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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).
THIS WEEK'S PICK SUMMARY
Here are the picks for this week, along with last week's results:
Staff Member | Record | Wk01 | Wk02 | Wk03 | Wk04 | Wk05 | Wk06 | Wk07 | Wk08 | Wk09 | Wk10 | Wk11 | Wk12 | Wk13 | Wk14 | Wk15 | Wk16 | Wk17 |
John Mamula | 5-0 | PIT | OAK | NE | SEA | PHI | ATL | |||||||||||
Dave Larkin | 4-1 | BUF | BAL | GB | SEA | PIT | ATL | |||||||||||
Devin Knotts | 4-1 | BUF | SEA | LAR | GB | PIT | KC | |||||||||||
James Brimacombe | 4-1 | BUF | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | HOU | |||||||||||
Andy Hicks | 4-1 | DEN | SEA | NE | GB | PIT | ATL | |||||||||||
Ari Ingel | 4-1 | LAR | OAK | PHI | GB | DET | DEN | |||||||||||
Alessandro Miglio | 4-1 | ATL | SEA | GB | NE | IND | DEN | |||||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | 4-1 | PIT | OAK | GB | ATL | MIN | HOU | |||||||||||
Bear Heiser | 4-1 | BUF | AZ | MIA | SEA | IND | WAS | |||||||||||
Jason Wood | 4-1 | BUF | BAL | PIT | SEA | MIN | HOU | |||||||||||
Stephen Holloway | 4-1 | BUF | OAK | PIT | SEA | PHI | ATL | |||||||||||
Jeff Haseley | 4-1 | HOU | SEA | GB | AZ | PHI | DEN | |||||||||||
Matt Bitonti | 4-1 | HOU | OAK | NE | KC | PHI | ATL | |||||||||||
William Grant | 3-2 | ATL | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | WAS | |||||||||||
Aaron Rudnicki | 3-2 | BUF | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | DEN | |||||||||||
Justin Bonnema | 3-2 | BUF | SEA | MIA | AZ | PIT | HOU | |||||||||||
Justin Howe | 3-2 | LAR | OAK | MIA | SEA | PIT | HOU | |||||||||||
Chris Feery | 3-2 | HOU | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | ATL | |||||||||||
Andrew Garda | 3-2 | BUF | AZ | MIA | DAL | MIN | CAR | |||||||||||
Mark Wimer | 3-2 | BUF | OAK | MIA | JAC | MIN | DEN |
DISCUSSION
Twenty staffers are in the pool and Week 5 was the roughest week of the year by a landslide. Pittsburgh's loss to Jacksonville cost the group nine times, while Detroit's loss brought the group to a 10-10 record for Week 5. That left John Mamula as our "Stage 1" winner, as he is the last man standing at 5-0 without a loss on the year. This challenge just gets tougher and tougher every season. But we are not done! The staff continues all year long in the same manner, picking a winner each week without repeating any picks, and we see who has the best record at the end of the season. So on we go to Week 6.
With all but one pick in, three teams lead the way with 16 out of 20 picks for the week - Atlanta (6), Houston (5) and Denver (5). The Falcons return to action after their bye to host Miami, and Atlanta is a big favorite at home. Houston is also a major favorite as they host Cleveland, and Denver also fits that category as they host the 0-5 Giants. Washington was the only other team chosen more than once, as they host the 49ers for San Francisco's third road game in as many weeks. Kansas City (home against Pittsburgh) and Carolina (hosting the Eagles) were the two solo picks for Week 6.
Please note a few things: We will be doing these picks every week, win or lose, to keep it entertaining all season long. Normally a Survivor / Eliminator pool would end once all but one player lost once, but to provide our subscribers with more perspectives, everyone will pick every week even if they lose. That said, we will still try and honor the spirit of an Eliminator / Survivor Pool, trying to win every week and not re-use any teams during the year.
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: I really thought long and hard about sticking with my preseason plan and going with Washington at home against the 49ers, but I just have this feeling that San Francisco could pull an upset here. Josh Norman is out for a month, and while I do not like the tough travel schedule for San Francisco (three road games in a row, and traveling from Indianapolis to San Francisco and then to the East Coast for a 10AM Pacific kickoff) I still think that the 49ers match up well against Washington. Brian Hoyer is playing well, and Pierre Garcon will be geared up to face his former team as he played with D.C. from 2012- to 2016. That is why I chose to pivot to Houston, which was a planned pick for December (Week 14), I figure I can find another option for that week by then with all the teams back on the schedule. Let's see how it all plays out.
The Pick: Houston
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com