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.
| Staff Member | Record | Wk01 | Wk02 | Wk03 | Wk04 | Wk05 | Wk06 | Wk07 | Wk08 | Wk09 | Wk10 | Wk11 | Wk12 | Wk13 | Wk14 | Wk15 | Wk16 | Wk17 |
| Andy Hicks | 4-0 | SEA | NE | GB | CIN | MIN | ||||||||||||
| Mark Wimer | 4-0 | KC | BAL | MIA | MIN | NE | ||||||||||||
| Matt Bitonti | 4-0 | KC | BAL | MIA | CIN | PIT | ||||||||||||
| John Mamula | 4-0 | SEA | CAR | MIA | HOU | NE | ||||||||||||
| William Grant | 4-0 | SEA | CAR | MIA | WASH | GB | ||||||||||||
| Clayton Gray | 4-0 | SEA | DEN | MIA | CIN | MIN | ||||||||||||
| Bear Heiser | 4-0 | GB | CAR | SEA | CIN | PIT | ||||||||||||
| Chris Kuczynski | 3-1 | KC | BAL | MIA | DET | PHI | ||||||||||||
| Aaron Rudnicki | 3-1 | HOU | CAR | MIA | AZ | GB | ||||||||||||
| Jeff Pasquino | 3-1 | HOU | CAR | MIA | AZ | NE | ||||||||||||
| Alex Miglio | 3-1 | SEA | CAR | MIA | DET | GB | ||||||||||||
| Dave Larkin | 3-1 | HOU | CAR | SEA | NE | PIT | ||||||||||||
| Ari Ingel | 3-1 | SEA | TEN | AZ | CIN | X | ||||||||||||
| Andrew Garda | 3-1 | PHI | BAL | NYG | HOU | OAK | ||||||||||||
| Justin Howe | 3-1 | BAL | DET | MIA | HOU | PHI | ||||||||||||
| Justin Bonnema | 3-1 | HOU | JAX | MIA | CIN | MIN | ||||||||||||
| Jeff Haseley | 3-1 | KC | SEA | DAL | CIN | MIN | ||||||||||||
| James Brimacombe | 3-1 | INDY | CAR | MIA | WASH | NE | ||||||||||||
| Jason Wood | 2-2 | HOU | NYJ | TB | AZ | NE | ||||||||||||
| Devin Knotts | 2-2 | HOU | DET | MIA | CAR | NE | ||||||||||||
| Chris Feery | 1-3 | SEA | OAK | CAR | AZ | NE |
DISCUSSION
Twenty-one staffers are in the pool this year, and we picked up a few more red marks after another tough week, including one for me for the first time. Arizona cost the staff four losses with Carson Palmer getting sidelined and the Rams playing them tough (broke a rule here with a divisional game). Detroit lost to Chicago (again, divisional game) while New England (divisional loss, see a theme?) was shut out at home by Buffalo. Carolina also lost to Atlanta, which makes all eight bad picks by the staff a clean sweep of divisional losses. Take that rule to heart - avoid divisional games if you can.
This week's picks are in, and I really expected New England to lead the charge across the board with Tom Brady back and a road trip to Cleveland. The Patriots are a big favorite, and they are the most popular pick, but I expected more than 35% of the 20 picks that are in this week to go towards New England. The Vikings (home against Houston) came in second with four picks, a clear nod to a very impressive defense at home. Pittsburgh (hosting the Jets) and Green Bay (hosting the Giants) tied with three selections each, while the Eagles (at Detroit) were the only other team selected more than once. Oakland (home vs. San Diego) looks like a very risky pick to me as the lone unique pick in Week 5. It looks to be a very active week in the standings once again.
Please note a few things: 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 the script of my preseason plan and select the New England Patriots this week. They are a big favorite (10 points) even on the road in Cleveland, and they get an anxious to play Tom Brady back. Even if he looks rusty, LeGarrette Blount should easily get 100 yards and at least one score against a weak Browns run defense. This looks like a slam dunk to me - or is it too easy of a pick?
The Pick: Patriots
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.
