NFL Picks 2013: Week 8

by Andy | Oct 22, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Picks

There were great games – witness Indianapolis and its shootout win over Denver. There were terrible games, such as the eyesore that was Monday Night Football between the second division consolation flag football game between Meadowlands Grade School and Minneapolis Hale Elementary, err, the Giants and Vikings.

It was just another week in the NFL. After losing some ground to my brother, I rebounded with a 10-5 weekend that added some distance between me and my competitors. Rich continues his slow climb from the cellar with a 9-6 mark. Tony and Anthony, well, they also made picks last week.

I kid, I kid. But they did make picks again for this week’s slate of games which, frankly, doesn’t include a lot of match-ups I would consider must-watch television. Even traditional divisional rivalries like Green Bay at Minnesota and New York at Philadelphia are tainted by injury and crappiness this week. In fact, if your wife is telling you it’s time to get together for Sunday dinner with the in-laws or that you’ve got to start the Christmas shopping, this might be the Sunday to do it.

Nonetheless, here are our picks for the week. (more…)

NFL Picks 2013: Week 7

by Andy | Oct 15, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Picks

Tony crushed in week six. He took over the lead in bets and he dominated the picks with a 12-3 week that was headlined by picking San Diego to upset Indianapolis. The strong performance propels him into second place overall, just one game behind the leader.

It was a tough week for fantasy expert Maggio. He might have done alright helping people with their bye week waiver wire pickups, but he missed seven of 15 games. He drops to third. Rich is bringing up the end, but he’s slowly and surely working his way back into the mix after a difficult start.

Here are the standings as we head into week seven.

So we’re all kind of holding our own as teams go back and forth winning games that surprise us and then losing games they shouldn’t. Denver seems to be heads and shoulders above everyone else so far. The Broncos seemed disappointed by beating Jacksonville by only two touchdowns. Everyone else seems to be capable of losing to anyone at anytime.

So, that being said, here are our week seven picks. (more…)

NFL Picks 2013: Week 6

by Andy | Oct 8, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Picks

We here at Zoneblitz had a tough Week 5 with none of our contributors hitting more than eight of the 14 contests. Several upsets and many unpredictable games between, frankly, bad teams left us all bunched together.

Consequently nobody gained or lost a lot of ground. I remain the leader. But just six games separate the top from the bottom in our standings for the season. So a big week by any one of us could create quite a swing.

Here are the standings:

We’re close to the one-third mark of the season so you’d think picking these games would get easier. But if you look over the last three weeks there have been a number of coin flip games. That continues into week six, with a couple of divisional games and a slate of contests between teams that don’t often play. So we’ll see if any of us can hit the jackpot.

Here are our picks: (more…)

NFL Picks 2013: Week 5

by Andy | Oct 1, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Picks

So file week four among the many during an NFL season during which nobody really knows what is going to happen. Two of us hit nine out of 15 and two guessed correctly on seven, with many of the misses being spread out over a number of different games.

The three-way tie for first was momentarily broken. I pulled a notch ahead of Tony and Anthony, with Rich gaining a little bit of ground on third place. Here are the standings:

Week five isn’t any easier. This week there are, again, some nonconference games between teams that don’t play all that often. But this time around, they come with the benefit of being fantastically interesting matchups between playoff contenders. Seattle visiting Indianapolis, Denver heading to Dallas and San Francisco hosting Houston are among the games I’m interested in watching this weekend.

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NFL Picks 2013: Week 4

by Andy | Sep 24, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Picks

Sunday was one of those “who the hell knows” days when you just never know what’s going to happen in the NFL. A Cleveland team that’s ownership doesn’t even want to win in 2013 beat a desperate Vikings team that had hoped to rebound from an 0-2 start during its home opener. Indianapolis went on the road and not only beat the popular Super Bowl favorite 49ers, but destroyed them. Carolina shut out a flailing Giants team. And the ranks of the unbeaten include New Orleans and Miami.

So it might be fitting that Tony, who often preaches picking the thing you think most unlikely to happen, won the week with an 11-5 mark. All things considered, none of us were destroyed by the upsets. Anthony Maggio finished 10-6 while Rich and I trailed at 9-7. This produces a three-way tie for first in our season rankings.

Here are the standings heading into week four:

Week four brings on the first bye weeks and a slate of games that doesn’t have a lot of divisional rivalry games, but again pits a mix of teams you don’t get a chance to see play all that often. It also includes the NFL’s annual trek to London. This year the game features a rematch of Super Bowl IX. Unfortunately, that game was held 38 years ago. In 2013, both teams enter the game 0-3.

Here are our picks for the week:

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NFL Picks 2013: Week 3

by Andy | Sep 17, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Picks

The second week schedule looked like a tough one, but the Zoneblitz contributors handled it well. The four of us combined to go 45-19 for the weekend. I led the pack with a 13-3 mark while Rich rebounded from a rough first week as he and Anthony both hit 11 each. Tony got 10 correct.

So heading into week three, the standings look like this:

The schedule doesn’t look a whole lot easier this week with many competitive games on the slate. Hopefully we’ll continue looking like we’ve got at least a bit of a clue. Here goes:

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