12/10/24

We had quite the nailbiter this week in Professor DW’s Football Pick ’em Challenge as a three-way tie atop the leaderboard took it to the tiebreaker. It looked like it would be just a two-person tie for first, but the Rams upset of the Bills added Brian Permann to the mix as he, Matt Evans, and Mark Westley all ended up with 11 thanks to the Cowboys late blunder against Cincinnati on Monday night. We could have actually seen multiple players added to the tie but Dallas was a popular upset pick and their loss limited the tiebreaker to just three.

With six teams on a bye this week, there were only 13 games which could have made for a low scoring week. While we did see Jacksonville and Tennessee bring down the point total with their 10-6 score, multiple high-scoring performances and shootouts actually saw the point total climb. Matt Evans went low in hopes of others guessing over which did actually happen to Brian. His guess of 673 was above the 615 actual total and since Mark was under, that took Brian out of the tie. Mark’s guess of 597 was between the actual total and Matt’s guess, giving Mark his first win of the season in thrilling fashion and giving Matt second place.

While it was Mark’s first outright win of the season, he did finish second back in week 9 so he has already qualified for the postseason tournament. However, Matt Evans did earn his qualification this week with his second-place performance, bringing the total entrants for now to 20. There are still eight opportunities to qualify for the postseason where the grand prize consists of a 55″ smart TV, a kegorator, a theater Popcorn machine and a neon sign of your favorite football team.

While the average point total was up across the board, the Professor continued his New York Jets impersonation with another putrid performance, earning only seven points. At this point, Aaron Rodges might win another MVP before the Professor wins another week.

After a lack of upsets in week 13, there were a handful in week 14. The largest upset was surprisingly NOT Los Angeles over Buffalo. Three people correctly predicted that game. The least picked upset was actually Jacksonville over Tennessee. In a battle of two of the worst teams in football, the Jags outscored the Titans 10-0 in the 4th, and only two entrants correctly saw that outcome.

Week 15’s contest is up. The deadline to get your entry in is 4pm on Thursday so get signed up now. Congratulations Mark and Matt and best of luck to everyone this week.

Grand Prize Package