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Over the past few years, we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com some help in playing office pools, one of the most popular methods to follow the NFL aside from fantasy football leagues. For the past few seasons, the staff members have done 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 adding a combination of the two called the “Against the Spread” Challenge and also the Eliminator Challenge, where staffers have to pick a team to win each week. Just one? That sounds easy, but here is the catch – you can only pick the team you choose in a given week once all season long. Many contests and pools out there get pretty big, so an Eliminator (or Survivor) Pool can go 16 or 17 weeks.
Jeff Pasquino has provided some insight into this kind of contest with two pre-season articles, first one that describes this kind of contest along with some advice on how to pick a team each week:
The second article is rather interesting, which describes Jeff’s preseason plan to get all the way through 17 weeks. Will it work? We are about to find out.
This pool will run all season long, but to keep participation up, the pool will crown the staffer with the best W-L record for the season (which means that everyone in the pool will continue to make picks every week).
THIS WEEK'S PICK SUMMARY
Here are the picks for this week.
Staffer
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Wk01
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Wk02
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Wk03
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Wk04
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Wk05
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Wk06
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Wk07
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Wk08
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Wk09
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Wk10
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Wk11
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Wk12
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Wk13
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Wk14
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Wk15
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Wk16
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Wk17
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Dan Hindery
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NE
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Aaron Rudnicki
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GB
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Alessandro Miglio
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GB
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Clayton Gray
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GB
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James Brimacombe
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GB
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Jason Wood
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GB
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Jeff Haseley
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GB
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Mark Wimer
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GB
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Ari Ingel
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JAX
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Andrew Garda
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MIA
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Stephen Holloway
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MIA
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John Lee
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NYJ
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Matt Bitonti
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NYJ
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Maurile Tremblay
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SEA
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Justin Howe
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CIN
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Andy Hicks
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DEN
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Chris Feery
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DEN
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Dave Larkin
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DAL
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Jeff Pasquino
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DAL
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Steve Buzzard
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DAL
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William Grant
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DAL
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Bear Heiser
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MIN
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Justin Bonnema
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NYJ
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Phil Alexander
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n/a
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DISCUSSION
Twenty-two staffers are in the pool (with one to still catch up with the rest of us), and it should be quite interesting right out of the gate. Week 1 has very tight spreads, with just one team favored by more than seven points (New England). Only one staffer made the selection to go with the Patriots at home on Opening Night against the Steelers. The most common choice was the Packers (7 of 22) on the road against the Bears, which flies in the face of my rules for selecting Survivor picks (don't take a road team, don't take a divisional game) - so we'll have to see how that works for everyone. The next favorite was Dallas, my personal favorite as I see them in a must win situation at home against the Giants (and yes, I know this is a divisional game - but they are a decent favorite and they just have to pull this off). Three other teams were chosen more than once - Denver hosting Baltimore, the Jets hosting Cleveland and the Dolphins on the road at Washington. Five unique picks werre also made (Cincinnati, Jacksonville (!), Minnesota, New England and Seattle), making for 10 options on the board for the staff in Week 1. This could be quite interesting come Tuesday in the standings.
Please note a few things: First, Justin Bonnema is a little late to the party, and his selection did not make publication time. I'll get on him to make sure his picks are in sooner in the future. Also, we will be doing these picks every week, win or lose, to keep it entertaining all season long. Normally a Survivor / Eliminator pool would end once all but one player lost once, but to provide our subscribers with more perspectives, everyone will pick every week even if they lose. That said, we will still try and honor the spirit of an Eliminator / Survivor Pool, trying to win every week and not re-use any teams during the year.
COMMENTARY
Each week, contestants are invited to submit any comments that they might have about their picks. If they submit them early enough, we post them with the article. If not, the comments will be within the section below.
Jeff Pasquino: I decided to stick with my preseason plan and roll the dice on the Cowboys hosting the Giants, which feels as safe as I can feel for Week 1. Dallas is one of the bigger favorites in Week 1 according to Las Vegas at a -5.5 spread. Dallas simply must win before facing Philadelphia next week, and they cannot afford an 0-2 start in the division. A win in Week 1 assures them of at least a 1-1 start, which is far more reasonable to make a playoff push.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.