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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 | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17 |
Dave Larkin | 12-3 | DAL | NO | NE | ATL | GB | MIN | AZ | STL | CIN | PIT | SEA | KC | CHI | CAR | NO | OAK | |
Alex Miglio | 11-4 | GB | NO | SEA | INDY | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | NE | CAR | PHI | HOU | CIN | DEN | JAX | KC | |
Aaron Rudnicki | 11-4 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | NYG | DEN | SEA | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | AZ | CHI | NYJ | NE | PIT | |
James Brimacombe | 11-4 | GB | INDY | NE | INDY | DEN | SEA | AZ | STL | CIN | CAR | PHI | JAX | PIT | NYJ | KC | DET | |
Jason Wood | 11-4 | GB | NO | INDY | SD | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | NO | NO | DAL | JAX | CIN | SEA | NE | HOU | |
Andrew Garda | 11-4 | MIA | AZ | CIN | BUF | BAL | HOU | ATL | CAR | NO | GB | JAX | SEA | DEN | NYJ | NE | PIT | |
Chris Feery | 10-5 | DEN | NO | INDY | SEA | NYG | NE | AZ | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | JAX | PIT | |
Bear Heiser | 10-5 | MIN | BAL | SEA | SD | GB | CIN | MIA | STL | NO | BUF | ATL | DET | AZ | KC | TB | DEN | |
Jeff Haseley | 10-5 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | CIN | DEN | PHI | KC | NE | CHI | MIN | PIT | |
Justin Bonnema | 10-5 | NYJ | MIA | NYG | INDY | BAL | PHI | STL | NO | CIN | BAL | SEA | KC | WASH | TB | NE | DET | |
Clayton Gray | 10-5 | GB | NO | NE | AZ | ATL | DET | SD | STL | CIN | CAR | SEA | KC | WASH | DEN | MIN | PIT | |
Jeff Pasquino | 10-5 | DAL | INDY | NE | GB | ATL | SEA | AZ | STL | NO | CIN | CAR | KC | CHI | NYJ | MIN | PIT | |
John Lee | 10-5 | NYJ | NO | CAR | INDY | BAL | GB | STL | HOU | NO | DEN | SEA | CIN | CHI | KC | NE | BUF | |
William Grant | 10-5 | DAL | MIA | SEA | DEN | BAL | NYJ | STL | ATL | CIN | GB | CAR | AZ | CHI | NE | KC | PIT | |
Steve Holloway | 10-5 | MIA | INDY | SEA | BUF | ATL | NE | STL | AZ | SD | CIN | CAR | JAX | PIT | KC | MIN | DET | |
Dan Hindery | 10-5 | NE | BAL | HOU | SEA | KC | NYJ | AZ | STL | NO | GB | ATL | CIN | MIA | KC | MIN | PIT | |
Ari Ingel | 10-5 | JAX | BAL | SEA | INDY | KC | DEN | SD | DET | NE | CIN | CAR | AZ | MIA | KC | MIN | PIT | |
Andy Hicks | 9-6 | DEN | INDY | NE | SEA | KC | GB | AZ | STL | CIN | BAL | PHI | NYJ | CAR | MIA | JAX | BUF | |
Justin Howe | 9-6 | CIN | BAL | CAR | SD | KC | TEN | WASH | STL | MIN | PIT | SEA | AZ | NE | TB | JAX | INDY | |
Mark Wimer | 9-6 | GB | TEN | NE | OAK | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | DEN | OAK | CAR | HOU | WASH | KC | JAX | MIN | |
Maurile Tremblay | 9-6 | SEA | NE | CAR | CIN | AZ | TEN | MIN | STL | ATL | PIT | NYJ | TB | DEN | KC | BUF | DET | |
Steve Buzzard | 9-6 | DAL | MIA | NE | SEA | GB | NYJ | AZ | ATL | NO | CIN | CAR | JAX | CHI | KC | MIN | DET | |
Matt Bitonti | 8-7 | NYJ | MIA | SEA | OAK | GB | CIN | BUF | AZ | NO | PHI | ATL | JAX | PIT | KC | NE | HOU |
DISCUSSION
Another rough week for the staff with eight more losses for the group, led by the Jaguars losing to the Falcons at home. That brings the total losses for the staff up to 115, 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 (Kansas City, Seattle) have already been chosen by the staff. Pittsburgh was far and away the most popular pick this week as a double-digit favorite in Baltimore. I was also in that boat this week, and while it does violate two of my rules (don't pick a road team, and do not pick a divisional game) it is pretty clear that the Ravens are a hot mess and worth picking against - plus how can you pass up a 10-point favorite in Week 16? The other heavy favorite this week was Detroit, who received five selections as a home favorite by more than a touchdown against the 49ers. Aside from those two teams, only Buffalo and Houston (two each) received more than one vote. Unique picks of the Vikings, Chiefs, Colts, Raiders and Broncos rounded out the list. 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 the Steelers in Baltimore. Yes this is a divisional game and on the road, but a 10-point favorite is hard to pass up in Week 16. I nearly took Houston and they do make for a great contrarian pick this week if you are in a big pool.
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.