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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 |
James Brimacombe | 10-2 | BUF | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | HOU | DAL | PHI | NO | LAR | KC | ATL | LAC | ||||
Bear Heiser | 10-2 | BUF | AZ | MIA | SEA | IND | WASH | TEN | CIN | NO | DET | KC | OAK | LAC | ||||
Jason Wood | 10-2 | BUF | BAL | PIT | SEA | MIN | HOU | DAL | CIN | NO | DET | KC | OAK | LAC | ||||
Justin Howe | 10-2 | LAR | OAK | MIA | SEA | PIT | HOU | BUF | CIN | NO | NE | DET | PHI | X | ||||
Matt Bitonti | 10-2 | HOU | OAK | NE | KC | PHI | ATL | DAL | CIN | NO | LAR | DET | PIT | LAC | ||||
Jeff Pasquino | 9-3 | PIT | OAK | GB | ATL | MIN | HOU | DAL | PHI | SEA | LAR | JAC | KC | LAC | ||||
John Mamula | 9-3 | PIT | OAK | NE | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | NO | HOU | LAR | KC | CIN | JAC | ||||
Jeff Haseley | 9-3 | HOU | SEA | GB | AZ | PHI | DEN | DAL | CIN | NO | DET | KC | PIT | LAC | ||||
Ari Ingel | 9-3 | LAR | OAK | PHI | GB | DET | DEN | TEN | NO | JAC | DET | KC | NE | LAC | ||||
Justin Bonnema | 9-3 | BUF | SEA | MIA | AZ | PIT | HOU | TEN | CIN | PHI | DET | KC | CAR | GB | ||||
Devin Knotts | 9-3 | BUF | SEA | LAR | GB | PIT | KC | TEN | MIN | HOU | DET | JAC | WASH | LAC | ||||
Andy Hicks | 9-3 | DEN | SEA | NE | GB | PIT | ATL | MIN | CIN | HOU | DET | NO | PHI | LAC | ||||
Dave Larkin | 9-3 | BUF | BAL | GB | SEA | PIT | ATL | CAR | MIN | PHI | DET | NO | NE | LAC | ||||
Alessandro Miglio | 9-3 | ATL | SEA | GB | NE | IND | DEN | CAR | PHI | NO | DET | PIT | CIN | LAC | ||||
Andrew Garda | 9-3 | BUF | AZ | MIA | DAL | MIN | CAR | TEN | ATL | JAC | DET | LAC | CIN | NE | ||||
Mark Wimer | 9-3 | BUF | OAK | MIA | JAC | MIN | DEN | TEN | PHI | LAR | DET | PIT | NE | LAC | ||||
Stephen Holloway | 9-3 | BUF | OAK | PIT | SEA | PHI | ATL | TEN | MIN | HOU | DET | JAC | BAL | LAC | ||||
Chris Feery | 8-4 | HOU | OAK | NE | SEA | PIT | ATL | MIN | PHI | NO | DET | KC | WASH | LAC | ||||
William Grant | 8-4 | ATL | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | WASH | PHI | MIN | HOU | LAR | KC | CIN | LAC | ||||
Aaron Rudnicki | 7-5 | BUF | OAK | GB | NE | PIT | DEN | MIN | PHI | HOU | DET | KC | CIN | LAC |
DISCUSSION
Week 12 was nearly perfect. Only my bad pick of the imploding Chiefs kept the staff from a sweep for the week, and that setback was the only blemish for the group. Before I look ahead, it seems rather clear that most of the staff will look at the Chargers, as only one staffer (Andrew Garda) has used them to date. As a two touchdown favorite, most everyone will be looking at the Chargers for an easy win in Week 13.
Well, it was close to unanimous. Out of 19 selections (one is late), 16 were for the Chargers, as I expected. Andrew Garda (who has already used the Chargers) went with New England (at Buffalo), also a relatively safe pick with the Patriots favored by more than a touchdown. It should be noted, however, that this breaks two of my Survivor rules - do not pick a road team and do not pick a game that is a divisional matchup. Justin Bonnema went against the grain with his selection of X while John Mamula went with the Jaguars (home against the Colts). I can get behind the Jacksonville pick as a big home favorite, but this is a divisional game and Jacksonville just took a loss last week, which makes it tough. As for the Green Bay selection (hosting Tampa Bay), well, it could be genius - but I would have gone in a different direction. I guess we will all see come Monday how smart everyone was, especially if the Chargers do not keep the Cleveland losing streak alive.
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 decided to stick with a portion of my preseason plan and go with one of the alternate selections of the Chargers. At the time this was more of an anti-Browns pick than a pro-Chargers selection, but it makes sense all the same. At some point I do think the Browns get a victory this year, but I just hope this is not the week. Aside from that pick, either Jacksonville or New England makes sense if you want to try and go against the masses in your pool - but I really think that this is not the week to try and be different. Just take the Chargers and survive for seven more days.
The Pick: Los Angeles Chargers
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com