This season, we are proud to bring you the return of the Footballguys.com Staff Confidence Pool Challenge. 17 Staff members will pick the winner of each NFL game, and rank each choice from most confident (16 points) to least (1 point). As a tie-breaker, the person who is closest to the total points scored on the last Monday Night game will be the winner. Winners will be announced from week to week and the best overall record will be crowned Confidence pool Champion. Picks and ranks are due on Wednesday, so any late-breaking news may not be reflected in the choices. Also please note that no point spread is taken into account with these picks – it is a straight up pick of which NFL team will win this week. See the other confidence pools for picks against the spread (ATS) or Survivor / Eliminator style.
This Week's Picks
Here are the picks for this week.
Staffer | BAL | ATL | OAK | MIA | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | TEN | GB | ARI | NYG | PHI | HOU | MNF |
DEN | NO | IND | CLE | DET | BUF | NYJ | JAX | CAR | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | SD | TOTAL | |
Rudnicki | DEN | NO | IND | CLE | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 45 |
7 | 4 | 16 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 12 | ||
Harstad | DEN | ATL | IND | MIA | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 56 |
11 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 14 | ||
Garda | DEN | ATL | IND | CLE | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | NYG | WAS | HOU | 50 |
6 | 10 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 13 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 15 | ||
Hicks | DEN | NO | IND | MIA | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | TEN | SF | STL | DAL | PHI | HOU | 56 |
11 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 15 | ||
Larkin | DEN | ATL | IND | CLE | DET | NE | NYJ | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 44 |
10 | 7 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 13 | ||
Russell | DEN | ATL | IND | CLE | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | TEN | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 43 |
11 | 5 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 14 | ||
Cummings | BAL | ATL | IND | MIA | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | TEN | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 42 |
3 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 15 | ||
Brimacombe | DEN | ATL | IND | MIA | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | GB | STL | DAL | PHI | HOU | 41 |
15 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 13 | ||
Wood | DEN | NO | IND | MIA | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | TEN | GB | STL | DAL | PHI | HOU | 37 |
13 | 12 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 11 | ||
Haseley | BAL | NO | IND | CLE | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | TEN | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 46 |
9 | 5 | 16 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 14 | ||
Pasquino | DEN | NO | IND | MIA | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 41 |
6 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 13 | ||
Wimer | DEN | ATL | IND | CLE | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | GB | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 35 |
11 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 | ||
Bitonti | DEN | NO | IND | CLE | MIN | NE | NYJ | KC | CAR | CHI | TEN | SF | STL | NYG | PHI | HOU | 51 |
14 | 8 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 13 | ||
Tremblay | BAL | ATL | IND | MIA | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | PHI | HOU | 45 |
2 | 6 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 14 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 1 | ||
Hester | DEN | NO | IND | CLE | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 40 |
15 | 5 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 9 | ||
Holloway | DEN | NO | IND | CLE | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 47 |
10 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 15 | ||
Grant | DEN | ATL | IND | MIA | DET | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | HOU | 48 |
6 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 13 | ||
Away | BAL | ATL | OAK | MIA | MIN | NE | TB | KC | SEA | CIN | TEN | GB | ARI | NYG | PHI | HOU | |
Total Pts | 14 | 57 | 0 | 36 | 25 | 252 | 171 | 165 | 163 | 44 | 18 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 215 | |
Home | DEN | NO | IND | CLE | DET | BUF | NYJ | JAX | CAR | CHI | PIT | SF | STL | DAL | WAS | SD | |
Total Pts | 146 | 49 | 253 | 66 | 81 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 58 | 125 | 72 | 132 | 44 | 77 | 0 |
Heavy Favorites
No brains needed to take the Patriots or the Colts this week. Both received over 250 points of support. Houston was also over 200 with no one picking San Diego to upset them on Monday night. Denver is a heavy favorite tonight, although not nearly as much as the others mentioned. St. Louis was also picked by everyone, but with much less confidence than any of the other favorites. Other strong picks include Tampa, Kansas City, Seattle and Pittsburgh.
Dual Support
Atlanta and New Orleans is about as close as they come. The surprising thing there is that several people risked more than 10 points on their selection. This is a big game for some people. Cincinnati and Chicago looks like another game that split the field, with the hometown Bears getting a slight edge. Dallas and New York looks like the toughest match to call though, with Dallas being the clear favorite, despite having only 43 points of total support.
Odds and Ends
We’ve received a lot of requests for different styles of confidence pool, and this year we’ll be doing multiple versions. No matter what your office pool is, we definitely have something that you can use.
Reminder here that the maximum points this week is 136. Last year’s winner Clayton Gray is taking a step back so we’ll have a new Champion at the end of this season for sure.
Good luck this weekend!