Unlock More Content Like This With A
Footballguys Premium Subscription
"Footballguys is the best premium
fantasy football only site on the planet."
Matthew Berry, NBC Sports EDGE
Over the past few years, we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com 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 proud to bring you the combination of the two. The Footballguys.com Staff Against the Spread Pool Challenge. Multiple staff members (19) will pick the winner of each NFL game against the Las Vegas line. 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 Against the Spread Champion. Picks and ranks are due on Wednesday, so any late-breaking news may not be reflected in the choices.
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Here are the results from last week:
Road Team: | PIT | GB | SEA | CLE | CAR | KC | MIA | INDY | NO | DET | BAL | TEN | CIN | NYG | PHI | MIN | |||
Home Team: | NE | CHI | STL | NYJ | JAX | HOU | WASH | BUF | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | OAK | DAL | ATL | SF | |||
Favorite: | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | |||
Point Spread: | -7.5 | -6.5 | -4.5 | -3.5 | -3.5 | -1.5 | -3.5 | -2.5 | -2.5 | -3.5 | -4.5 | -3.5 | -3.5 | -5.5 | -2.5 | -2.5 | |||
Staffer | The Picks | MNF | LW | YtD | |||||||||||||||
Mark Wimer | PIT | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | SF | 35 | 10 | 10 |
Alessandro Miglio | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | SF | 42 | 9 | 9 |
Danny Tuccitto | PIT | GB | SEA | CLE | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TEN | CIN | DAL | PHI | SF | 49 | 9 | 9 |
Jason Wood | PIT | CHI | STL | NYJ | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TEN | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 43 | 9 | 9 |
Justin Howe | NE | GB | STL | NYJ | JAX | KC | WASH | BUF | AZ | DET | BAL | TEN | CIN | NYG | PHI | MIN | 40 | 9 | 9 |
William Grant | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | SF | 42 | 9 | 9 |
Justin Bonnema | PIT | GB | SEA | NYJ | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 48 | 9 | 9 |
Aaron Rudnicki | PIT | GB | STL | CLE | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 42 | 8 | 8 |
Andrew Garda | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | BAL | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 50 | 8 | 8 |
Chris Feery | NE | GB | STL | NYJ | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | NO | SD | DEN | TB | OAK | NYG | PHI | MIN | 41 | 8 | 8 |
Dave Larkin | PIT | GB | STL | NYJ | JAX | KC | MIA | BUF | AZ | DET | BAL | TB | OAK | DAL | PHI | MIN | 48 | 8 | 8 |
James Brimacombe | PIT | GB | SEA | CLE | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TEN | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 45 | 8 | 8 |
Phil Alexander | NE | CHI | STL | NYJ | CAR | HOU | WASH | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TB | CIN | NYG | ATL | MIN | 41 | 8 | 8 |
Jeff Pasquino | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TB | OAK | DAL | PHI | MIN | 41 | 7 | 7 |
Clayton Gray | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | JAX | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 45 | 7 | 7 |
Dan Hindery | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 46 | 7 | 7 |
Jeff Haseley | NE | GB | SEA | NYJ | CAR | HOU | MIA | BUF | AZ | DET | BAL | TB | CIN | DAL | PHI | MIN | 40 | 7 | 7 |
John Lee | NE | CHI | STL | NYJ | JAX | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | OAK | DAL | PHI | MIN | 40 | 7 | 7 |
Maurile Tremblay | PIT | CHI | SEA | CLE | JAX | KC | WASH | BUF | AZ | SD | BAL | TEN | OAK | DAL | PHI | SF | 40 | 7 | 7 |
Steve Holloway | PIT | GB | SEA | NYJ | JAX | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | SD | DEN | TB | OAK | DAL | PHI | MIN | 44 | 7 | 7 |
Andy Hicks | PIT | GB | SEA | NYJ | JAX | HOU | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | DEN | TB | OAK | DAL | PHI | MIN | 41 | 6 | 6 |
Bear Heiser | NE | GB | STL | NYJ | JAX | HOU | MIA | INDY | NO | DET | DEN | TB | OAK | NYG | PHI | MIN | 42 | 6 | 6 |
Matt Bitonti | PIT | CHI | SEA | NYJ | CAR | KC | MIA | INDY | AZ | DET | BAL | TB | OAK | DAL | PHI | MIN | 54 | 6 | 6 |
Mark Wimer finished in first for the week with a solid 10 picks correct, only one more than six other staffers who got nine picks right in Week 1. Six more staffers were one pick behind, breaking even with eight correct selections for the week. Just to prove how difficult this really is, 10 of the 23 fell below 50% for the week, only getting six or seven games right - showing that this really is much harder than it looks. Just look at the picks for Philadelphia, Dallas and Minnesota last week as proof. In fact, there were four games where 75% of the staff were wrong (PHI, DAL, MIN, INDY), which puts a big damper on any big win streaks for Week 1.
THIS WEEK'S PICKS
Here are the picks for this week:
Road Team: | DEN | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | SD | HOU | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | DAL | SEA | NYJ | |
Home Team: | KC | CLE | NO | BUF | CHI | PIT | WASH | CIN | CAR | NYG | MIN | OAK | JAX | PHI | GB | IND | |
Favorite: | KC | CLE | NO | NE | AZ | PIT | STL | CIN | CAR | NYG | MIN | BAL | MIA | PHI | GB | IND | |
Point Spread: | -3.5 | -1.5 | -10.5 | -0.5 | -2.5 | -6.5 | -3.5 | -3.5 | -3.5 | -2.5 | -3.5 | -7.5 | -6.5 | -5.5 | -3.5 | -7.5 | |
Staffer | The Picks | MNF | |||||||||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | KC | TEN | NO | NE | AZ | PIT | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | PHI | SEA | NYJ | 47 |
Aaron Rudnicki | DEN | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | SD | HOU | NYG | DET | OAK | MIA | PHI | SEA | NYJ | 45 |
Alessandro Miglio | DEN | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | CIN | HOU | NYG | DET | OAK | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 45 |
Andrew Garda | DEN | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | PHI | SEA | NYJ | 40 |
Andy Hicks | KC | TEN | TB | BUF | AZ | PIT | STL | CIN | HOU | ATL | MIN | OAK | JAX | PHI | SEA | IND | 41 |
Bear Heiser | KC | TEN | NO | NE | CHI | SF | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | MIN | OAK | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 42 |
Chris Feery | KC | CLE | NO | NE | AZ | SF | STL | SD | HOU | NYG | MIN | BAL | MIA | DAL | GB | IND | 51 |
Clayton Gray | KC | CLE | NO | BUF | AZ | SF | STL | CIN | HOU | NYG | DET | OAK | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 41 |
Dan Hindery | KC | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | PHI | GB | IND | 49 |
Danny Tuccitto | DEN | TEN | NO | NE | CHI | PIT | STL | CIN | HOU | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | PHI | SEA | NYJ | 49 |
Dave Larkin | DEN | CLE | TB | NE | CHI | PIT | STL | CIN | HOU | ATL | MIN | BAL | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 51 |
James Brimacombe | DEN | CLE | NO | NE | CHI | PIT | WASH | SD | HOU | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | PHI | SEA | IND | 52 |
Jason Wood | KC | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | MIN | BAL | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 47 |
Jeff Haseley | KC | CLE | TB | NE | AZ | PIT | STL | CIN | CAR | NYG | DET | OAK | JAX | DAL | SEA | NYJ | 47 |
John Lee | DEN | TEN | NO | BUF | AZ | PIT | WASH | CIN | CAR | ATL | DET | OAK | MIA | PHI | GB | IND | 44 |
Justin Bonnema | DEN | CLE | TB | NE | AZ | SF | STL | SD | CAR | NYG | DET | OAK | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 44 |
Justin Howe | DEN | TEN | TB | NE | AZ | SF | WASH | SD | CAR | NYG | MIN | OAK | JAX | DAL | SEA | NYJ | 47 |
Mark Wimer | KC | TEN | NO | NE | AZ | PIT | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | DET | BAL | MIA | DAL | GB | NYJ | 42 |
Matt Bitonti | KC | TEN | NO | NE | CHI | PIT | WASH | CIN | CAR | NYG | DET | BAL | MIA | PHI | GB | NYJ | 49 |
Maurile Tremblay | DEN | TEN | TB | NE | CHI | SF | WASH | SD | HOU | ATL | DET | OAK | JAX | DAL | GB | NYJ | 56 |
Phil Alexander | DEN | CLE | TB | NE | CHI | PIT | WASH | SD | CAR | NYG | MIN | BAL | MIA | DAL | GB | IND | 43 |
Steve Holloway | KC | TEN | TB | BUF | AZ | SF | STL | CIN | CAR | ATL | MIN | BAL | MIA | PHI | GB | IND | 39 |
William Grant | DEN | TEN | NO | NE | AZ | PIT | STL | CIN | CAR | NYG | DET | BAL | MIA | DAL | GB | IND | 38 |
CONSENSUS WINNERS
With one week behind us, you would think that there would be some sort of better understanding of who are the dominant teams – but you would never know it from looking at the 23 sets of picks this week. No team was picked unanimously, and the closest were New England and Miami (19 of 23 staff), followed by St. Louis (17), Arizona (16), Cincinnati (16), Philadelphia (16) and slight underdog Tennessee (16). Las Vegas would love these sets of picks on Denver / Kansas City and San Francisco / Pittsburgh as the choices were split almost exactly in half for both contests. It should be very interesting to see how it plays out.
ODDS AND ENDS
It's still quite early in the season, and the picks are due by Wednesday night. Most of the staff would agree that picking this weekend's games on Wednesday night is very difficult because you don't have much information about injuries and practice. If your league allows you to pick the later games separate from the rest, take advantage of it and make your Sunday and Monday picks as close to the weekend as possible.
A reminder that these picks are against the Las Vegas lines – so getting above 50% is respectable, above 53% gets you into the “profitable zone” (accounting for the Las Vegas house odds of taking 10% of every losing wager) – and anything above 60% is outstanding. That may sound easy enough, but it is much, much harder that it might seem.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.