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 | 7-0 | SEA | NE | GB | CIN | MIN | TEN | KC | DAL | |||||||||
Matt Bitonti | 7-0 | KC | BAL | MIA | CIN | PIT | NE | GB | NYJ | |||||||||
William Grant | 7-0 | SEA | CAR | MIA | WASH | GB | BUF | DEN | NE | |||||||||
Clayton Gray | 6-1 | SEA | DEN | MIA | CIN | MIN | NE | ATL | NYJ | |||||||||
Bear Heiser | 6-1 | GB | CAR | SEA | CIN | PIT | BUF | ATL | NYJ | |||||||||
Mark Wimer | 6-1 | KC | BAL | MIA | MIN | NE | PIT | CIN | NYJ | |||||||||
John Mamula | 6-1 | SEA | CAR | MIA | HOU | NE | PIT | CIN | MIN | |||||||||
Aaron Rudnicki | 6-1 | HOU | CAR | MIA | AZ | GB | BUF | CIN | DEN | |||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | 6-1 | HOU | CAR | MIA | AZ | NE | BUF | CIN | MIN | |||||||||
Ari Ingel | 6-1 | SEA | TEN | AZ | CIN | NE | DET | GB | MIN | |||||||||
Andrew Garda | 6-1 | PHI | BAL | NYG | HOU | OAK | BUF | DEN | MIN | |||||||||
Justin Bonnema | 6-1 | HOU | JAX | MIA | CIN | MIN | BUF | TB | DET | |||||||||
Jeff Haseley | 6-1 | KC | SEA | DAL | CIN | MIN | AZ | DEN | NE | |||||||||
James Brimacombe | 6-1 | INDY | CAR | MIA | WASH | NE | BUF | CIN | MIN | |||||||||
Alex Miglio | 5-2 | SEA | CAR | MIA | DET | GB | AZ | ATL | MIN | |||||||||
Chris Kuczynski | 5-2 | KC | BAL | MIA | DET | PHI | AZ | CIN | OAK | |||||||||
Justin Howe | 5-2 | BAL | DET | MIA | HOU | PHI | BUF | NE | MIN | |||||||||
Dave Larkin | 4-3 | HOU | CAR | SEA | NE | PIT | GB | BUF | MIN | |||||||||
Jason Wood | 4-3 | HOU | NYJ | TB | AZ | NE | CAR | OAK | MIN | |||||||||
Devin Knotts | 4-3 | HOU | DET | MIA | CAR | NE | GB | CIN | NYJ | |||||||||
Chris Feery | 3-4 | SEA | OAK | CAR | AZ | NE | PIT | DEN | DAL |
DISCUSSION
Twenty-one staffers are in the pool this year, and we picked up four more losses for the group with the Falcons losing in overtime to San Diego and Buffalo taking the loss in Miami. Those were the only two issues for the group on a relatively easy picking week, but will the same hold true again for Week 8? Let's look at the picks for this week as we have 21 more selections to discuss.
We are down to just three staffers with a perfect record, and one just got in under the wire. Matt Bitonti made a change (as I was writing this article) to Green Bay, a fortuitous choice given that the Falcons lost. That leaves just Matt, William Grant and Andy Hicks at a perfect 7-0 on the season. Can they go the distance? It all starts with this week's picks.
As I pointed out when I planned the whole season out in "I Will Survive", Week 8 is a minefield. Six teams are on a bye and no team was projected to be a major favorite, and that is exactly what we have as Week 8 arrives. That means a lot of the staff are searching for solid choices, and the group seemed to land on two teams the most this week. The top choice is the Minnesota Vikings, a tough choice given that they are on the road and playing a divisional rival in the Bears before a national audience, which usually means the home team will be up for the challenge and does not want to get embarrassed. Minnesota is looking to bounce back, however, after their first loss on the road at the Eagles, and Chicago is really not that good and they are changing quarterbacks once again (back to Jay Cutler). No pick is safe, but this does seem like a reasonable call. The next most popular team was the Jets, who are traveling to Cleveland to face the winless Browns. Can Cleveland get their first win, or will they need yet another new starting quarterback? The rest of the staff scattered their picks between two teams that were chosen twice (Patriots and Cowboys) and three unique picks (Denver, Detroit and Oakland). This could be a tough week, so stay tuned for the results.
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 away from the script of my preseason plan, where I picked Tampa Bay hosting Oakland, as the Raiders did not travel back to California but stayed in Bradenton, FL for the week to train. Couple that with the game being close according to Las Vegas and it made sense to look elsewhere. I went with the Vikings, as they need to win again after a tough loss in Philadelphia, and the Bears are not going anywhere fast this season. Minnesota is on the road against a divisional team, but this is a tough week and taking a 5-1 club that is favored by almost a touchdown feels like the best choice.
The Pick: Vikings
Good luck this weekend!
Will Grant: This week was especially tough with 6 teams on a bye and the biggest Vegas spreads are on divisional games like Minnesota at Chicago and New England at Buffalo. After San Diego beat Atlanta last week, would it surprise anyone if they went into Denver and won? The Cowboys are a 4.5 point favorite at home but the Eagles always play them tough and they are on a roll after a big win last week.
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.