NFL 2013: Week 9 NFL Picks

Our second straight 10-win week picking the winners headlined Week 8.  That was enough to bring our winning percentage of picking games straight-up over 60% for the year.  Our picks against the spread leave a lot to be desired.  A 5-8 week pushed us towards the bottom of our season standing, only succeeding at 42.5%.  Only our pick percentage after Week 6 (42.4%) was worse.

JOIN US!

It is never too late to join and see how you measure up against me and other listeners who participate.  You can enter your picks and join the groups I created for the show.  The winner will be touted on the Saturday show and, if you top the charts, you could even call in to give me your picks!  Here is how:

Game	Goal	Where to Play	Group to Join
Eliminator Challenge	Pick 1 winner per week, no repeat picks (a.k.a. Knockout Pool)	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan
Pigskin Pick’Em (Straight Up)	Pick a winner for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-Str
Pigskin Pick’Em (Against the Spread)	Pick a winner against the point spread for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-ATS
NFL Gridiron Challenge	Pick a team of players with a $50 million salary cap	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan

KNOCKOUT POOL/ESPN.com ELIMINATOR CHALLENGE

We are on a roll.  New Orleans is one of the NFL’s strongest home teams and they did not disappoint in Week 8, defeating Buffalo, 35-17.  That makes five wins in a row heading into Week 9. 

This week’s pick: Seattle defeating Tampa Bay

Seattle at home.  They have one of the best home-field advantages in all of sports.  So far this season, next to the Jaguars’ opponents, picking the team going up against Tampa Bay has been the best bet.  Both of these tenets converge as Seattle hosts Tampa Bay.  Not surprisingly, this game owns the most lopsided spread in the league at 16.5 points.  Seattle wins easily here.

PAST PICKS

Week 1: Tampa Bay (L at NYJ)

Week 2: Cincinnati (W vs. PIT)

Week 3: Minnesota (L vs. CLE)

Week 4: Indianapolis (W at JAX)

Week 5: St. Louis (W vs. JAX)

Week 6: Denver (W vs. JAX)

Week 7: Green Bay (W vs. CLE)

Week 8: New Orleans (W vs. BUF)

GAME PICKS/ESPN.com PIGSKIN PICK ‘EM

Here are the game picks for this week.  We talk about the local games and the three of the other most important games, our “Big Games”, on our weekly This Week in Fantasy Sports segment on Saturdays, but we pick every game, every week here on the blog.  New this year is the listing of our preseason pick we made for our NFL Preview series on the show.  This will give you an idea on what I thought of each team before the season and what I am thinking of each team during the season.

ALL GAMES

RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	73-47 (.608)	51-69 (.425)	71-49 (.592)
LAST WEEK (Week 8)	10-3	5-8	8-5

LOCAL GAMES

RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	13-15	8-20	13-15
LAST WEEK (Week 8)	2-1	1-2	2-1
WEEK 8 LOCAL GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
New Orleans at N.Y. Jets (Sunday 1pm)	NO	NO (-5.5)	NO
Pittsburgh at New England (Sunday 4pm)	NE	PIT (+7.5)	NE
Philadelphia at Oakland (Sunday 4pm)	OAK	OAK (-2.5)	PHL

BIG GAMES

RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	12-12	11-13	12-12
LAST WEEK (Week 8)	2-1	1-2	1-2
WEEK 8 BIG GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Cincinnati at Miami (Thursday night)	CIN	CIN (-2.5)	CIN
Indianapolis at Houston (Sunday night)	IND	IND (-2.5)	HOU
Chicago at Green Bay (Monday night)	GBY	GBY (-11.5)	GBY

OTHER GAMES

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	48-20	32-36	46-22
LAST WEEK (Week 8)	6-1	3-4	5-2
WEEK 8 OTHER GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Atlanta at Carolina (Sunday 1pm)	ATL	ATL (+7.5)	ATL
Kansas City at Buffalo (Sunday 1pm)	KCY	KCY (-3.5)	BUF
Minnesota at Dallas (Sunday 1pm)	DAL	DAL (-10.5)	DAL
Tennessee at St. Louis (Sunday 1pm)	STL	STL (+2.5)	STL
San Diego at Washington (Sunday 1pm)	SDG	SDG (+0.5)	WSH
Tampa Bay at Seattle (Sunday 4pm)	SEA	SEA (-16.5)	SEA
Baltimore at Cleveland (Sunday 4pm)	BAL	BAL (-2.5)	BAL

START ‘EM/ANTI-START ‘EM/ESPN.com GRIDIRON CHALLENGE

We are participating in the ESPN Gridiron Challenge on ESPN.com again this season.  The object is to pick the best team possible with a $50 million salary cap.  The salary cap moves up if the value of your players increases.  However, we have added another wrinkle.  The object of the ESPN.com is to buy low and sell high and the more you accomplish that, the more money you get in your salary cap.  My goal is to put together a nine-man unit (2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF) that is better than another nine-man unit at a similar price.

This season has been marked by two-game streaks.  We lost the first two games of the season, but got back to .500 after Week 4, only to lose the next two games.  But, the last two wins have brought us back to the break-even mark.  The latest win was a 117-86 victory for the Start ‘Em team, in which the starts outnumbered the sits, 5-4.

WEEK 1: Head-to-Head – L, 100-137; By Position: 2-7

WEEK 2: Head-to-Head – L, 86-116; By Position: 3-5-1
WEEK 3: Head-to-Head – W, 114-95; By Position: 6-3

WEEK 4: Head-to-Head – W, 118-48; By Position: 7-2

WEEK 5: Head-to-Head – L, 116-128; By Position: 6-2-1

WEEK 6: Head-to-Head – L, 81-102; By Position: 4-5

WEEK 7: Head-to-Head – W, 125-94; By Position: 5-3-1

WEEK 8: Head-to-Head – W, 117-86; By Position: 5-4

SEASON: 4-4 W-L (.500), 857 PF, 806 PA (51.5% of points), 38-31-3 by position (.549)

Here is the Week 9 entry in the Gridrion Challenge, our “Start ‘Em” team, along with our comparable “Anti-Start ‘Em” team, which is our “opponent” for the week.

 (all dollar figures in millions)

Start ‘Em Team	POS	Anti-Start ‘Em Team
Russell Wilson SEA ($6.2)	QB	Aaron Rodgers GBY ($7)
Case Keenum HOU ($5.5)	QB	Jason Campbell CLE ($6.1)
Eddie Lacy GBY ($6.2)	RB	Chris Johnson TEN ($6.2)
Stevan Ridley NE ($6.1)	RB	Trent Richardson IND ($6)
Jordy Nelson GBY ($6.8)	WR	Dez Bryant DAL ($7)
Terrance Williams DAL ($5.7)	WR	Andre Johnson HOU ($6)
Rob Gronkowski NE ($5.9)	TE	Tony Gonzalez ATL ($5.7)
Mason Crosby GBY ($5.2)	K	Robbie Gould CHI ($4.6)
Kansas City Chiefs KCY ($6.2)	DEF	Dallas Cowboys DAL ($5.3)
$53.8 million	TOTAL	$53.9 million

Catch me on "Sports With The StatMan" on Wednesdays at 11pm ET and Saturdays at 11am ET. We'll break down these picks and look ahead to next week on our This Week in Fantasy Sports segment, Saturday morning at 11am ET.