Opting to use a WR of your opponent's QB (1 Viewer)

[showdere]

I'm curious if any Sharks have taken the time to analyze whether:

- if you are choosing between two ~equal WRs to start

- and if one of those WRs is on the team with your opponent's QB

Is there any benefit/penalty to tying your WR to his QB?

Examples: playing vs Kitna, having Roy and Santonio or playing vs Eli, having Burress and Boldin

 

[Ted Lange as your Bartender]

Yes! The annual "Cancel Out Theory" thread!



ETA - there's very strong opinions on this issue every year.

You have very vocal Anti-Cancel Out camp, who go by the mantra "I always start the players who will score the most points", as if they know exactly who that player is going to be at all times and completely ignore the key phrase "I project them to score about the same amount of points".

There's the very vocal Pro-Cancel Out camp, who would consider starting L Coles over TO just because their opponent is starting Favre.

Then there's the people in the middle, who, while not overtly looking to use a WR against the opponent's QB, will consider it as a tiebreaker of last resort, while also considering whether the rest of their lineup is better than their opponents. If it isn't better, you may want to veer away from doing it

 

[Wu-banger]

I would lean to playing the player I have ranked higher for that week...

but...in your scenario..

In the case of a QB only having one legit WR to throw to ,ie Plax in NYG , I would lean to him over Boldin ... who competes with Fitz for rec..where as Eli will mostly lean on Plax , who is more consistent as the lone threat.

 

[SSOG]

If you have two WRs with very similar projections, then "canceling out" will increase your odds of winning if your team is the favorite, and decrease your odds of winning if your team is the underdog. That's not opinion, that's simple mathematical truth.

 

[MAC_32]

KISS - keep it simple, stupid

Start the best option.

 

[J R]

If you have two WRs with very similar projections, then "canceling out" will increase your odds of winning if your team is the favorite, and decrease your odds of winning if your team is the underdog. That's not opinion, that's simple mathematical truth.

check out this thread, showdere: point block strategy

 

[FUBAR]

If you have two WRs with very similar projections, then "canceling out" will increase your odds of winning if your team is the favorite, and decrease your odds of winning if your team is the underdog. That's not opinion, that's simple mathematical truth.

Seems logical, if your WR is canceling out his QB, his QB is canceling out your WR.

 

[sdsjr3]

LOL, been a member of this board since the old days and I swear this topic comes up every year and it will get hammered with opinions. For me, I start the better players unless (as in SSOG's post) they are equally ranked.

 

[Jersey35]

If you have two WRs with very similar projections, then "canceling out" will increase your odds of winning if your team is the favorite, and decrease your odds of winning if your team is the underdog. That's not opinion, that's simple mathematical truth.

I'm still worn out from "discussing" this topic last year... I hope I don't have to again!

 

[showdere]

As Wu-banger made clear, I should not have made the Eli/Burress/Boldin example. The Kitna/Holmes/Williams one is fairer because both are in WR tandems.

I tried to come up with the name people would call this concept, to aide my search for whether anyone has tried to crunch numbers on this. Unfortunately "cancel out" and "point block" didn't come to me.

JR - thanks for excellent link. I can see now that it's not something that can be cleanly analyzed, due to the many parameters I didn't consider.

For now I'll conclude that it's only worth considering this strategy then if the WR is a clear WR1 for that QB, in the way that SSOG described. In any other circumstance, this strategy seems useless and/or irrelevant.