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Over the past few years we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com some help in playing in office pools and other games when it comes to following the NFL. 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 we added 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 pre-season 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 the results and standings so far:
Staff Member | Record | Wk01 | Wk02 | Wk03 | Wk04 | Wk05 | Wk06 | Wk07 | Wk08 | Wk09 | Wk10 | Wk11 | Wk12 | Wk13 | Wk14 | Wk15 | Wk16 | Wk17 |
Dave Larkin | 11-2 | DAL | NO | NE | ATL | GB | MIN | AZ | STL | CIN | PIT | SEA | KC | CHI | CAR | |||
Alex Miglio | 11-2 | GB | NO | SEA | INDY | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | NE | CAR | PHI | HOU | CIN | DEN | |||
Jeff Haseley | 9-4 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | CIN | DEN | PHI | KC | NE | CHI | |||
Aaron Rudnicki | 9-4 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | NYG | DEN | SEA | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | AZ | CHI | NYJ | |||
Chris Feery | 9-4 | DEN | NO | INDY | SEA | NYG | NE | AZ | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | |||
Justin Bonnema | 9-4 | NYJ | MIA | NYG | INDY | BAL | PHI | STL | NO | CIN | BAL | SEA | KC | WASH | TB | |||
Clayton Gray | 9-4 | GB | NO | NE | AZ | ATL | DET | SD | STL | CIN | CAR | SEA | KC | WASH | DEN | |||
Justin Howe | 9-4 | CIN | BAL | CAR | SD | KC | TEN | WASH | STL | MIN | PIT | SEA | AZ | NE | TB | |||
James Brimacombe | 9-4 | GB | INDY | NE | INDY | DEN | SEA | AZ | STL | CIN | CAR | PHI | JAX | PIT | NYJ | |||
Jason Wood | 9-4 | GB | NO | INDY | SD | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | NO | NO | DAL | JAX | CIN | SEA | |||
Andy Hicks | 9-4 | DEN | INDY | NE | SEA | KC | GB | AZ | STL | CIN | BAL | PHI | NYJ | CAR | MIA | |||
Bear Heiser | 9-4 | MIN | BAL | SEA | SD | GB | CIN | MIA | STL | NO | BUF | ATL | DET | AZ | KC | |||
Andrew Garda | 9-4 | MIA | AZ | CIN | BUF | BAL | HOU | ATL | CAR | NO | GB | JAX | SEA | DEN | NYJ | |||
Jeff Pasquino | 8-5 | DAL | INDY | NE | GB | ATL | SEA | AZ | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | |||
Mark Wimer | 8-5 | GB | TEN | NE | OAK | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | DEN | OAK | CAR | HOU | WASH | KC | |||
John Lee | 8-5 | NYJ | NO | CAR | INDY | BAL | GB | STL | HOU | NO | DEN | SEA | CIN | CHI | KC | |||
William Grant | 8-5 | DAL | MIA | SEA | DEN | BAL | NYJ | STL | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | AZ | CHI | NE | |||
Maurile Tremblay | 8-5 | SEA | NE | CAR | CIN | AZ | TEN | MIN | STL | ATL | PIT | NYJ | TB | DEN | KC | |||
Steve Holloway | 8-5 | MIA | INDY | SEA | BUF | ATL | NE | STL | AZ | SD | CIN | CAR | JAX | PIT | KC | |||
Dan Hindery | 8-5 | NE | BAL | HOU | SEA | KC | NYJ | AZ | STL | NO | GB | ATL | CIN | MIA | KC | |||
Ari Ingel | 8-5 | JAX | BAL | SEA | INDY | KC | DEN | SD | DET | NE | CIN | CAR | AZ | MIA | KC | |||
Steve Buzzard | 7-6 | DAL | MIA | NE | SEA | GB | NYJ | AZ | ATL | NO | CIN | CAR | JAX | CHI | KC | |||
Matt Bitonti | 6-7 | NYJ | MIA | SEA | OAK | GB | CIN | BUF | AZ | NO | PHI | ATL | JAX | PIT | KC |
DISCUSSION
Another rough week for the staff with 12 more losses for the group, led by the Beas at home losing in overtime to San Francisco and Washington's loss to the Cowboys. That brings the grand total of missteps for the staff up to 101, which is a ridiculously high number for a contest like this. That just shows how difficult 2015 has been for the Eliminator. Only Week 3 was a perfect week for the staff this year. The standings are now even tighter as we head into the final weeks of the contest. Teams are getting harder to choose and there are fewer good picks left, so this could go any number of ways. What lies ahead for the next several weeks? That's the question, isn't it.
The picks this week are interesting in that most of the staff either went with the Chiefs at home (nine selections) or the Jets (5) hosting Tennessee. All the other picks were either unique or close to it with just two staff members picking that team. Denver and Tampa Bay were chosen twice, while Seattle, New England, Miami, Carolina and Chicago had unique picks. No doubt that this is going to be another interesting week.
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: It has been a rough season for this pool, and I have just about given up on my preseason picks at this point. I told you last week that I was very nervous about the Bears, and rightly so. Well, I know my next 3-4 picks to wrap up the year and I have already used the Chiefs, so that left me with the Jets as the best option this week for me. I chose the Jets as they are big favorites against a weak Tennessee squad. Let's hope I am right.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.