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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 | 12-2 | DAL | NO | NE | ATL | GB | MIN | AZ | STL | CIN | PIT | SEA | KC | CHI | CAR | NO | ||
Alex Miglio | 11-3 | GB | NO | SEA | INDY | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | NE | CAR | PHI | HOU | CIN | DEN | JAX | ||
Aaron Rudnicki | 10-4 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | NYG | DEN | SEA | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | AZ | CHI | NYJ | NE | ||
Chris Feery | 10-4 | DEN | NO | INDY | SEA | NYG | NE | AZ | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | JAX | ||
James Brimacombe | 10-4 | GB | INDY | NE | INDY | DEN | SEA | AZ | STL | CIN | CAR | PHI | JAX | PIT | NYJ | KC | ||
Jason Wood | 10-4 | GB | NO | INDY | SD | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | NO | NO | DAL | JAX | CIN | SEA | NE | ||
Bear Heiser | 10-4 | MIN | BAL | SEA | SD | GB | CIN | MIA | STL | NO | BUF | ATL | DET | AZ | KC | TB | ||
Andrew Garda | 10-4 | MIA | AZ | CIN | BUF | BAL | HOU | ATL | CAR | NO | GB | JAX | SEA | DEN | NYJ | NE | ||
Andy Hicks | 9-5 | DEN | INDY | NE | SEA | KC | GB | AZ | STL | CIN | BAL | PHI | NYJ | CAR | MIA | JAX | ||
Jeff Haseley | 9-5 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | CIN | DEN | PHI | KC | NE | CHI | MIN | ||
Justin Bonnema | 9-5 | NYJ | MIA | NYG | INDY | BAL | PHI | STL | NO | CIN | BAL | SEA | KC | WASH | TB | NE | ||
Clayton Gray | 9-5 | GB | NO | NE | AZ | ATL | DET | SD | STL | CIN | CAR | SEA | KC | WASH | DEN | MIN | ||
Justin Howe | 9-5 | CIN | BAL | CAR | SD | KC | TEN | WASH | STL | MIN | PIT | SEA | AZ | NE | TB | JAX | ||
Jeff Pasquino | 9-5 | DAL | INDY | NE | GB | ATL | SEA | AZ | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | MIN | ||
Mark Wimer | 9-5 | GB | TEN | NE | OAK | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | DEN | OAK | CAR | HOU | WASH | KC | JAX | ||
John Lee | 9-5 | NYJ | NO | CAR | INDY | BAL | GB | STL | HOU | NO | DEN | SEA | CIN | CHI | KC | NE | ||
William Grant | 9-5 | DAL | MIA | SEA | DEN | BAL | NYJ | STL | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | AZ | CHI | NE | KC | ||
Maurile Tremblay | 9-5 | SEA | NE | CAR | CIN | AZ | TEN | MIN | STL | ATL | PIT | NYJ | TB | DEN | KC | BUF | ||
Steve Holloway | 9-5 | MIA | INDY | SEA | BUF | ATL | NE | STL | AZ | SD | CIN | CAR | JAX | PIT | KC | X | ||
Dan Hindery | 9-5 | NE | BAL | HOU | SEA | KC | NYJ | AZ | STL | NO | GB | ATL | CIN | MIA | KC | MIN | ||
Ari Ingel | 9-5 | JAX | BAL | SEA | INDY | KC | DEN | SD | DET | NE | CIN | CAR | AZ | MIA | KC | MIN | ||
Steve Buzzard | 8-6 | DAL | MIA | NE | SEA | GB | NYJ | AZ | ATL | NO | CIN | CAR | JAX | CHI | KC | MIN | ||
Matt Bitonti | 7-7 | NYJ | MIA | SEA | OAK | GB | CIN | BUF | AZ | NO | PHI | ATL | JAX | PIT | KC | NE |
DISCUSSION
Another rough week for the staff with six more losses for the group, led by the Buccaneers losing to the Saints at home and Denver's surprising loss at home to the Raiders. That brings the total losses for the staff up to 107, showing just how hard this season has been to predict, even on a weekly basis. These additional losses make the standings 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 bigger favorites (Seattle, New England) have already been chosen by the staff. Most of the staffers who had the Patriots left used them, making New England one of the top two choices this week with six picks. The other team receiving six of the 22 selections was Minnesota, home against Chicago this week. Jacksonville was a close third as they host the struggling Atlanta Falcons. A team at home who just scored 51 against a team that was shut out sounds like a safe choice. The only other team chosen more than once was the Chiefs with two picks, followed by unique selections of Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Buffalo. I for one cannot wait to see how this plays out.
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. Right now I am much more likely to follow Las Vegas and take the biggest favorite I have left to try and salvage a respectable season-long result. This week I have to go with Minnesota at home against the Bears. I think the Vikings must win this game with the Giants next week and a trip to Green Bay to close out the year, which puts the pressure on them to get the win. Adrian Peterson should run all day against the Bears, so I like this pick. Jacksonville was also a consideration, but I took the heavier favorite.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.