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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 | 13-3 | DAL | NO | NE | ATL | GB | MIN | AZ | STL | CIN | PIT | SEA | KC | CHI | CAR | NO | OAK | DEN |
Alex Miglio | 12-4 | GB | NO | SEA | INDY | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | NE | CAR | PHI | HOU | CIN | DEN | JAX | KC | PIT |
James Brimacombe | 12-4 | GB | INDY | NE | INDY | DEN | SEA | AZ | STL | CIN | CAR | PHI | JAX | PIT | NYJ | KC | DET | NYG |
Jason Wood | 12-4 | GB | NO | INDY | SD | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | NO | NO | DAL | JAX | CIN | SEA | NE | HOU | DEN |
Aaron Rudnicki | 11-5 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | NYG | DEN | SEA | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | AZ | CHI | NYJ | NE | PIT | INDY |
Andrew Garda | 11-5 | MIA | AZ | CIN | BUF | BAL | HOU | ATL | CAR | NO | GB | JAX | SEA | DEN | NYJ | NE | PIT | INDY |
Bear Heiser | 11-5 | MIN | BAL | SEA | SD | GB | CIN | MIA | STL | NO | BUF | ATL | DET | AZ | KC | TB | DEN | WASH |
Justin Bonnema | 11-5 | NYJ | MIA | NYG | INDY | BAL | PHI | STL | NO | CIN | BAL | SEA | KC | WASH | TB | NE | DET | PIT |
John Lee | 11-5 | NYJ | NO | CAR | INDY | BAL | GB | STL | HOU | NO | DEN | SEA | CIN | CHI | KC | NE | BUF | PIT |
Steve Holloway | 11-5 | MIA | INDY | SEA | BUF | ATL | NE | STL | AZ | SD | CIN | CAR | JAX | PIT | KC | MIN | DET | DEN |
Chris Feery | 10-6 | DEN | NO | INDY | SEA | NYG | NE | AZ | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | JAX | PIT | PHI |
Jeff Haseley | 10-6 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | CIN | DEN | PHI | KC | NE | CHI | MIN | PIT | CAR |
Clayton Gray | 10-6 | GB | NO | NE | AZ | ATL | DET | SD | STL | CIN | CAR | SEA | KC | WASH | DEN | MIN | PIT | HOU |
Jeff Pasquino | 10-6 | DAL | INDY | NE | GB | ATL | SEA | AZ | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | MIN | PIT | DEN |
William Grant | 10-6 | DAL | MIA | SEA | DEN | BAL | NYJ | STL | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | AZ | CHI | NE | KC | PIT | INDY |
Dan Hindery | 10-6 | NE | BAL | HOU | SEA | KC | NYJ | AZ | STL | NO | GB | ATL | CIN | MIA | KC | MIN | PIT | CAR |
Ari Ingel | 10-6 | JAX | BAL | SEA | INDY | KC | DEN | SD | DET | NE | CIN | CAR | AZ | MIA | KC | MIN | PIT | CIN |
Andy Hicks | 10-6 | DEN | INDY | NE | SEA | KC | GB | AZ | STL | CIN | BAL | PHI | NYJ | CAR | MIA | JAX | BUF | PIT |
Justin Howe | 10-6 | CIN | BAL | CAR | SD | KC | TEN | WASH | STL | MIN | PIT | SEA | AZ | NE | TB | JAX | INDY | NYJ |
Mark Wimer | 10-6 | GB | TEN | NE | OAK | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | DEN | OAK | CAR | HOU | WASH | KC | JAX | MIN | PIT |
Maurile Tremblay | 10-6 | SEA | NE | CAR | CIN | AZ | TEN | MIN | STL | ATL | PIT | NYJ | TB | DEN | KC | BUF | DET | DAL |
Steve Buzzard | 10-6 | DAL | MIA | NE | SEA | GB | NYJ | AZ | ATL | NO | CIN | CAR | JAX | CHI | KC | MIN | DET | PIT |
Matt Bitonti | 9-7 | NYJ | MIA | SEA | OAK | GB | CIN | BUF | AZ | NO | PHI | ATL | JAX | PIT | KC | NE | HOU | CAR |
DISCUSSION
Another rough week for the staff with nine more losses for the group, thanks to Pittsburgh's loss in Baltimore. That tightened up the standings as we head into the final week of the season. 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 Week 17? 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. Pittsburgh led the group this week with six picks, followed by Denver with four and Carolina with three. The only other team to receive multiple selections was Indianapolis (two). Multiple unique picks ended the regular season as six teams (Washington, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, the Jets and Giants) were individually chosen. As for the overall standings, a Denver win gives the title to Dave Larkin, but if the Broncos lose, either Alex Miglio (Steelers) or James Brimacombe (Giants) could grab the title. 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 Denver at home against the Chargers, as the Broncos really need a win and are nearly double-digit favorites.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.