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Over the past few years we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com some help in playing in office pools and other games when it comes to following the NFL. 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 we added 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 pre-season 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 the results and standings so far:
Staff Member | Record | Wk01 | Wk02 | Wk03 | Wk04 | Wk05 | Wk06 | Wk07 | Wk08 | Wk09 | Wk10 | Wk11 | Wk12 | Wk13 | Wk14 | Wk15 | Wk16 | Wk17 |
Dave Larkin | 10-1 | DAL | NO | NE | ATL | GB | MIN | AZ | STL | CIN | PIT | SEA | KC | |||||
Alex Miglio | 9-2 | GB | NO | SEA | INDY | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | NE | CAR | PHI | HOU | |||||
Jeff Haseley | 8-3 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | CIN | DEN | PHI | KC | |||||
James Brimacombe | 8-3 | GB | INDY | NE | INDY | DEN | SEA | AZ | STL | CIN | CAR | PHI | JAX | |||||
Aaron Rudnicki | 8-3 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | NYG | DEN | SEA | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | AZ | |||||
Jason Wood | 8-3 | GB | NO | INDY | SD | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | NO | NO | DAL | JAX | |||||
Chris Feery | 8-3 | DEN | NO | INDY | SEA | NYG | NE | AZ | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | KC | |||||
Justin Bonnema | 8-3 | NYJ | MIA | NYG | INDY | BAL | PHI | STL | NO | CIN | BAL | SEA | KC | |||||
Clayton Gray | 8-3 | GB | NO | NE | AZ | ATL | DET | SD | STL | CIN | CAR | SEA | KC | |||||
Justin Howe | 8-3 | CIN | BAL | CAR | SD | KC | TEN | WASH | STL | MIN | PIT | SEA | AZ | |||||
Andy Hicks | 7-4 | DEN | INDY | NE | SEA | KC | GB | AZ | STL | CIN | BAL | PHI | NYJ | |||||
Maurile Tremblay | 7-4 | SEA | NE | CAR | CIN | AZ | TEN | MIN | STL | ATL | PIT | NYJ | TB | |||||
Bear Heiser | 7-4 | MIN | BAL | SEA | SD | GB | CIN | MIA | STL | NO | BUF | ATL | DET | |||||
Steve Buzzard | 7-4 | DAL | MIA | NE | SEA | GB | NYJ | AZ | ATL | NO | CIN | CAR | JAX | |||||
Jeff Pasquino | 7-4 | DAL | INDY | NE | GB | ATL | SEA | AZ | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | KC | |||||
Steve Holloway | 7-4 | MIA | INDY | SEA | BUF | ATL | NE | STL | AZ | SD | CIN | CAR | JAX | |||||
Andrew Garda | 7-4 | MIA | AZ | CIN | BUF | BAL | HOU | ATL | CAR | NO | GB | JAX | SEA | |||||
Mark Wimer | 7-4 | GB | TEN | NE | OAK | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | DEN | OAK | CAR | HOU | |||||
John Lee | 7-4 | NYJ | NO | CAR | INDY | BAL | GB | STL | HOU | NO | DEN | SEA | CIN | |||||
William Grant | 7-4 | DAL | MIA | SEA | DEN | BAL | NYJ | STL | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | AZ | |||||
Dan Hindery | 6-5 | NE | BAL | HOU | SEA | KC | NYJ | AZ | STL | NO | GB | ATL | CIN | |||||
Ari Ingel | 6-5 | JAX | BAL | SEA | INDY | KC | DEN | SD | DET | NE | CIN | CAR | AZ | |||||
Matt Bitonti | 5-6 | NYJ | MIA | SEA | OAK | GB | CIN | BUF | AZ | NO | PHI | ATL | X |
DISCUSSION
Another rough week for the staff with eight more losses for the group, led by the Eagles at home and Atlanta's loss to the Colts. That makes the standings even tighter as we head into the final weeks of the contest. Teams are getting harder to choose and there are fewer good picks left, so this could go any number of ways. What lies ahead for the next several weeks? That's the question, isn't it.
The picks this week are interesting in that most of the bigger favorites have already been chosen by the staff. That leaves some very tough choices left on the board. Kansas City led the group this week with six picks, followed by Jacksonville and Arizona with four each. Only Houston and Cincinnati had multiple picks (again, most have used the Bengals), and the rest of the choices were all single picks with Tampa Bay, Seattle, Detroit and the Jets. No doubt that this is going to be another interesting week.
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: It has been a rough season for this pool, and I have just about given up on my preseason picks at this point. Right now I am much more likely to follow Las Vegas and take the biggest favorite I have left to try and salvage a respectable season-long result. This week I have to go with Kansas City at home against the Bills, who may or may not have Tyrod Taylor. I hope not, but either way I like the Chiefs to pull out a win this week.
Will Grant: This week is UGLY. There are a lot of games that will be very difficult to pick. Thanksgiving is a good example. The Packer should beat the Bears, but Chicago has been playing better and they get Alshon Jeffery and Matt Forte back. The Packers have looked very beatable and it's a tough division match on a short week. Undefeated Carolina on the road against a Dallas team that's starting to get healthy? Which teams show up in the Detroit vs. Philadelphia? Would anyone be surprised if either of these teams won?
Glad I saved the Cardinals till this week. Here's hoping San Francisco continues their march toward a high draft pick next season.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.