Staff Against the Spread Picks, Week 18

Footballguys Staff's Staff Against the Spread Picks, Week 18 Footballguys Staff Published 01/07/2022

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 ATL JAC KC LAR LV MIA NYG PHI TB DEN HOU ARI CAR DET MIN CLE
Home Team BUF NE CIN BAL IND TEN CHI WAS NYJ LAC SF DAL NO SEA GB PIT
Home Line -14.5 -15.5 +4.5 +3.5 -7.5 -3.5 -5.5 +3.5 +13.5 -5.5 -12.5 -5.5 -7.5 -6.5 -6.5 +2.5 LW YTD
Aaron Rudnicki NE BAL LV NYJ HOU DET GB CLE 4 72
Andrew Garda ATL JAC CIN MIA LAC DAL GB CLE 5 51
Andy Hicks ATL LV MIA WAS DEN HOU DET MIN 2 65
Ben Cummins NE CIN MIA PHI TB LAC CAR GB 5 76
Clayton Gray NE BAL LV NYJ HOU DET GB CLE 5 67
Dan Hindery ATL CIN LAR TEN CHI PHI HOU CLE 5 70
Danny Tuccitto BUF BAL LV MIA WAS NYJ SEA GB 5 56
Jason Wood NE KC PHI TB SF DAL SEA CLE 4 72
Jeff Tefertiller BUF NE KC LAR PHI TB HOU DET 2 74
Justin Howe ATL JAC CIN LV MIA NYJ ARI CLE 5 53
Keith Roberts ATL KC LAR LV CHI ARI GB CLE 5 68
Matt Bitonti JAC CIN BAL CHI PHI TB HOU DAL 4 63
Matt Carey BUF NE LAR CHI TB SF DAL SEA 4 77
Phil Alexander ATL JAC CIN IND HOU DAL CAR GB 3 67
Ryan Weisse KC LAR MIA PHI HOU CAR SEA GB 3 56
Sean Settle LV MIA CHI DEN ARI SEA MIN CLE 4 64
Will Grant CIN LAR IND CHI PHI TB LAC SEA 5 66

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
Player Total Wk01 Wk02 Wk03 Wk04 Wk05 Wk06 Wk07 Wk08 Wk09 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18
Matt Carey 77 *6 3 5 4 4 5 4 *5 3 3 4 *5 6 *7 4 5 4
Benjamin Cummins 76 5 4 4 6 3 4 *7 3 3 3 *5 3 *7 6 4 4 *5
Jeff Tefertiller 74 4 4 *6 6 5 5 5 3 3 2 4 *5 5 *7 4 4 2
Aaron Rudnicki 72 4 4 4 4 *6 5 4 2 *6 3 4 4 4 4 4 *6 4
Jason Wood 72 5 4 3 5 5 *6 2 3 4 2 4 3 4 *7 6 5 4
Dan Hindery 70 *6 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 3 1 *5 4 2 3 *7 *6 *5
Keith Roberts 68 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 2 0 *5 *5 5 *7 3 *6 *5
Clayton Gray 67 3 3 3 6 4 4 6 3 2 *5 4 3 6 2 4 4 *5
Phil Alexander 67 4 3 3 4 5 2 5 4 3 *5 *5 4 6 4 5 2 3
William Grant 66 3 3 2 4 4 3 6 4 4 3 *5 3 6 3 4 4 *5
Andy Hicks 65 5 4 4 5 1 4 4 4 *6 2 4 3 3 4 4 *6 2
Jeff Bell 65 0 2 5 6 5 4 5 4 4 1 3 1 6 6 *7 5 1
Sean Settle 64 0 4 3 6 4 5 4 *5 0 1 *5 4 4 4 6 5 4
Matt Bitonti 63 5 2 5 2 4 4 5 *5 3 3 *5 2 4 4 3 3 4
Danny Tuccitto 56 2 4 5 2 5 1 5 4 2 4 3 0 *7 1 3 3 *5
Ryan Weisse 56 3 *5 2 5 4 4 3 3 4 1 2 4 4 4 1 4 3
Justin Howe 53 *6 4 4 3 3 0 4 3 1 4 4 0 5 3 2 2 *5
Andrew Garda 51 3 2 3 3 5 0 3 4 2 3 4 0 2 4 4 4 *5

This Week's Picks

  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.

Visiting Team KC DAL CHI CIN GB IND PIT TEN WAS CAR NE NO NYJ SF SEA LAC
Home Team DEN PHI MIN CLE DET JAC BAL HOU NYG TB MIA ATL BUF LAR ARI LV
Home Line +10.5 +7.5 -2.5 -2.5 +2.5 +15.5 -4.5 10.5 +6.5 -7.5 +6.5 +4.5 -16.5 -4.5 -6.5 +2.5 YTD
Aaron Rudnicki PHI CLE DET JAC HOU NE NYJ LAC 72
Andrew Garda MIN CIN GB BAL TB NE ARI LAC 51
Andy Hicks PHI CHI CLE PIT HOU MIA ATL LV 65
Ben Cummins KC TB NE ATL NYJ LAR SEA LAC 76
Clayton Gray DEN PHI MIN CLE NYG SF SEA LAC 67
Dan Hindery KC DAL CHI CLE DET IND PIT TEN 70
Danny Tuccitto DEN PHI MIN CLE HOU NYG CAR MIA 56
Jason Wood DAL WAS TB NE NYJ LAR ARI LAC 72
Jeff Tefertiller KC MIN GB WAS TB NE ARI LAC 74
Justin Howe DEN PHI GB JAC PIT WAS NYJ ARI 53
Keith Roberts DEN PHI CIN GB NE NYJ ARI LAC 68
Matt Bitonti KC DAL CIN GB IND TB NYJ SEA 63
Matt Carey KC PHI MIN CLE DET IND TEN NE 77
Phil Alexander PHI MIN CIN JAC HOU TB LAR SEA 67
Ryan Weisse PHI IND BAL NE NYJ LAR ARI LAC 56
Sean Settle MIN CIN GB JAC TB NE NO LAC 64
Will Grant KC MIN CIN TEN NE NYJ LAR SEA 66
Away Picks 6 3 2 6 6 4 3 3 3 1 10 1 8 1 5 9
Home Picks 4 9 8 6 3 4 2 4 2 7 2 2 0 5 6 1
Total Picks 10 12 10 12 9 8 5 7 5 8 12 3 8 6 11 10

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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