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).
FINAL PICK SUMMARY
Here are the picks from the final week of the regular season:
| Staff Member | Record | Wk01 | Wk02 | Wk03 | Wk04 | Wk05 | Wk06 | Wk07 | Wk08 | Wk09 | Wk10 | Wk11 | Wk12 | Wk13 | Wk14 | Wk15 | Wk16 | Wk17 |
| Bear Heiser | 15-2 | BUF | AZ | MIA | SEA | IND | WAS | TEN | CIN | NO | DET | KC | OAK | LAC | DAL | MIN | NE | PIT |
| Justin Howe | 15-2 | LAR | OAK | MIA | SEA | PIT | HOU | BUF | CIN | NO | NE | DET | PHI | GB | LAC | MIN | BAL | TEN |
| Jason Wood | 14-3 | BUF | BAL | PIT | SEA | MIN | HOU | DAL | CIN | NO | DET | KC | OAK | LAC | GB | ATL | LAR | WAS |
| Matt Bitonti | 14-3 | HOU | OAK | NE | KC | PHI | ATL | DAL | CIN | NO | LAR | DET | PIT | LAC | GB | MIN | CAR | SEA |
| James Brimacombe | 14-3 | BUF | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | HOU | DAL | PHI | NO | LAR | KC | ATL | LAC | CIN | MIN | BAL | DET |
| John Mamula | 14-3 | PIT | OAK | NE | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | NO | HOU | LAR | KC | CIN | JAC | LAC | MIN | BAL | DET |
| Justin Bonnema | 14-3 | BUF | SEA | MIA | AZ | PIT | HOU | TEN | CIN | PHI | DET | KC | CAR | GB | DAL | NO | BAL | MIN |
| Andrew Garda | 14-3 | BUF | AZ | MIA | DAL | MIN | CAR | TEN | ATL | JAC | DET | LAC | CIN | NE | GB | BAL | LAR | PIT |
| Mark Wimer | 13-4 | BUF | OAK | MIA | JAC | MIN | DEN | TEN | PHI | LAR | DET | PIT | NE | LAC | DAL | ATL | KC | BAL |
| Ari Ingel | 13-4 | LAR | OAK | PHI | GB | DET | DEN | TEN | NO | JAC | DET | KC | NE | LAC | CIN | MIN | BAL | PIT |
| Dave Larkin | 13-4 | BUF | BAL | GB | SEA | PIT | ATL | CAR | MIN | PHI | DET | NO | NE | LAC | CIN | DEN | KC | INDY |
| Alessandro Miglio | 13-4 | ATL | SEA | GB | NE | IND | DEN | CAR | PHI | NO | DET | PIT | CIN | LAC | HOU | BAL | WAS | TEN |
| Chris Feery | 13-4 | HOU | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | ATL | MIN | PHI | NO | DET | KC | WAS | LAC | BUF | BAL | CAR | INDY |
| Jeff Pasquino | 12-5 | PIT | OAK | GB | ATL | MIN | HOU | DAL | PHI | SEA | LAR | JAC | KC | LAC | NE | NO | CAR | BAL |
| Jeff Haseley | 12-5 | HOU | SEA | GB | AZ | PHI | DEN | DAL | CIN | NO | DET | KC | PIT | LAC | NE | MIN | CAR | BAL |
| Devin Knotts | 12-5 | BUF | SEA | LAR | GB | PIT | KC | TEN | MIN | HOU | DET | JAC | WAS | LAC | NE | NO | CHI | BAL |
| Andy Hicks | 12-5 | DEN | SEA | NE | GB | PIT | ATL | MIN | CIN | HOU | DET | NO | PHI | LAC | LAR | BAL | CAR | KC |
| Stephen Holloway | 12-5 | BUF | OAK | PIT | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | MIN | HOU | DET | JAC | BAL | LAC | CIN | NO | NE | PIT |
| William Grant | 12-5 | ATL | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | WAS | PHI | MIN | HOU | LAR | KC | CIN | LAC | DAL | NO | BAL | SEA |
| Aaron Rudnicki | 11-6 | BUF | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | DEN | MIN | PHI | HOU | DET | KC | CIN | LAC | DAL | NO | BAL | WAS |
DISCUSSION
The final week of the regular season made it quite interesting. Half of the staff suffered losses, thanks to the crazy finish between Cincinnati and Baltimore. Disappointing finishes from Washington and Seattle also added to the loss total, and it even shook up the final standings at the top of the list. Four staffers entered Week 16 with hopes of coming out on top, but only Bear Heiser and Justin Howe were able to get a victory. Bear was bolstered by saving Pittsburgh for the final matchup with the Browns (which was still a close call) and Justin got through with his call of Tennessee in a must-win situation. Congrats to both for a great finish.
Season long winners: Bear Heiser and Justin Howe
I want to thank you all for sticking around with us for another exciting season and contest. Best of luck to you in any playoff contests and we will see you again in the fall. Happy New Year!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com
