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, along with last week's results:
Staff Member | Record | Wk01 | Wk02 | Wk03 | Wk04 | Wk05 | Wk06 | Wk07 | Wk08 | Wk09 | Wk10 | Wk11 | Wk12 | Wk13 | Wk14 | Wk15 | Wk16 | Wk17 |
John Mamula | 5-1 | PIT | OAK | NE | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | ||||||||||
James Brimacombe | 5-1 | BUF | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | HOU | DAL | ||||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | 5-1 | PIT | OAK | GB | ATL | MIN | HOU | DAL | ||||||||||
Bear Heiser | 5-1 | BUF | AZ | MIA | SEA | IND | WAS | TEN | ||||||||||
Jason Wood | 5-1 | BUF | BAL | PIT | SEA | MIN | HOU | DAL | ||||||||||
Dave Larkin | 4-2 | BUF | BAL | GB | SEA | PIT | ATL | CAR | ||||||||||
Devin Knotts | 4-2 | BUF | SEA | LAR | GB | PIT | KC | TEN | ||||||||||
Andy Hicks | 4-2 | DEN | SEA | NE | GB | PIT | ATL | MIN | ||||||||||
Ari Ingel | 4-2 | LAR | OAK | PHI | GB | DET | DEN | TEN | ||||||||||
Alessandro Miglio | 4-2 | ATL | SEA | GB | NE | IND | DEN | CAR | ||||||||||
Steven Holloway | 4-2 | BUF | OAK | PIT | SEA | PHI | ATL | X | ||||||||||
Jeff Haseley | 4-2 | HOU | SEA | GB | AZ | PHI | DEN | DAL | ||||||||||
Matt Bitonti | 4-2 | HOU | OAK | NE | KC | PHI | ATL | DAL | ||||||||||
William Grant | 4-2 | ATL | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | WAS | PHI | ||||||||||
Justin Bonnema | 4-2 | BUF | SEA | MIA | AZ | PIT | HOU | TEN | ||||||||||
Justin Howe | 4-2 | LAR | OAK | MIA | SEA | PIT | HOU | BUF | ||||||||||
Aaron Rudnicki | 3-3 | BUF | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | DEN | MIN | ||||||||||
Andrew Garda | 3-3 | BUF | AZ | MIA | DAL | MIN | CAR | TEN | ||||||||||
Mark Wimer | 3-3 | BUF | OAK | MIA | JAC | MIN | DEN | TEN | ||||||||||
Chris Feery | 3-3 | HOU | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | ATL | MIN |
DISCUSSION
Week 6 might go down in infamy, as that was one of the worst showings by the staff in a long time. Losses by Atlanta (6), Denver (5), Carolina, Baltimore, and Kansas City gave the group 13 losses for the week, and it eliminated any chance for a perfect season (sorry John). Those who slipped by with Houston or Washington moved up quite a bit in the standings, and there are just four staff members now with just one loss on the year. It gets tougher and tougher with each passing week, and at first glance there appears to be no clear cut choice for Week 7. The picks should be pretty interesting once they post for the week.
With all but one pick in, two teams jumped to the head of the pack with the common selections. Tennessee may have a short turnaround after playing Monday Night Football, but if ever there was a good trend in Survivor leagues, it is to fade the Browns. The Titans are visiting Cleveland, which is a mess (again) and a home underdog of right around a touchdown. While seven staffers went with Tennessee, five more went with another road favorite in the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas is coming off of their bye week and are also favored by almost a touchdown as they head to California to take on the winless 49ers after their three week road trip. Only two other teams received more than one selection, as three picks went to the Vikings (hosting Baltimore in the Deep Purple Bowl), while two staff members chose Carolina to continue their perfect road record as they visit the Bears. Buffalo (hosting Tampa Bay) and Philadelphia (hosting Washington on Monday) were the two unique picks for Week 7. There are plenty of picks on the list for Week 7, so anything can happen.
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 go right back to my preseason plan and stick with my Dallas pick. I decided that the August version of myself may have been on to something by taking a well rested Dallas team that faces a 49ers squad that just endured three road losses and two long trips to the East Coast. Dallas is favored by 5.5 points and should be able to get the job done and keep San Francisco's winless season alive, at least for one more week.
The Pick: Dallas
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com