Staff Against the Spread Picks, Week 3

Footballguys Staff's Staff Against the Spread Picks, Week 3 Footballguys Staff Published 09/23/2021

Footballguys is proud to return the Footballguys' staff Against the Spread Pool Challenge. Multiple staff members will pick the winner of their eight most confident NFL games against the Las Vegas line. Winners will be announced from week to week, and the best overall record will be crowned Against the Spread Champion. Picks and ranks are due on Wednesday, so any late-breaking news may not be reflected in the choices.

Please note that this contest should NOT be viewed as direct sports wagering advice, especially later in the season. Since the staff is trying to beat one another, picks may be made to go against the grain trying to catch up in the standings. This example of game theory is more in tune with playing a contest such as this - so again, do not use these picks as direct advice towards which games to pick every week. Rather, use these picks to see the top choices each week, especially the staff members towards the top of the standings.

Here are the specifics:

  • It lasts for 18 weeks
  • Pick 8 games against the spread each week
  • Games are not weighted; each game correctly picked is worth one point in the standings
  • If you miss a week, you will be awarded the lowest score for that week minus 1 point
  • Standing will be determined by the total correct picks
  • Tiebreaker: number of weeks with the most number of correct picks

Last Week's Picks

  • Correct picks are in bold.
  • LW is the number of points earned last week.
  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.
Visiting Team NYG Buf Cin Den Hou LAR LV NE NO SF Atl Min Dal Ten KC Det
Home Team Was Mia Chi Jac Cle Ind Pit NYJ Car Phi TB Ari LAC Sea Bal GB
Home Line -3.5 +3.5 -3.5 +6.5 -12.5 +3.5 -5.5 +5.5 +3.5 +3.5 -12.5 -4.5 -2.5 -5.5 +3.5 -10.5 LW Tot
Aaron Rudnicki Buf Cin Den Cle Pit Car Sea KC 4 8
Andrew Garda Buf LAR Pit NO Phi Dal Sea KC 2 5
Andy Hicks Buf LAR LV NE Ari Dal Sea KC 4 9
Ben Cummins Mia Cin Den Cle NE Sea KC GB 4 9
Clayton Gray Was Cle Car Phi TB Ari Sea GB 3 6
Bob Henry Cin Cle LAR NE Phi TB LAC KC 3 8
Dan Hindery Cin Hou LAR Pit SF TB Ari 4 10
Danny Tuccitto Mia Cin Ind Phi TB Ari Sea Bal 4 6
Dave Kluge Was Buf LAR NE NO Phi Ari GB 3 7
Devin Knotts Was Mia Ind Phi Atl Ari LAC KC 1 2
Jason Wood Buf NE NO Phi TB Ari Sea GB 4 9
Jeff Bell Was Cin LAR Pit Phi Ari KC GB 2 2
Jeff Tefertiller Was Den Pit NE TB Ari Sea GB 4 8
Justin Howe NYG Mia Cin Jac Hou LAR LV NYJ 4 10
Keith Overton Buf Cin LAR NO Phi Ari Dal KC 3 9
Keith Roberts Den Hou LAR NE Phi TB LAC KC 4 8
Matt Bitonti Den LAR NE Phi Ari Sea KC Det 2 7
Matt Carey Was Chi Hou Pit Car Atl LAC Bal 3 9
Phil Alexander Mia Cle Pit Car Phi Min Sea GB 3 7
Ryan Weisse Buf Cin Den LAR Car Ari Dal KC 5 8
Sean Settle Was Buf Den Hou LAR Car Phi LAC 4 4
Sigmund Bloom Mia LAR NE NO SF Ari Sea GB 3 3
William Grant Was Buf Cin LAR Pit Ari Dal KC 3 6

Standings

  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.
  • Wk01 is the number of points earned in Week 1.
  • Etc.
  • People who missed picking for a week are awarded the lowest score for that week minus 1 point
Staff Member Tot Wk01 Wk02 Wk03 Wk04 Wk05 Wk06 Wk07 Wk08 Wk09 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18
Dan Hindery 10 6 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Justin Howe 10 6 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andy Hicks 9 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Benjamin Cummins 9 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jason Wood 9 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Keith Overton 9 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Carey 9 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aaron Rudnicki 8 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bob Henry 8 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeff Tefertiller 8 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Keith Roberts 8 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Weisse 8 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dave Kluge 7 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Bitonti 7 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Phil Alexander 7 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Clayton Gray 6 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Danny Tuccitto 6 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
William Grant 6 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andrew Garda 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sean Settle 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeff Haseley 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sigmund Bloom 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alessandro Miglio 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeff Bell 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

This Week's Picks

  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.

Visiting Team Car Ari Atl Bal Chi Cin Ind LAC NO Was Mia NYJ Sea TB GB Phi
Home Team Hou Jac NYG Det Cle Pit Ten KC NE Buf LV Den Min LAR SF Dal
Home Line +7.5 +7.5 -2.5 +9.5 -7.5 -4.5 -5.5 -6.5 -2.5 -8.5 -3.5 -10.5 +1.5 -0.5 -3.5 -3.5 Tot
Aaron Rudnicki CAR CHI CIN TEN KC TB GB PHI 8
Alessandro Miglio HOU ARI DET LAC NE LV MIN DAL 2
Andrew Garda ATL CLE PIT KC WAS SEA TB DAL 5
Andy Hicks JAC ATL DET CIN NE LV TB DAL 9
Ben Cummins CAR ARI CIN NE WAS LV SEA GB 9
Clayton Gray CIN TEN KC NE WAS LV MIN TB 6
Bob Henry CAR NYG TEN NE LV TB GB PHI 8
Dan Hindery CHI CIN TEN KC NE DEN TB DAL 10
Danny Tuccitto HOU DET CHI CIN KC MIA LAR GB 6
Dave Kluge ATL DET PIT TEN NE WAS TB GB 7
Jason Wood CAR ARI PIT TEN KC NE LV TB 9
Jeff Bell ARI DET CIN TEN SEA TB GB PHI 2
Jeff Tefertiller CAR ARI DET CLE TEN NE WAS DEN 8
Justin Howe ARI DET CIN LAC NE LV TB PHI 10
Keith Overton CAR CIN TEN NO LV TB SF PHI 9
Keith Roberts CAR NYG DET CLE CIN KC LV TB 8
Matt Bitonti CAR ARI BAL TEN BUF LV DEN SEA 7
Matt Carey CAR ARI NYG BAL CLE LAC LV DEN 9
Phil Alexander JAC NYG DET CHI CIN TEN WAS SEA 7
Ryan Weisse NYG PIT LAC NE WAS LV TB GB 8
Sean Settle HOU ARI PIT KC NO LV SEA LAR 4
William Grant CAR NYG BAL NE LV SEA LAR SF 6
Away Picks 10 9 3 3 4 11 0 4 2 7 1 0 7 13 7 5
Home Picks 3 2 6 9 4 5 11 8 12 1 14 4 2 3 2 4
Total Picks 13 11 9 12 8 16 11 12 14 8 15 4 9 16 9 9

Consensus Winners

  • There is one team picked by 14 staff members: Las Vegas.
  • There are two unanimous picks: Tennessee over Indianapolis and the Broncos over the Jets. But only four people are actually on Denver.

Toss-Up Games

  • There are two games with almost (or exactly) an even split in staff picks:
    • Chicago at Cleveland (four selections for each team)
    • Philadelphia (5 picks) at Dallas (4 picks)

Odds and Ends

As always, the picks are due by Wednesday night. Most of the staff agree that picking this weekend's games on Wednesday night is very difficult because you don't have much information about injuries and practice. If your league allows you to pick the later games separate from the rest, take advantage of it and make your Sunday and Monday picks as close to the weekend as possible.

A reminder that these picks are against the Las Vegas lines – so getting above 50% is respectable, above 53% gets you into the profitable zone (accounting for the Las Vegas house odds of taking 10% of every losing wager) – and anything above 60% is outstanding. That may sound easy enough, but it is much, much harder than it might seem.

Good luck this weekend!

Photos provided by Imagn Images
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