I would hope that Jeff Pasquino isn't actually "stealing" this idea, but it's awfully strange that he is using the same name, "Quality Games", as the writer for Fanball.com, Bob Lung. Lung's consistency concept has been called the Quality Game Scores since 2002. In fact, his articles actually have always started with the same verbage about the "quality starts" in baseball. While Jeff expands on Lung's idea a little with the Excellent game scenario, it still reads basically the same.
I've been on this site for years and respect the entire staff here...but this is the first time I have ever seen one of the writers be this close to "stealing" someone else's idea.
Like I said, maybe it's just the fact that the name is the same...but still kinda close.
Thoughts?
Hi biff,I can honestly say I've never read his articles.
Feel free to include a link here and I'll take a look, but I can assure you that my work was independently done. I have no idea how Bob Lung or anyone else over at Fanball has approached this topic.
As the previous poster said, Quality Starts is a baseball stat and I used the name in a similar fashion here in applying it to football.
Jeff,The link to Fanball won't work because he's on the Owner's Edge section, which is a pay site, but here's the opening paragraph to his Quality Game Score year in review article.
The Head-to-Head (H2H) format in Fantasy Football leads to the need for consistency. If you have been playing fantasy sports for any length of time, you know how frustrating it can be to win by 30 points one week and then lose by 2 points the next. How many times have you been one of the highest scoring teams in the league, but you miss the playoffs by one or two games?
Many will call it “bad luck” and that’s partially true. Injuries to key players, bad weather, etc. are situations that affect our fantasy teams, but are uncontrollable. However, there is one aspect of fantasy football that you can control. The consistency of your team! If you’re scratching your head and asking, “How can you control consistency”, you’re not alone. The topic and its application are new to fantasy football.
Reasoning and Methodology
It’s called the Quality Game Scores. Basically, it is the awarding of a Quality Game to a player each week when they exceed the average points scored in your league for that position. The more Quality Games a player is awarded each year, the more consistent that player is and the more beneficial they are to your fantasy team.
It is very similar to the Quality Starts concept used for pitchers in fantasy baseball. A pitcher earns a Quality Start every time they pitch more than 6 innings and give up less than three earned runs in a game. The more Quality Starts a pitcher has in a year, the more consistent and more valuable they are to their team. However, Quality Starts do not affect a fantasy baseball team as much, since its roto-style with accumulative stats. However, in a H2H fantasy baseball format, it can be very important.
So, during the 2002 season, I started to research the concept of consistency in fantasy football. I knew that just taking the average points (total points/number of games) for each player wasn't really valid. Because if 2 players each rushed for 1,280 yards, they both averaged 80 yards per game. There appears to be no difference between the 2 players for valuation purposes. BUT, if Player A rushes for exactly 80 yards every week and Player B rushes for 120 yards one week and 40 yards the next week, Player A will probably win you more Fantasy games in the long run. Therefore, I knew that I had to use a game-by-game basis for my valuations.
Next step was to set the Quality Game (QG) Factor. This was the average points that a player needed to meet or exceed to be awarded a Quality Game for that week. Each QG Factor was calculated for each specific position (QB, RB, WR, TE), using a standard amount of players each season for consistency. They were as follows: Top 40 QB’s, Top 75 RB’s, Top 100 WR’s and Top 40 TE’s. I calculated the weekly points scored for each individual week by each player. I used the standard scoring system (1pt/20yds – pass, 1pt/10yds – rush/rec, 4 pts – pass td and 6 pts – rush/rec td) for my initial calculations, but you can use your own scoring system. By comparing the player's weekly score against the calculated QG Factor; I could determine how consistent that player was for the year. In the next section, let’s take a look at which players were the most consistent for 2007.
Don't you think this seems pretty close? I'm sure you didn't steal his idea, Jeff. My thought was that it was too close for comfort. Thanks for listening. Keep up the great work at FBG!
I'd misspell it, but I'd have to check with 
