League Parity And The Great Running Back Hype

Parity. Interesting word. It's often used to describe the NFL. Webster defines the word parity as the quality or state of being equal or equivalent. It neatly sums up our league three weeks into the season as well. Six of the ten teams are sitting at 2-1. Three of those six teams are completely deadlocked with 319 points and the difference between fourth and seventh place is eight points. Only The Sunshine is left standing undefeated, and they're truly lucky to be in that spot (see last week's record low scoring matchup vs. Space for rent). Even our three winless teams could all have a win or two on the books.

It's interesting to note, that in the world of fantasy football, where the running back is king, that the three teams in our league without a win had four of the top five ranked running backs coming into the season. The Green Helmets have Stephen Jackson, the Amish have Larry Johnson and Space for rent doesn't have just one, but two in Frank Gore and LaDainian Tomlinson and is currently the lowest scorer in the league!

On the other hand, our top teams are making the difference in their games, not through their running backs, but from the wide receiver slot. You call BS? Check these numerals:

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
Black Hand	Chad Johnson - 15 pts, Amani Toomer - 13 pts	Chad Johnson - 38 pts, Braylon Edwards - 32 pts	Chad Johnson - 20 pts, Braylon Edwards - 14 pts
	28 pts	70 pts	34 pts	132
Short Bus Bullies	Steve Smith - 25 pts, T.J. Houshmanzadeh - 17 pts	Steve Smith - 38 pts, T.J. Houshmanzadeh - 23 pts	T.J. Houshmanzadeh - 28 pts, Deion Branch - 15 pts
	42 pts	61 pts	43 pts	146
Annandale Sunshine	Reggie Wayne - 27 pts, Andre Johnson - 23 pts	Andre Johnson - 30 pts, Issac Bruce - 20 pts	Reggie Wayne - 8 pts, Issac Bruce - 3 pts
	50 pts	50 pts	11 pts	111
	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
Green Helmets	Maurice Jones-Drew - 3 pts, Stephen Jackson - (-1) pts	Maurice Jones-Drew - 2 pts, Stephen Jackson - 7 pts	LaMont Jordan - 15 pts, Stephen Jackson - 9 pts
	2 pts	9 pts	24 pts	35
Angry Amish	Larry Johnson - 11 pts, Marshawn Lynch - 12 pts	Larry Johnson - 6 pts, Marshawn Lynch - 5 pts	Larry Johnson - 3 pts, Marshawn Lynch - 11 pts
	23 pts	11 pts	14 pts	48
Space For Rent	LaDainian Tomlinson - 22 pts, Frank Gore - 10 pts	LaDainian Tomlinson - 6 pts, Frank Gore - 18 pts	LaDainian Tomlinson - 13 pts, Frank Gore - 3 pts
	32 pt	24 pts	16 pts	72

Numbers don't lie. The Bullies top scoring WR's over the last three weeks have scored over half of what Space For Rent's entire team has scored for the past three weeks. So does this mean that the top running backs are having a down year? Kind of, but thats not the real issue. The real key is that the VFFL scoring system is slanted in the favor of wide receivers! (and anyone else who catches the ball regularly) For instance, did you know that every reception is worth 1 fantasy point? That could easily be up to seven to eight extra points a game from your wide outs alone! Figure in the high percentage tight end receptions and teams could be picking up some real extra points easily!

Of course this doesn't mean that the winless teams are screwed and its time for a running back fire sale. Its still early in the year and the wide receivers can't keep blowing up and the running backs can't keep laying an egg....can they?