance is actually better on Monday night -- there are a million FF strategies out there but this is one that I subscribe to.

Even discounting potential performance upgrades, though, having one or two guys left to go if I'm trailing going into Monday morning is .

 

[varmint cong]

My thoughts are that players perform better on the big stage, esp players on team who dont get much national exposure (exhibit A- Vince young), I think these players know that they have a national audience to increase their exposure, "stock" and gernerally try if not perform better. So to put myself out there, a "marginal" team with "marginal" players , like Buffalo this monday night, i believe, will outperform their low or limited value.

 

[Bankerguy]

So this only applies to offensive players then. Not sure I totally agree.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Not a better chance of scoring well......but it sure is a lot more fun on monday night when you have players to watch.

 

[Keys Myaths]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?

I can think of one player who does this. One.

 

[jpeace121]

Based on last week, Chad Johnson owners would probably say no.

 

[dwashington]

As a rule, I like Monday night players because of the bright lights, but I got burned on it in the Superbowl this past year.

I went with Marion the Barbarian (Monday Night vs Eagles) over Ron Dayne (early Sunday vs the Colts) and it cost me the bowl.

In the end, fantasy will always be freaky.

 

[valhallan]

If all other factors are equal with two players, I will often go for the Monday night guy because more often than not they have performed better. I believe a large part of why this happens is that Monday night generally features successful teams with smart coaches who actually use their superstars, rather than unsuccessful teams with poor coaches that don't use their superstars (*cough* Childress *cough*).

 

[FFFanaticc]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?I can think of one player who does this. One.

No, but I do think that MNF pumps them up a little more. They know they are on national TV, so they want to show the world their best stuff.I have seen the statistics that prove MNF does not make a difference, but I like having my players on MNF.If nothing else, I just like the premise of your players scoring last and/or leaving you some hope of winning your game after Sunday. This happened to me last week, when I had Tom Brady, and he had the NE Defense, it was close, but I pulled it out.

 

[Keys Myaths]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?

I can think of one player who does this. One.

No, but I do think that MNF pumps them up a little more. They know they are on national TV, so they want to show the world their best stuff.I have seen the statistics that prove MNF does not make a difference, but I like having my players on MNF.

If nothing else, I just like the premise of your players scoring last and/or leaving you some hope of winning your game after Sunday. This happened to me last week, when I had Tom Brady, and he had the NE Defense, it was close, but I pulled it out.

Do you know where these are located? That would be nice.As for your last point, fair enough. If that makes you have more fun, then more power to you.

 

[redman]

Some do, some don't. Joe Gibbs' teams have not traditionally faired well on MNF as compared to their overall performance, which is odd given that Gibbs is certainly not shy on a big stage. IMHO it has to do with the alteration in the team's weekly preparation routine, but that's simply supposition on my part. There's no denying that certain players - Randy Moss comes to mind of course - tend to thrive in the limelight.

 

[hove]

Uh... Sunday Night = the new Monday Night. More people are watching the Sunday night games than Monday night, I believe, so that's now the bigger stage.

/Just saying.

 

[toxic]

I haven't seen any analyses on the subject, but I have also noticed (perhaps erroneously) a tendency for fantasy teams with more players playing on Sunday and Monday nights to fare better than fantasy teams with fewer players in those games.

However, I do not attribute the success of fantasy teams with players in these games to better individual performance in these night games (i.e. overall, my guess is that an individual player's mean scores in these games is not higher than their mean scoring in 1:00 games). Instead, I attribute this to the tendency of the networks to select more marketable games for these time slots. Since the most marketable games tend to be those with marquee offensive stars (not always, but usually), you will see a preponderance of quality fantasy players playing in these games.

If there is a performance effect in these games, I would bet it is because these games often match up two quality offenses (NE vs CIN is a classic case of this from last week) and this can produce shootouts and more fantasy scoring. I would not expect it to occur because players are "trying harder." As someone else pointed out, this "effort hypothesis" should impact defensive players as well. But again, I would be surprised if that performance effect actually exists.

 

[bonesman]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?I can think of one player who does this. One.

there's 100%.... and then there's 110%yes... a player isn't mentally in the game 100% on 100% of the plays... there are lapses because they are not totally focused.This is why the home team generally does better.... and why players facing an old team, or playing in front of a crowd in a city they grew up or went to school in, often have better than average games (not always of course).It's because they are playing harder (or have trained harder) MENTALLY than they normally do.

 

[acme]

I'm sure in the past this was probably discussed, but its time to revisit- Do players and teams perform better when the nations watching or under the lights of Mon or Sun night football. I generally think they do and even marginal players have more value. Wonder if statistical data supports this trend. Discuss....

YES.I absolutely think this, and all other things being equal, I start a Monday Night player over a Sunday one.It almost always seems to work out well for me.

 

[Keys Myaths]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?I can think of one player who does this. One.

there's 100%.... and then there's 110%yes... a player isn't mentally in the game 100% on 100% of the plays... there are lapses because they are not totally focused.This is why the home team generally does better.... and why players facing an old team, or playing in front of a crowd in a city they grew up or went to school in, often have better than average games (not always of course).It's because they are playing harder (or have trained harder) MENTALLY than they normally do.

Not so sure I agree with this, but it is well thought-out.I think the home team does better because of crowd noise/distractions, and sometimes, subconscious calls from refs.

 

[bonesman]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?I can think of one player who does this. One.

there's 100%.... and then there's 110%yes... a player isn't mentally in the game 100% on 100% of the plays... there are lapses because they are not totally focused.This is why the home team generally does better.... and why players facing an old team, or playing in front of a crowd in a city they grew up or went to school in, often have better than average games (not always of course).It's because they are playing harder (or have trained harder) MENTALLY than they normally do.

Not so sure I agree with this, but it is well thought-out.I think the home team does better because of crowd noise/distractions, and sometimes, subconscious calls from refs.

and being effected by crowd noise/distractions, which usually leads to more penalties (real penalties... not "subconscious" calls) is a sign that players on a team aren't 100% focused mentally. That equals a lack of mental preparation IMO, and thus, less than full effort on the part of the athlete.... though, that's often times a reflection of the coaching staff's ineptitude... and not the actual players.

 

[LHUCKS]

I do believe Monday night Scores are higher than the NFL average, but a lot of that is due to the fact that better teams are selected for Monday night games.

 

[Doug Drinen]

These are professional football players. Do you really think they try LESS hard some nights?

I can think of one player who does this. One.

No, but I do think that MNF pumps them up a little more. They know they are on national TV, so they want to show the world their best stuff.I have seen the statistics that prove MNF does not make a difference, but I like having my players on MNF.

If nothing else, I just like the premise of your players scoring last and/or leaving you some hope of winning your game after Sunday. This happened to me last week, when I had Tom Brady, and he had the NE Defense, it was close, but I pulled it out.

Do you know where these are located? That would be nice.

Was it really seven years ago that I wrote this article? Yes it was. Obviously way out of date, and just a quickie anyway, but it's probably enough to cast a little doubt on the MNF effect.

Nonetheless, I'm with FFFanticc in that I like playing monday nighters because it's just more fun that way.

 

[GoBears84]

I'm sure in the past this was probably discussed, but its time to revisit- Do players and teams perform better when the nations watching or under the lights of Mon or Sun night football. I generally think they do and even marginal players have more value. Wonder if statistical data supports this trend. Discuss....

Not to hijack the thread, but I think there is also a reverse effect - players that have to travel the weekend AFTER a MNF or SNF game seem to do worse... I used to track this stat for teams years ago and there was significantly larger probability of the travelling team losing...so that's always in the back of my mind the following week...

 

[PahtyTom]

I expect Buffalo to play a bit over their heads (for a half or so at least) this Monday night. I can't remember the last time Buffalo had a primetime night game at home.