NFL predictions

On another forum I used to go to, every year around NFL time we’d make predictions on who would win each game (no spread, just picking the winner) and keep track of correct guesses to see at the end of the year who was the NFL prognosticating champ. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I’d like to see if anyone here is interested in doing it. I’d keep track of the guesses personally, so all anyone has to do is make their predictions, preferably with commentary as to why they’re making the pick.

As a sample, the first post each week looks like this:

Week 1

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

and this is how the picks look.

Miami @ Pittsburgh - probably an upset pick, but I like what Saban’s done with the team, and I think Pitt is going downhill this year.
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland - I feel sorry for fans of both these teams. You’re both cursed.
Seattle @ Detroit - Upset. The amazing power of John Kitna is good for a win.
NY Jets @ Tennessee - John Kitna’s spiritual twin, Kerry Collins, gets into the game and immediately throws for two touchdowns. In one throw. You can’t stop him.
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay - I can’t help it, I always have to pick GB. Hometeam spirit and all that.
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants - - The Giants are gonna regret cutting SUPER BOWL QUARTERBACK Rob Johnson. That man is a machine.
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Winning teams are bolded.

And that’s it. If anyone wants to join in right now, just reply and bold your picks. Since I’m posting this kind of close to the first game, anyone who doesn’t see this until after the Thursday game, feel free to make your picks, just make picks for every game but that one. It counts as an incorrect pick.

If you miss a week, you’re credited for having two less correct picks than the person with the lowest correct score. So if the worst picker picked 6 games correctly, you’re credited with 4.

Oakland is going all the way this year I can feel it!

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnati @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Week 1

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Lions over Seahawks SK?

And I thought I was being bold picking against the Patriots :)

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Week 1

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Just for simplicity’s sake, I created a Pick’em group on Yahoo.

It’s called Quarter to Three, and the password is Koontz. It’s this exact system (pick all the games straight up).

Obviously, entirely for fun. It seemed like it’d be easier to keep track of than posts in a thread. shrug

From the “invite” e-mail:

n order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick’em, click the “Sign Up” button (or “Create or Join Group” if you are a returning user). From there, follow the path to join an existing private group and when prompted, enter the following information…

Group ID#: 52603
Password: Koontz

myself I’d much prefer the thread. I don’t care that much about keeping score, the real fun is getting to mock other people for their outlandish picks and then trying to justify the mocking later when some of those outlandish picks turn out right.

No worries. It cost me less than 5 minutes of my life to set up, and $0 dollars. I take no offense if it goes horribly unused.

That’s not a bad idea, but I agree with Nick - it’s like the Vampire thread in that way, more fun when we can make fun of people’s picks on here, and then find out they were right.

I do personally like the concept of keeping track over the season of how people are doing, it’s amusing to see who’s doing well and who isn’t, but if that’s just me then I won’t keep track of it. I’ve done it before though, it’s not really all that difficult.

And I also wonder if anybody’s going to pick SF. Is there hope?

Ok Here we go.

Miami @ Pittsburgh Without Ben Miami is better.
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina Carolina is just a better team.
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville NFC East overrated
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants NFC East overrated
Minnesota @ Washington NFC East overrated
San Diego @ Oakland Rivers has to show me something before I can pick SD

Week One:

Miami @ Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Denver @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ New England
Philadelphia @ Houston
New Orleans @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Cincinnatti @ Kansas City
Chicago @ Green Bay
Dallas @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Washington
San Diego @ Oakland

Straight picks, no spread (apparently)

I can’t get the “buttons” or code to work for bolding (or anything, actually) on this Firefox (1.5.0.6) so I’ll just say for right now my picks are in the Yahoo! group. If I get to another computer before the games, I’ll post here.

Obligitory first snipe: Whoever picks the Lions to win is a fool! Picking them isn’t an upset pick, it’s a pick that will later upset you. So says the Lions fan/guy who lives 45 miles from Ford Field.

dannimal, use the html tags [ b] and [ \b] without the spaces I put in the middle.

I’ve done that, and it didn’t work. It just left them in unconverted (see my first vote in Vampire game 2).

I’ll fix it from my work computer tomorrow.

SEAHAWKS!!! RAWRRAWRRAWR