Photo: Imagn Images

Over the past few years, we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com some help in playing office pools, one of the most popular methods to follow the NFL aside from fantasy football leagues. 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 this year Footballguys is adding 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 preseason articles. The first one that describes this kind of contest along with some advice on how to pick a team each week:

Survivor Pool Strategy

The second article is rather interesting, which describes Jeff’s preseason plan to get all the way through 17 weeks. Will it work? We are about to find out.

I Will Survive

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).

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

NFL Week 7 was almost a clean week, as only Andy Hick's bad luck with Philadelphia completely blowing a 17-0 fourth-quarter lead to Carolina resulted in that single loss for the staff. Five other teams covered the rest of the picks, and all of the favorites took care of business, led by the Falcons, Rams, and Chargers. With another week behind us and as we near the midpoint of the regular season, things will continue to get more and more complicated with fewer high-quality choices each week. Now let us take a look at the picks for Week 8.

THIS WEEK'S PICK SUMMARY

Here are the picks for this week:

DISCUSSION

The picks are in for Week 8, and even with one pick yet to be submitted, eight different teams are represented amongst 15 staffers for the week. Pittsburgh (hosting Cleveland, five picks) has to most attention, as the Steelers come off their bye week and are looking to continue their perfect decade at home against the Browns and also avenge a 21-21 Week 1 tie. New England (at Buffalo), Chicago (hosting the Jets), and Detroit (hosting Seattle) are the only other teams receiving multiple picks, as all three franchises received two votes this week. The Bears and Patriots are big favorites this week, but the Lions selection looks rather curious. Kansas City, Cincinnati, Houston, and Indianapolis round out the picks with four unique selections. The Texans (hosting Miami on Thursday Night Football) and Chiefs (home against Denver) are also favored by a touchdown or more, while the Bengals (-4.5 or -5, home against Tampa Bay) are also a home favorite. The Colts (at Oakland) are favored as well, but the clear time to have used them was last week as Indianapolis pounded Buffalo 37-5. With so many different selections this could be a big week for moves in the standings, so check back next week to see how it plays out.

Please note a few things: We will be doing these picks every week, win or lose, to keep it entertaining all season long. Normally a Survivor/Eliminator pool would end once all but one player lost once, but to provide our subscribers with more perspectives, everyone will pick every week even if they lose. That said, we will still try and honor the spirit of an Eliminator / Survivor Pool, trying to win every week and not re-use any teams during the year.

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: Going back to my preseason plan, the case is pretty clear to stick with the plan and use the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh is coming off of their bye week and they own the Cleveland Browns in Pennsylvania, with a perfect record this decade. Cleveland's remarkable tie at home against the Steelers only adds fuel to the fire, as Pittsburgh clearly knows that they have to win games like this to make the postseason. The Steelers are 10 point favorites with a Money Line of -400, implying an 80% chance of a victory for Pittsburgh. Those are great odds.

The Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers

Good luck this weekend!

Questions, suggestions, and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com

Follow @JeffPasquino