Over the past few years, we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com the Staff Confidence Pool Challenge, where numerous staffers try and pick the winners each week with a confidence ranking, and Jeff Pasquino’s “For The Win” column where Jeff attempts to pick each and every NFL game against the Las Vegas spread. Both of these have been very popular features, so this year Footballguys is proud to bring you the combination of the two. The Footballguys.com Staff Against the Spread Pool Challenge. Multiple staff members (23) will pick the winner of each NFL game against the Las Vegas line. As a tie-breaker, the person who is closest to the total points scored on the last Monday Night game will be the winner. Winners will be announced from week to week and the best overall record will be crowned Against the Spread Champion. Picks and ranks are due on Wednesday, so any late-breaking news may not be reflected in the choices.
THIS WEEK'S PICKS
Here are the picks for this week.
Road Team: | CAR | TB | SD | CIN | CLE | GB | CHI | OAK | BUF | MIN | MIA | DET | NYG | NE | PIT | LA | |
Home Team: | DEN | ATL | KC | NYJ | PHI | JAX | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | SEA | INDY | DAL | AZ | WASH | SF | |
Favorite: | CAR | ATL | KC | CIN | PHI | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | MIN | SEA | INDY | DAL | AZ | PIT | LA | |
Point Spread: | -3.5 | -3.5 | -7.5 | -2.5 | -4.5 | -4.5 | -6.5 | -0.5 | -2.5 | -2.5 | -10.5 | -3.5 | -0.5 | -6.5 | -3.5 | -2.5 | |
Staffer | The Picks | MNF | |||||||||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | CAR | ATL | KC | NYJ | PHI | JAX | HOU | OAK | BAL | MIN | SEA | INDY | NYG | AZ | PIT | LA | 39 |
Aaron Rudnicki | CAR | TB | SD | NYJ | CLE | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | MIA | DET | NYG | NE | WASH | LA | 40 |
Alessandro Miglio | DEN | ATL | SD | CIN | PHI | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | MIA | INDY | DAL | NE | WASH | LA | 45 |
Andrew Garda | CAR | ATL | KC | CIN | PHI | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | MIN | SEA | INDY | NYG | AZ | PIT | LA | 40 |
Andy Hicks | DEN | TB | SD | NYJ | CLE | JAX | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | SEA | INDY | DAL | AZ | WASH | SF | 35 |
Bear Heiser | CAR | TB | SD | CIN | PHI | GB | CHI | NO | BUF | MIN | SEA | INDY | DAL | AZ | PIT | LA | 34 |
Chris Feery | DEN | ATL | KC | NYJ | CLE | JAX | CHI | OAK | BUF | TEN | SEA | INDY | NYG | NE | WASH | LA | 45 |
Chris Kuczynski | CAR | TB | KC | CIN | CLE | GB | CHI | OAK | BAL | MIN | MIA | INDY | NYG | AZ | PIT | LA | 38 |
Clayton Gray | DEN | TB | KC | NYJ | CLE | GB | HOU | NO | BUF | MIN | MIA | DET | NYG | NE | WASH | LA | 41 |
Danny Tuccitto | DEN | TB | SD | CIN | CLE | JAX | HOU | NO | BAL | MIN | MIA | DET | DAL | AZ | WASH | LA | 49 |
Dave Larkin | DEN | ATL | SD | CIN | PHI | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | MIN | MIA | DET | DAL | NE | WASH | SF | 38 |
Devin Knotts | CAR | ATL | KC | NYJ | PHI | GB | HOU | NO | BUF | TEN | MIA | DET | NYG | AZ | WASH | SF | 42 |
James Brimacombe | CAR | TB | SD | CIN | CLE | GB | HOU | NO | BUF | MIN | MIA | INDY | NYG | AZ | WASH | LA | 44 |
Jason Wood | CAR | TB | KC | NYJ | PHI | GB | HOU | OAK | BUF | TEN | MIA | DET | NYG | NE | WASH | SF | 34 |
Jeff Haseley | DEN | ATL | SD | NYJ | CLE | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | SEA | DET | DAL | NE | WASH | SF | 42 |
John Mamula | CAR | ATL | SD | NYJ | PHI | GB | HOU | OAK | BUF | MIN | SEA | INDY | DAL | NE | PIT | LA | 27 |
Justin Bonnema | CAR | ATL | SD | CIN | CLE | GB | CHI | NO | BUF | TEN | SEA | INDY | DAL | AZ | WASH | LA | 37 |
Justin Howe | DEN | TB | SD | CIN | CLE | JAX | CHI | NO | BUF | MIN | MIA | DET | NYG | NE | WASH | SF | 43 |
Keith Roberts | DEN | TB | KC | NYJ | CLE | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | SEA | INDY | NYG | NE | PIT | LA | 40 |
Mark Wimer | CAR | TB | KC | NYJ | CLE | GB | HOU | OAK | BUF | TEN | MIA | DET | NYG | AZ | PIT | LA | 49 |
Matt Bitonti | DEN | TB | KC | NYJ | PHI | GB | HOU | OAK | BAL | TEN | MIA | INDY | NYG | AZ | PIT | SF | 38 |
Phil Alexander | DEN | TB | SD | CIN | PHI | GB | CHI | NO | BAL | TEN | SEA | DET | NYG | NE | WASH | LA | 27 |
William Grant | CAR | ATL | SD | CIN | PHI | GB | HOU | NO | BAL | TEN | SEA | INDY | NYG | AZ | PIT | LA | 48 |
CONSENSUS WINNERS
Its opening weekend, you would have expected some consensus on a few picks – but you can clearly see the difference of making picks against the spread instead of just picking winners here. No team was picked unanimously, and the closest were the Packers (18 out of 23 staffers), Texans (17 out of 23), Saints (16) and Rams (16). It is already shaping up like a tough week, with many games split nearly right down the middle. Aside from the Giants (15, the most favorite underdog) and Washington (14, close second underdog pick), all the other games are either 13-10 or 12-11 splits. That means 10 out of 16 contests this week were hard calls, so Las Vegas must be happy with their lines for Week 1. It should be very interesting to see how it plays out.
ODDS AND ENDS
It's the first week of the season, and the picks are due by Wednesday night. Most of the staff would agree that picking this weekend's games on Wednesday night is very difficult because you don't have much information about injuries and practice. If your league allows you to pick the later games separate from the rest, take advantage of it and make your Sunday and Monday picks as close to the weekend as possible.
A reminder that these picks are against the Las Vegas lines – so getting above 50% is respectable, above 53% gets you into the “profitable zone” (accounting for the Las Vegas house odds of taking 10% of every losing wager) – and anything above 60% is outstanding. That may sound easy enough, but it is much, much harder that it might seem.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.