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 | 6-1 | PIT | OAK | NE | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | NO | |||||||||
James Brimacombe | 6-1 | BUF | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | HOU | DAL | PHI | |||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | 6-1 | PIT | OAK | GB | ATL | MIN | HOU | DAL | PHI | |||||||||
Bear Heiser | 6-1 | BUF | AZ | MIA | SEA | IND | WAS | TEN | CIN | |||||||||
Jason Wood | 6-1 | BUF | BAL | PIT | SEA | MIN | HOU | DAL | CIN | |||||||||
Devin Knotts | 5-2 | BUF | SEA | LAR | GB | PIT | KC | TEN | MIN | |||||||||
Andy Hicks | 5-2 | DEN | SEA | NE | GB | PIT | ATL | MIN | CIN | |||||||||
Ari Ingel | 5-2 | LAR | OAK | PHI | GB | DET | DEN | TEN | NO | |||||||||
William Grant | 5-2 | ATL | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | WAS | PHI | MIN | |||||||||
Stephen Holloway | 5-2 | BUF | OAK | PIT | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | MIN | |||||||||
Justin Bonnema | 5-2 | BUF | SEA | MIA | AZ | PIT | HOU | TEN | CIN | |||||||||
Justin Howe | 5-2 | LAR | OAK | MIA | SEA | PIT | HOU | BUF | CIN | |||||||||
Jeff Haseley | 5-2 | HOU | SEA | GB | AZ | PHI | DEN | DAL | CIN | |||||||||
Matt Bitonti | 5-2 | HOU | OAK | NE | KC | PHI | ATL | DAL | CIN | |||||||||
Dave Larkin | 4-3 | BUF | BAL | GB | SEA | PIT | ATL | CAR | MIN | |||||||||
Alessandro Miglio | 4-3 | ATL | SEA | GB | NE | IND | DEN | CAR | PHI | |||||||||
Aaron Rudnicki | 4-3 | BUF | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | DEN | MIN | PHI | |||||||||
Andrew Garda | 4-3 | BUF | AZ | MIA | DAL | MIN | CAR | TEN | ATL | |||||||||
Mark Wimer | 4-3 | BUF | OAK | MIA | JAC | MIN | DEN | TEN | PHI | |||||||||
Chris Feery | 4-3 | HOU | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | ATL | MIN | PHI |
DISCUSSION
Week 7 was a much better week for the staff, with only two blemishes thanks once again to two staffers picking against Chicago. Everyone else skated by this week, as the staff went 18-2 in Week 7. As we turn the page to Week 8, it really came down to three choices - Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Minnesota. Cincinnati led the way with seven picks as the Bengals are big favorites at home against the Colts, but picking a winner amongst two teams with losing records is always a challenge. The Eagles came in one pick behind with six staff selections as they host the 0-7 49ers on Sunday, and San Francisco is on the road for the fourth time in five weeks with their third trip to the Eastern time zone this month. Minnesota was third with four votes, and while the Vikings are technically the road team against the Browns, the game is in London, England, not Cleveland, Ohio. New Orleans was the only other team chosen more than once this week with two picks - and we all saw how that worked out for the Panthers last week against Chicago. One unique selection this week was Atlanta, which feels like a tough call on the road against the Jets.
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 Philadelphia pick. The Eagles are enormous favorites this week (12.5 to 13.5 points) at home against the 0-7 49ers, who are traveling to the Eastern time zone for the third time in four weeks and are also playing their fourth road game in five weeks. Philadelphia may be on a short week after playing Monday but they are at home and riding a 6-1 record as the best team in the NFL right now. Sure there is a possibility of a trap game for the Eagles here, but I think they are so far ahead of San Francisco that even if they get involved in a close contest they have enough talent to win. Everyone is going to be on them this week, but I am not worried about that - some have already used the Eagles, so just eat the chalk and get to the next round.
The Pick: Philadelphia
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com