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.
It also helps promote Community among football fans, something very important to us here at Footballguys.com. One of our exciting new features this year is our new Game Room. This gives you a chance to participate in these (and other) games along with the staff and other football fans.
Additionally, each week, we will post the staff 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 for the entire season.
This Week's Against the Spread Picks
The table below shows how the staff views each game this week against the Las Vegas spread. Since each staffer is only expected to make eight picks against the spread, the total number of picks per game will be different. This chart shows the percentage and total number of picks for each team. For example, 19 of the 25 staff took Philadelphia -4.5 this week, while none of the staff picked Washington. Eight of the staff picked Denver +2.5 over Kansas City, but one person picked the Chiefs to cover the spread.
High Confidence Picks for Week 1
The Eagles, Cowboys, Jaguars, Jets, Bears, Steelers, Bills, and Patriots all had 10 or more staffers pick them in this week's ATS contests. The Patriots may have lost last night, but those 10 people were correct because the additional 3.5 points were enough for the Patriots to cover.
Low Confidence Picks for Week 17
The hardest games to pick this week are tonight's game between the 49ers and the Rams, with the Rams as a (-3.5) favorite. Seven staff picked the Rams to cover while seven others took the 49ers and the points. Tampa Bay at Cincinnati (-3.5), Miami at Las Vegas (-3.5), and New Orleans at Detroit (-7.5) were also tougher, with staffers picking both sides of those contests. Only five staff picked the Green Bay at Minnesota (-1.5) game, but four of them took the Packers to cover the spread.
Reminder: The lines for each game do not change once they are set on Tuesday morning. Each staff member must lock in their pick by Wednesday evening. Lines can change throughout the week based on the injury report and weather conditions. Please keep that in mind when making your own office pool picks or sports bets against the spread.
Good Luck!
