"Teams sit best players out week 17" myth? (1 Viewer)

[Maven]

Let me start off by saying I'm in a 20 team, standard scoring league on yahoo. Our owners are debating whether or not we should have our final playoff game decided on week 17 instead of the traditional week 16. There have been a bunch of objections to the idea but the league manager thinks that it will make the championship game more competitive (if it happens). It also gives the advantage to those who draft their team and have depth in their rosters as opposed to those who don't draft. He thinks its part of the game.

So what I did was went back last year and tried to see how many star fantasy players sat out. My results were kind of surprising. I'm interested to see if anyones done any research as to what coaches tend to sit their players out if they've locked a playoff spot going back more than 1 year. Anyways, heres my findings...do you guys think its an overblown myth or would you rather not have to deal with it and have less games played. Put yourself in the position of being in a league with 20 managers:

Playoff Teams 2006

---------------------

Chargers

Bears

Ravens

Saints

Colts

Eagles

Patriots

Seahawks

Jets

Cowboys

Chiefs

Giants

Fantasy Stars From Playoff Teams

Week 17 - 2006

Chargers

-------------

LT

66yds rush 14yds rec

Rivers

231yds 2tds 1int

Gates

56yds rec 1td

Bears

-------------

Thomas Jones

sat out

Grossman

sat out

Benson

109yds rush

Ravens

-------------

Mcnair

216yds 36att

Jamal Lewis

69yds 20car

Heap

60yds

Saints

----------

Brees

5att 46yds

Bush

3car 20yds 1td

McAllister

0car

Colts

------------------

Peyton Manning

282yds 2tds

Harrison

74yds 1td

Wayne

70yds

Addai

64yds 21att

Eagles

-----------------

Westbrook

1att 3yds

Patriots

--------------

Brady

225yds 1td

Maroney

73yds 1td

Seahawks

---------------

Hasselbeck

216yds 1td

Alexander

92yds 1td

Jackson

60yds 1td

Jets

------------------

Pennington

30att 157yds 1td

Coles

24yds 2rec

Chiefs

---------------

Larry Johnson

33att 138yds 3tds

Giants

----------------

Manning

26att 101yds 1td

Burress

2cat 26yds

Barber

234yds 3tds

 

[Spartans Rule]

It also gives the advantage to those who draft their team and have depth in their rosters as opposed to those who don't draft.

In a 20-team league, having any kind of depth would require a lot of skill and a lot of luck. Hell, not every team can even have a backup QB. What if your QB was Grossman or Brees last year? Ouch.On your list, there were 6 impact players who were used scarcely or not at all Week 17. That's enough for me to want to avoid the week for FF purposes. You really don't lose anything by stopping after Week 16.

 

[DerwoodG]

I was in the championship game in week 17 last year and started Vick who was playing in the afternoon game and had to win to get in (or a loss by a morning team who was favored to win). He played a series or two but as soon as the Falcons realized they had clinched their playoff spot due to a loss in the morning (what team was that?), he was pulled. I lost by 12 points!

We have eliminated the week 17 game this year.