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.
One of the most popular methods
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 |
Aaron Rudnicki | 7-1 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | NYG | DEN | AZ | STL | NO | ||||||||
Alex Miglio | 7-1 | GB | NO | SEA | INDY | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | NE | ||||||||
Jason Wood | 7-1 | GB | NO | INDY | SD | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | NO | ||||||||
Dave Larkin | 7-1 | DAL | NO | NE | ATL | GB | MIN | AZ | STL | CIN | ||||||||
Jeff Haseley | 7-1 | GB | NO | SEA | SD | ATL | NYJ | AZ | STL | CIN | ||||||||
Chris Feery | 6-2 | DEN | NO | INDY | SEA | NYG | NE | AZ | ATL | CIN | ||||||||
Steve Buzzard | 6-2 | DAL | MIA | NE | SEA | GB | NYJ | AZ | ATL | NO | ||||||||
James Brimacombe | 6-2 | GB | INDY | NE | INDY | DEN | SEA | AZ | STL | CIN | ||||||||
Jeff Pasquino | 6-2 | DAL | INDY | NE | GB | ATL | SEA | AZ | STL | NO | ||||||||
Maurile Tremblay | 6-2 | SEA | NE | CAR | CIN | AZ | TEN | MIN | STL | ATL | ||||||||
Andrew Garda | 6-2 | MIA | AZ | CIN | BUF | BAL | HOU | ATL | CAR | NO | ||||||||
Dan Hindery | 6-2 | NE | BAL | HOU | SEA | KC | NYJ | AZ | STL | NO | ||||||||
Andy Hicks | 6-2 | DEN | INDY | NE | SEA | KC | GB | AZ | STL | CIN | ||||||||
Justin Bonnema | 6-2 | NYJ | MIA | NYG | INDY | BAL | PHI | STL | NO | CIN | ||||||||
Mark Wimer | 6-2 | GB | TEN | NE | OAK | NYG | NYJ | ATL | AZ | DEN | ||||||||
Steve Holloway | 6-2 | MIA | INDY | SEA | BUF | ATL | NE | STL | AZ | SD | ||||||||
Bear Heiser | 6-2 | MIN | BAL | SEA | SD | GB | CIN | MIA | STL | NO | ||||||||
John Lee | 6-2 | NYJ | NO | CAR | INDY | BAL | GB | STL | HOU | NO | ||||||||
William Grant | 5-3 | DAL | MIA | SEA | DEN | BAL | NYJ | STL | ATL | CIN | ||||||||
Clayton Gray | 5-3 | GB | NO | NE | AZ | ATL | DET | SD | STL | CIN | ||||||||
Matt Bitonti | 5-3 | NYJ | MIA | SEA | OAK | GB | CIN | BUF | AZ | NO | ||||||||
Justin Howe | 5-3 | CIN | BAL | CAR | SD | KC | TEN | WASH | STL | MIN | ||||||||
Ari Ingel | 4-4 | JAX | BAL | SEA | INDY | KC | DEN | SD | DET | NE |
DISCUSSION
Only two bad team choices in Week 8 for the staff but three staff members all went with Atlanta and suffered yet another loss. Tough break as it would have been difficult to avoid Atlanta - or would it? A divisional game is always dangerous, as highlighted in my Survivor pick rules, so choosing the Falcons went against that grain of salt. With just four losses for the group, there was a little movement in the standings, but it does eliminate several more options as we head towards the back half of the season. The choices will start to become much harder as we enter November, so this will be a fun standings table to watch.
The picks this week fall into three distinct groups - the consensus, the heavy favorites that are still available, and the unique picks. Most of the staff went with heavy favorites wherever possible, and that makes a ton of sense. The Saints received the most selections with nine as New Orleans hosts Tennessee, who just fired their head coach and look to be a bona fide mess again this season. Considering Drew Brees just posted seven touchdown passes on the way to a 52-49 win, this call feels reasonably safe. The next most popular pick was that of the Bengals, as eight staff members chose them to beat Cleveland this Thursday night. The Browns are tossing Johnny Manziel to the wolves (or tigers, as it were), and Cincinnati shut out the Browns the last time these two faced off with Manziel starting. It is a divisional game, but it does fell pretty safe as well. The only other team to receive more than one pick this week was New England, also a heavy favorite at home against Washington. This is where we start to see previous picks factor in, as 10 staff members have already used their pick on the Patriots. Some are still waiting to use New England, but as two touchdown favorites, you have to like the Patriots to remain undefeated. Atlanta is the other favorite that has been used 10 times, and this is the spot Maurile Tremblay decided to go out on his own and take the Falcons. Atlanta is on the road here, but the 49ers just changed quarterbacks and barely have any healthy running backs on the squad. Single unique selections round out Week 9 as one staffer each chose Denver, Minnesota and San Diego. The Vikings and the Chargers are tough calls, so we will have to see how it all breaks down after Monday Night Football.
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 looks like my preseason picks are becoming less and less useful as we enter the second half of the season. I have already used New England, and Pittsburgh at home against Oakland is far from safe as the Raiders are much better now and the Steelers are riddled with injuries. That forced me to look elsewhere, and it was either Cincinnati or New Orleans. I went with the Saints as the hot hand and I do not expect to see them in a better spot the rest of the year.
Will Grant: I officially hate eliminator this year. Atlanta should have been a simple pick last week, but three losses in the first eight weeks really stinks. Going with Cincnnatii this week. Another 'sure thing' division game. If the Browns upset the Bengals this week....
Good luck this weekend!
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.