Bets, Picks, Survivor: Wrapping up 2014

by | Dec 29, 2014 | 2014 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks, NFL Survivor pool

The last 17 weeks have flown by in a flash. It feels like just a couple weeks ago I was boarding a plane for Vegas, where my last fantasy football draft took place. But in actuality, in a week or so, I’ll be collecting the winnings – and a sweet trophy – that go along with that title.

Enough bragging – this season was actually fairly frustrating for me otherwise. Middle-of-the-road in game picks. Good start in our bets segment only to see it disintegrate big time in the season’s final third. A lackluster performance in our inaugural survivor pool. In truth, there was never a point during this season during which I felt like I truly got a grasp on what was going to happen from week to week.

Some of my colleagues fared better than me, however. And in the spirit of accountability, here’s a breakdown of how those competitions went, starting with bets. (more…)

NFL Picks 2014: Week 17

by | Dec 22, 2014 | 2014 season, NFL Picks

With Cincinnati finishing Fantasy Football Championship weekend by defeating Denver, the NFL continued its frantic, weekly-picksunpredictable run to the real postseason Monday night. The Bengals’ upset caught all of us off guard, ending a week of less-than-stellar prognosticating.

Anthony Maggio proved he can do more than pick fantasy lineups by navigating the upset-laden week to an 11-5 mark. He paced us. Tony, John and permanent guest picker Dr. Phil each hit 10. I botched pretty much every questionable game, dropping to 8-8.

Here are the standings for the week and the season as we head to week 17: (more…)

NFL Picks 2014: Week 16

by | Dec 16, 2014 | 2014 season, NFL Picks

If you’re looking to put some money down over the next couple weeks, John Vomhof Jr. is the man to weekly-picksfollow. He has yet to catch Dr. Phil, but his 51-12 clip has him a couple games ahead of the nearest Zoneblitz contributor.

John and Andy paced the group last week with 12-4 marks. In truth, though, all of us are holding our own. John would fall in the top 20 percent of the 133 experts followed by NFL Pickwatch. Tony would be in the top third. Dr. Phil? Rarified air – he’d be tied for fourth. Looking for a job?

Anyway, just two weeks left in the regular season. And here are the standings.

Name Week 15 Overall
Dr. Phil 11-5 156-67-1
John 12-4 151-72-1
Tony 11-5 149-74-1
Andy 12-4 145-78-1
Maggio 10-6 134-89-1

 

The playoffs are approaching and the games are getting more important. The NFC South still has a chance to get a team to .500. … though it’s unlikely. But anyway, it’s getting to be crunch time. The next couple weeks should be fun. Here are our picks for week 17. (more…)

NFL Picks 2014: Week 15

by | Dec 9, 2014 | 2014 season, NFL Picks

While there have been a couple spectacular weeks and some hideous ones, we mostly keep plugging weekly-picksalong at just a solid, workmanlike pace for the season. That was the case again last week as three of four writers and Dr. Phil were correct on a double-digit count of games. That’s not too bad, I think, when every week the NFL seems to be throwing in upsets like the Oakland/San Francisco game that, I think, has to pretty much end the 49ers chances of another playoff run the way things are turning out this year.

John came back to the pack a little bit, but still paced us with a 12-4 mark. He’s taken over the lead among the writers, though we’re all still chasing Dr. Phil.

Here are the standings:

Name Week 14 Overall
Dr. Phil 11-5 145-62-1
John 12-4 139-68-1
Tony 11-5 138-69-1
Andy 11-5 133-74-1
Maggio 9-7 124-83-1

Week 15 brings another slate of games that are nearly impossible to predict. I guess that’s probably a good thing – keeps the suspense building as playoff time approaches. About the only thing you can count on is the NFC South losing.

Here are our picks for week 15. (more…)

NFL Picks 2014: Week 14

by | Dec 2, 2014 | 2014 season, NFL Picks

Tony has been caught and Dr. Phil has some late-season competition. John Vomhof Jr. has rocked a 27-4 record the last two weeks to pull into contention for the top slot. He’s got a ways to go yet, but I’ll be weekly-pickspeaking at his picks this week before I fill out a couple of confidence pools.

Tony’s 9-7 in week 13 allowed everyone to gain some ground. Can he hang on and remain the top staffer in the contest? Or has the pressure of remaining on top started getting to him? Only time will tell.

Here are the standings:

Name Week 13 Overall
Dr. Phil 10-6 134-57-1
John 13-3 127-64-1
Tony 9-7 127-64-1
Andy 10-6 122-69-1
Maggio 10-6 115-76-1

Well, we’re into the final four weeks of the season. It’s crunch time – time to separate the pretenders and the contenders … and to see which worthless NFC South team steals a playoff spot from a team that deserves it.

Here are our picks for Week 14: (more…)

NFL Picks 2014: Week 13

by | Nov 25, 2014 | 2014 season, NFL Picks

For as bad as week 11 was, week 12 was equally as good. It got off to a rough start, with Oakland picking up a surprise win against weekly-picksrival Kansas City. But after that things played out mostly to form, save for a snow-delayed Bills/Jets game that ended up getting played in Detroit.

John nailed 14 of 15, but didn’t gain a ton of ground as nobody missed more than four games. Anthony rebounded from a brutal three for 14 performance in week 11 to hit 11 of 15 in week 12 – but that still carried the rear. Here are the standings:

Name Week 12 Overall
Dr. Phil 13-2 124-51-1
Tony 12-3 118-57-1
John 14-1 114-61-1
Andy 13-2 112-63-1
Maggio 11-4 105-70-1

 

Thursday marks my favorite holiday – and the strongest slate of Thanksgiving games in quite awhile. The Lions open the day with a should-win game against the Bears, but after that it’s two must-watch games – Eagles/Cowboys and Seahawks/49ers. That’s some good viewing as you’re napping off your gluttony.

Here are our picks for week 13: (more…)