Week 7 - [Insert Clever Title]

Week 7 Results

This week's winner:

John - 10-3 (+3)
Jeremy - 9-4 (+2)
Patrick - 8-5 (+1)
Jarrett - 7-6
Joel - 7-6
Jonathan - 7-6
Roger - 7-6
Bob - 6-7

Well, positions one through eight remain unchanged after week 7, but John's lead continues to increase. How far is John ahead? If John didn't make his picks for the next two weeks, he still would remain ahead of Joel!

In the battle for the silver medal, Jeremy is less than one point behind Patrick.

Joel's love affair with Arizona continued. When will he come to his senses and permanently break up with the Cardinals? Adding to Joel's misery was a second straight loss for his Lions.

"What? John picked us, and Joel picked Arizona? YEAH! Looks like a win for us!"--Lamar Woodley

--Jonathan

Current Standings

Us Versus the "Experts"

This week, I added links to four sports websites (look to the right) that include NFL picks by their various writers and personalities (USA Today, CBS, Yahoo!, ESPN). If those guys were members of our pool, what would the standings look like? See below.

1. Mike Silver (Yahoo!) - 71-19
2. John Couch - 67-23
3. Mike Golic (ESPN) - 66-24
4. ? Judge (CBS) - 64-26
5. Les Carpenter (Yahoo!) - 64-26
6. Merrill Hodge (ESPN) - 64-26
7. Patrick Morand - 63-27
8. Pete O'Brien (USA Today) - 63-27
9. Mike Schlereth (ESPN) - 63-27
10. Nate Davis (USA Today) - 63-27
11. Jeremy Kuehner - 62-28
12. ? Wickersham (ESPN) - 62-28
13. Bob Hermann - 61-29
14. Jonathan McLeod - 61-29
15. Jarrett Bell (USA Today) - 61-29
16. Adam Schefter ( ESPN) - 61-29
17. John Saraceno (USA Today) - 61-29
18. Gary Mihoces (USA Today) - 60-30
19. Jason Cole (Yahoo!) - 60-30
20. Pete Prisco (CBS) - 60-30
21. ? Richard (CBS) - 60-30
22. Jim Corbett (USA Today) - 60-30
23. Tom Pedulla (USA Today) - 59-31
24. ? Allen (ESPN) - 59-31
25. ? Freeman (CBS) - 59-31
26. Joel Kuehner - 58-32
27. Robert Kelmko (USA Today) - 58-32
28. Roger Fenton - 57-32
29. Chris Mortenson (ESPN) - 54-36
30. ? Brison (CBS) - 54-36
31. Jarrett McLeod - 52-38

Week 6 - Sofa So Good for Couch

Week 6 Results

This week's winner:

John - 11-2 (+3)
Jeremy - 10-3 (+0.75)
Joel - 10-3 (+0.75)
Jonathan - 10-3 (+0.75)
Roger 10-3 (+0.75)
Bob - 9-5
Jarrett - 8-5
Patrick - 8-5

I repeat: SOMEBODY STOP JOHN!

Once again, John is this week's winner. Somehow the crucial games always seem to go his way. What's his secret? Superior prognostication skills or his collection of four-leaf clovers and horseshoes?

Roger almost served a second straight ace. Meanwhile, Jeremy is quietly inching his way toward second place. Patrick needs to return to his early season form. Perhaps he should make more use of his Sunday Ticket package ("I've got all the games!") and turn his rec room into a film room. What about Bob? Unfortunately for him, he was on the wrong side of both of the crucial games.

It looks like Jarrett is already in desperation mode, but I think it's a bit early to be throwing Hail Marys. Personally, I'm trying to remain patient. John's due for a couple of bad weeks in a row, right? RIGHT?

Inspired by John's mini-rant on Joel's "Joel recap," some of the pool members had a little fun with Joel's spreadsheet. Perhaps Joel felt the rebuke was warranted since he has not yet deleted the comments.

Is this picture a foreshadowing of the season-ending exchange between Joel and John, if John wins? (I said "if.")

--Jonathan

Well, I thought I was doing well in week 6. The difference between me gaining on John and John gaining on me was a late Fitzpatrick pick. But that's what John gets paid the big bucks for--he knew the pick was coming; I didn't.

Best pick of the week: Niners over Lions.

Worst pick of the week: Vikings over Bears.

Critical game of the week: Bills at Giants.

I got to see the Lions, Niners and Bills play this week. One thing I observed: these teams have pretty good records, but I think that's got to be because all of the other teams are getting worse. I didn't see any of them play particularly well--certainly not well enough to warrant their nice records.

--Joel

Current Standings

Week 5 - Somebody Stop John!

Week 5 Results

This week's winners:

  

He could...go...all...the...way!

At one point during the early games it looked like I might gain a few points on John. Then everything fell apart. Well, at least I got the San Francisco pick right.

Question: Why are the late games so much easier to pick?

--Jonathan

Well, I think I did it! I think I pretty much picked all of the teams that would be trailing after three quarters! At least my Lions are providing me some joy this season.

Best pick of the week: Raiders over Texans.

Worst pick of the week: Bucs over Niners (and John still won the week).

Critical game of the week: Cardinals at Vikings.

--Joel

Current Standings

First Quarter Stats

The current NFL season is now one-quarter complete. I went back and looked at our records for each team. (You can find the chart here. This is the first time I did a spreadsheet, so I didn't really now what I was doing. If anyone has some extra time, you could edit Joel's spreadsheet to automatically calculate these stats. I have no clue how to do that.) So without further ado, here is what I discovered.

• Most predictable teams so far: San Diego (31-0), New Orleans (31-0), St. Louis (30-1), Green Bay (30-1), Miami (29-2), Carolina (28-3), Houston (27-4), Indianapolis (26-5).
• Most unpredictable teams so far: Buffalo (8-23), Cincinnati (10-21), Tennessee (11-20), Philadelphia (13-18), San Francisco (14-17), Cleveland (14-17).
• Each member's most impressive performance: Jarrett (3-0 picking Tampa Bay games), Bob (4-0 picking Tampa Bay games), Jeremy (4-0 picking Seattle games), Joel (3-1 picking Tennessee games), Jonathan (3-1 picking San Francisco games), John (4-0 picking Washington games), Patrick (4-0 picking Kansas City games), Roger (4-0 picking Detroit games).
• Each member's least impressive performance: Jarrett (0-3 picking Tennessee games), Bob (2-2 picking Carolina games), Jeremy (1-3 picking Tampa Bay games), Joel (1-3 picking NY Giants games), Jonathan (2-2 picking Minnesota games), John (1-3 picking Cleveland games), Patrick (2-2 picking Arizona games), Roger (0-4 picking Buffalo games).

(One further note: Jarrett only has three picks for each team because he forgot to submit his picks for week 3.)

Week 4 - Off the Couch and into the Lead

Week 4 Results

This week's winners:

 

I believe the goal this season is to pick who will be trailing after 3 quarters.  If you can figure that out, then you assume that team will be the winner.

As Jonathan says, we have a new leader.  Congratulations to John.  However, Patrick's still right there, and he had another solid week.  He's yet to have a vintage Pat week in which he forfeits his entire season's gains.

Best pick of the week: Titans over Browns.

Worst pick of the week: Broncos over Packers in cheese town.

Critical game of the week: Giants at Cardinals.  I know that's probably a bit biased, but if that game had gone the way it was supposed to, without the refs blowing a call, I'd have beat y'all.  (Of course, I always say you can't blame a game's outcome on a single call.)

--Joel Kuehner

Current Standings

(Here's the video of the "fumble.")