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Looking to dominate your office pool this season? Fifteen Footballguys.com staff members are here to help you out. Each week they will pick the winners of every NFL game, and rank their selections based on how confident they are that the team will win. The most-confident pick gets 16 points, and the least-confident gets just 1. We'll even total up everyone's picks so you can get an overall consensus on who our staff think will be the most likely winners. Each week we'll announce the weekly winners, and track the overall record for the entire season. A couple of things to note before we get to the picks:
- Picks for this pool are straight up (no point spread considered).
- Picks are due on Wednesday nights, and will not reflect any late-breaking news. If your league allows for last minute changes, please make adjustments to your office pool accordingly.
- Our staffers also play in weekly picks Against The Spread, and Survivor Style 'Pick one Winner each week' formats as well. Check out the other weekly articles for more help with those type of games.
RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK
It was a rough week to say the least. However, Jeff Pasquino and Sean Settle both managed to survive the storm and finish at the top of the weekly leaderboard with 89 points. The Monday night games really saved it for Pasquino as he only lost 4 points on Detroit while Sean lost 9. Sean added 6 more to his total when the Rams won the final game of the season, but Pasquino added 12 to create the tie. The Tiebreaker for the Rams-Raiders game was 46 (33-13). Both Pasquino and Settle were over but Pasquino was just one point off with his guess of 47. Therefore he takes home the weekly crown. Settle also had 6 incorrect picks for the week compared to Pasquino's 5, and those were two of the best performances of the week for the staffers.
Staff Member
|
ATL
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BUF
|
HOU
|
JAC
|
SF
|
TB
|
CIN
|
KC
|
DAL
|
WAS
|
SEA
|
CHI
|
NY
|
LAR
|
MNF
|
TOT
|
PHI
|
CLE
|
MIA
|
BAL
|
NE
|
NYG
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
OAK
|
TOT
|
PTS
|
|
Pasquino
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
47
|
89
|
8
|
11
|
6
|
15
|
5
|
13
|
14
|
16
|
3
|
10
|
7
|
1
|
2
|
9
|
4
|
12
|
|||
Settle
|
ATL
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
48
|
89
|
16
|
1
|
8
|
5
|
7
|
10
|
3
|
2
|
15
|
11
|
13
|
14
|
12
|
4
|
9
|
6
|
|||
Larkin
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
MIA
|
BAL
|
NE
|
NYG
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
OAK
|
54
|
88
|
13
|
10
|
6
|
14
|
12
|
5
|
11
|
15
|
4
|
8
|
7
|
3
|
2
|
16
|
9
|
1
|
|||
Knotts
|
ATL
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
44
|
87
|
4
|
3
|
5
|
16
|
15
|
8
|
14
|
13
|
1
|
12
|
7
|
2
|
6
|
11
|
10
|
9
|
|||
Hicks
|
ATL
|
CLE
|
MIA
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
DAL
|
WAS
|
SEA
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
57
|
87
|
10
|
7
|
6
|
16
|
11
|
8
|
9
|
12
|
5
|
13
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
14
|
1
|
15
|
|||
Garda
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
45
|
85
|
9
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
1
|
10
|
15
|
8
|
6
|
5
|
7
|
3
|
2
|
16
|
4
|
14
|
|||
Haseley
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
MIA
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
48
|
84
|
12
|
13
|
2
|
14
|
11
|
8
|
9
|
16
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
3
|
1
|
7
|
15
|
10
|
|||
Grant
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
KC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
51
|
83
|
3
|
11
|
8
|
14
|
13
|
7
|
6
|
16
|
5
|
2
|
9
|
1
|
4
|
15
|
12
|
10
|
|||
Brimacombe
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
53
|
81
|
1
|
8
|
2
|
15
|
10
|
9
|
14
|
16
|
6
|
7
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
|||
Tuccitto
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
49
|
80
|
9
|
11
|
4
|
16
|
13
|
5
|
12
|
15
|
7
|
6
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
14
|
10
|
8
|
|||
Miglio
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
MIA
|
BAL
|
NE
|
NYG
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
48
|
79
|
10
|
14
|
2
|
12
|
13
|
1
|
6
|
15
|
5
|
4
|
8
|
7
|
3
|
16
|
11
|
9
|
|||
Roberts
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
NYG
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
50
|
77
|
8
|
11
|
4
|
13
|
9
|
1
|
12
|
16
|
3
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
2
|
14
|
15
|
10
|
|||
Wimer
|
ATL
|
CLE
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
CIN
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
42
|
74
|
12
|
11
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
16
|
10
|
3
|
9
|
14
|
2
|
1
|
8
|
13
|
15
|
|||
Heiser
|
PHI
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
SEA
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
44
|
68
|
5
|
15
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
10
|
9
|
16
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
4
|
3
|
14
|
2
|
1
|
|||
Bitonti
|
ATL
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BAL
|
NE
|
JAC
|
SF
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
SEA
|
GB
|
DET
|
LAR
|
60
|
65
|
1
|
11
|
9
|
16
|
14
|
5
|
2
|
15
|
4
|
8
|
10
|
3
|
6
|
7
|
12
|
13
|
|||
Away
|
ATL
|
PIT
|
TEN
|
BUF
|
HOU
|
JAC
|
SF
|
TB
|
CIN
|
KC
|
DAL
|
WAS
|
SEA
|
CHI
|
NYJ
|
LAR
|
||
Total Pts
|
43
|
132
|
78
|
0
|
0
|
97
|
2
|
0
|
38
|
2
|
4
|
23
|
11
|
0
|
0
|
143
|
||
Home
|
PHI
|
CLE
|
MIA
|
BAL
|
NE
|
NYG
|
MIN
|
NO
|
IND
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
ARI
|
DEN
|
GB
|
DET
|
OAK
|
||
Total Pts
|
78
|
18
|
16
|
195
|
150
|
7
|
150
|
201
|
41
|
112
|
107
|
35
|
39
|
178
|
139
|
1
|
||
Tot Conf Pts
|
121
|
150
|
94
|
195
|
150
|
104
|
152
|
201
|
79
|
114
|
111
|
58
|
50
|
178
|
139
|
144
|
In a contest with no spread, when there is a tie like Pittsburgh and Cleveland, then there is no winner and everyone takes a loss for that game.Adding to the suffering, consensus winning choices like New Orleans and Detroit took down everyone in the board when they were upset by Tampa Bay and the Jets. Those three games took down almost 500 confidence points for the overall leaderboard. The Titans, Chargers and Cardinals were also teams that were favorites of the staff, but were upset and cost people a lot of confidence points.
OVERALL RANKINGS
We'll use this table to track everyone's progress over the course of the season. Pasquino and Settle jump out to the early lead after the first week.
Staff Member
|
W01
|
W02
|
W03
|
W04
|
W05
|
W06
|
W07
|
W08
|
W09
|
W10
|
W11
|
W12
|
W13
|
W14
|
W15
|
W16
|
W17
|
Total
|
Pasquino
|
89
|
89
|
||||||||||||||||
Settle
|
89
|
89
|
||||||||||||||||
Larkin
|
88
|
88
|
||||||||||||||||
Hicks
|
87
|
87
|
||||||||||||||||
Knotts
|
87
|
87
|
||||||||||||||||
Garda
|
85
|
85
|
||||||||||||||||
Haseley
|
84
|
84
|
||||||||||||||||
Grant
|
83
|
83
|
||||||||||||||||
Brimacombe
|
81
|
81
|
||||||||||||||||
Tuccitto
|
80
|
80
|
||||||||||||||||
Miglio
|
79
|
79
|
||||||||||||||||
Roberts
|
77
|
77
|
||||||||||||||||
Wimer
|
74
|
74
|
||||||||||||||||
Heiser
|
68
|
68
|
||||||||||||||||
Bitonti
|
65
|
65
|
THIS WEEK'S PICKS
Here are the picks for this week.
Staff Member
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
KC
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
IND
|
CLE
|
MIN
|
MIA
|
DET
|
ARI
|
OAK
|
NE
|
NYG
|
SEA
|
MNF
|
CIN
|
TEN
|
PIT
|
TB
|
BUF
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
GB
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
JAC
|
DAL
|
CHI
|
TOT
|
|
Miglio
|
CIN
|
TEN
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
GB
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
JAC
|
DAL
|
CHI
|
47
|
4
|
2
|
8
|
14
|
13
|
7
|
11
|
12
|
6
|
9
|
15
|
16
|
10
|
1
|
3
|
5
|
||
Garda
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
NYG
|
CHI
|
45
|
14
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
15
|
10
|
9
|
8
|
6
|
5
|
7
|
16
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
||
Hicks
|
CIN
|
HOU
|
KC
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
CLE
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
OAK
|
JAC
|
DAL
|
SEA
|
41
|
1
|
9
|
2
|
8
|
15
|
10
|
11
|
5
|
12
|
6
|
13
|
16
|
3
|
14
|
4
|
7
|
||
Heiser
|
|||||||||||||||||
n/a
|
|||||||||||||||||
Tuccitto
|
CIN
|
HOU
|
KC
|
TB
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
IND
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
JAC
|
NYG
|
SEA
|
49
|
8
|
11
|
1
|
4
|
14
|
3
|
2
|
15
|
9
|
10
|
12
|
16
|
13
|
6
|
7
|
5
|
||
Larkin
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
DAL
|
SEA
|
46
|
5
|
9
|
6
|
4
|
14
|
12
|
13
|
15
|
3
|
8
|
11
|
16
|
10
|
7
|
2
|
1
|
||
Knotts
|
CIN
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
NYG
|
SEA
|
44
|
1
|
8
|
2
|
9
|
12
|
10
|
11
|
14
|
7
|
6
|
16
|
15
|
13
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
||
Brimacombe
|
CIN
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
IND
|
NO
|
MIN
|
MIA
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
JAC
|
NYG
|
SEA
|
44
|
8
|
1
|
9
|
13
|
16
|
10
|
4
|
15
|
7
|
2
|
11
|
14
|
12
|
5
|
6
|
3
|
||
Haseley
|
CIN
|
TEN
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
DAL
|
SEA
|
41
|
9
|
14
|
13
|
10
|
15
|
3
|
6
|
12
|
5
|
11
|
7
|
16
|
2
|
8
|
4
|
1
|
||
Pasquino
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
KC
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
NYG
|
CHI
|
45
|
11
|
12
|
6
|
7
|
10
|
8
|
9
|
15
|
4
|
5
|
14
|
16
|
13
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
||
Roberts
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
TB
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
NYG
|
CHI
|
48
|
9
|
11
|
3
|
1
|
16
|
5
|
12
|
14
|
4
|
10
|
13
|
15
|
6
|
7
|
2
|
8
|
||
Wimer
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
GB
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
JAC
|
NYG
|
CHI
|
35
|
7
|
14
|
6
|
13
|
12
|
5
|
4
|
11
|
10
|
3
|
9
|
16
|
2
|
8
|
1
|
15
|
||
Bitonti
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
NYG
|
CHI
|
61
|
3
|
14
|
1
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
9
|
10
|
2
|
8
|
7
|
16
|
15
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
||
Settle
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
KC
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
NYG
|
SEA
|
48
|
10
|
2
|
16
|
6
|
1
|
14
|
5
|
3
|
9
|
13
|
12
|
4
|
8
|
11
|
15
|
7
|
||
Grant
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
PIT
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
MIN
|
MIA
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
NE
|
DAL
|
SEA
|
45
|
2
|
12
|
8
|
13
|
11
|
10
|
15
|
14
|
6
|
1
|
4
|
16
|
9
|
7
|
5
|
3
|
||
Away
|
BAL
|
HOU
|
KC
|
PHI
|
LAC
|
CAR
|
IND
|
CLE
|
MIN
|
MIA
|
DET
|
ARI
|
OAK
|
NE
|
NYG
|
SEA
|
|
Total Pts
|
61
|
116
|
25
|
121
|
176
|
35
|
6
|
5
|
74
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
54
|
43
|
32
|
|
Home
|
CIN
|
TEN
|
PIT
|
TB
|
BUF
|
ATL
|
WAS
|
NO
|
GB
|
NYJ
|
SF
|
LAR
|
DEN
|
JAC
|
DAL
|
CHI
|
|
Total Pts
|
31
|
16
|
68
|
5
|
0
|
83
|
115
|
158
|
16
|
94
|
151
|
208
|
116
|
34
|
18
|
37
|
|
Tot Conf Pts
|
92
|
132
|
93
|
126
|
176
|
118
|
121
|
163
|
90
|
97
|
151
|
208
|
119
|
88
|
61
|
69
|
HEAVY FAVORITES
Last week was not good for the heavy favorites, but hopefully, things have settled down and we have a better handle on how good each team is going to be. This week we only have three consensus picks: the Chargers, the Rams and the 49ers. Other teams that are heavily favored to win include Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans (although much less confident than last week), New York Jets and Denver. Although the Titans and Packers do have several people on staff who support them, in general, a vast majority of our board has them losing this week.
DUAL SUPPORT
This week's games have their fair share of landmines as well. Tonight's game tilts in Baltimore's favor, but the Bengals do have their share of people picking them to win as well. Pittsburgh and Atlanta are favored to win, but a good chunk of the staff have picked the Chiefs and the Panthers to pull off the upset. The two least confident games are the Sunday and Monday Night matchups. The Giants are the staff favorite to beat the Cowboys in their home opener, but the 61 total confidence points on the game is the lowest for all 16 games this weekend. Monday night, the Bears have a slight edge on the visiting Seahawks, but the 37-32 weighting has it as the closest / toughest game to call for the week.
ODDS AND ENDS
Bear Heiser missed the cut-off before this article needed to be submitted so his picks will be included in the results next week.
Good luck this weekend!