Office Pools are a fun way for even casual NFL fans to enjoy a little bit of sports gambling. It is an excellent opportunity to bond with your colleagues, enjoy a little friendly competition, and most importantly, win a little money.
The staff at Footballguys also enjoys these contests, and each week we will publish our picks to give our subscribers some ideas on what teams to pick in your office pools or at your local sportsbook.
Each week, we will post our office pool picks with three different themes:
Office Pool – NFL Game Picks
Our staff will pick the winner of every NFL contest every week. They will also rank their confidence level in their selection, ranging from 1 (least confident) to 16 (most confident). We'll also combine everyone's confidence points, giving you a Wisdom of the Staff confidence level as well.
Office Pool – Against the Spread Picks
Each week, the staffers will select their eight favorite NFL games and pick the winner, based on the early Las Vegas odds for each.
Office Pool – Eliminator/Survivor Picks
Sounds simple, right? Just pick one team to win this week. The only catch is that you can only use a team once the entire season.
Week 8 Against the Spread Results
Here are the results from last week's contest. Teams are awarded 1 point for each correct pick and no points for an incorrect pick. Incorrect picks are in Red.
| ROAD | MIN | SF | CLE | CHI | BUF | NYG | NYJ | MIA | TB | TEN | DAL | GB | WAS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOME | LAC | HOU | NE | BAL | CAR | PHI | CIN | ATL | NO | IND | DEN | PIT | KC | ||
| LINE | -3.5 | +1.5 | -7.5 | -6.5 | +7.5 | -7.5 | -6.5 | -7.5 | +5.5 | -14.5 | -3.5 | +3.5 | -10.5 | ||
| Staffer | Overall | Week08 | Last Week's Picks | ||||||||||||
| Rudnicki | 39-25 | 3-5 | MIN | CHI | BUF | NYG | NYJ | TB | DAL | PIT | |||||
| Roberts | 38-26 | 4-4 | HOU | CLE | BAL | NYG | NO | TEN | DEN | KC | |||||
| Lakins | 37-27 | 4-4 | LAC | SF | CHI | ATL | TB | IND | PIT | KC | |||||
| Papworth | 37-27 | 5-3 | SF | NE | BUF | CIN | ATL | TB | IND | DEN | |||||
| Wagman | 36-28 | 6-2 | BAL | BUF | PHI | CIN | NO | IND | DEN | GB | |||||
| Carey | 35-39 | 3-5 | LAC | SF | CAR | NYG | ATL | IND | PIT | KC | |||||
| Weisee | 34-30 | 4-4 | LAC | SF | CHI | CIN | TB | DEN | PIT | KC | |||||
| Duffy | 34-30 | 3-5 | MIN | HOU | BAL | CAR | NYG | CIN | ATL | DEN | |||||
| Hicks | 32-32 | 3-5 | MIN | SF | CLE | BAL | NYG | NYJ | GB | WAS | |||||
| H. Brown | 31-33 | 3-5 | SF | NE | CHI | PHI | ATL | DAL | PIT | KC | |||||
| Bitonti | 31-33 | 3-5 | SF | NE | CAR | CIN | ATL | IND | PIT | KC | |||||
| Blaylock | 31-33 | 3-5 | SF | CAR | ATL | TB | IND | DAL | PIT | KC | |||||
| Dodgson | 31-33 | 2-6 | SF | NE | CHI | CAR | NYG | IND | PIT | WAS | |||||
| Alexander | 30-34 | 5-3 | HOU | CLE | BUF | NYJ | MIA | TEN | DEN | PIT | |||||
| Song | 30-34 | 3-5 | MIN | HOU | CLE | NYG | ATL | IND | PIT | KC | |||||
| Davenport | 29-35 | 2-6 | MIN | SF | CHI | BUF | NYG | NYJ | DAL | PIT | |||||
| Grant | 29-35 | 4-4 | LAC | CHI | BUF | NYG | CIN | ATL | DEN | KC | |||||
| Cummins | 28-36 | 1-7 | SF | CHI | CAR | NYG | CIN | ATL | NO | KC | |||||
| Haseley | 28-36 | 2-6 | LAC | CLE | CHI | CAR | NYG | ATL | TB | PIT | |||||
| McCarty | 25-39 | 2-6 | SF | CLE | CHI | NYG | ATL | TB | DAL | GB | |||||
Thoughts
As the season progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay above the 50% mark. After nine weeks, only eight staffers have better than a .500 record. Rudnicki continues to hold a slim lead on the rest of the staff with three wins separating the top five spots.
This Week's Picks
The table below represents this week's NFL games and the point spread for each of them. The teams in the "Road Teams" row are the teams that are on the road, while the home teams are listed in the "Home Teams" row. The "Game Lines" row shows the line for each game. If the line is a positive number, the road team is favored. If it is negative, the home team is the favorite.
Example: The Ravens/Dolphins game has a line of +7.5. That means the Ravens are favored by 7.5 points. If they are going to cover, they need to win by at least 7.5 points. Since a team can't score half a point, the Ravens need to win by at least 8 to cover the line. Conversely, if the Dolphins are going to cover, they need to lose by no more than 7.5 points. Again, a team can't score half a point, so the Chargers need to lose by no more than 7 points (or win outright) to cover the line.
For this article, each staffer selects eight teams that they expect to win, taking into account the Line for each game.
Here are their picks.