NFL 2013: Week 6 Picks

We are trying to build on our modest success, going 9-5 straight up and 8-6 against the spread. Our best performance in Week 5 was off the Big Games, where we had a clean three-game sweep straight up and against the spread.

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 may be in Round 3 of our Knockout Pool with two early-season losses to our discredit, but we are starting to find a rhythm with our second straight win.  We are utilizing the “Jacksonville strategy”, which is simply to pick the Jags’ opponent.  St. Louis handled Jacksonville easily at home, 34-20.

This week’s pick: Denver defeating Jacksonville

The “Jacksonville strategy” will be used for a third week.  It may be the most lopsided spread in the last decade, with the Jaguars traveling to the rarified air of Denver and the rare numbers the Broncos offense has put up in the first five weeks of the season.  Peyton Manning: 21 total touchdowns, 1 interception.  Denver has had some trouble covering big spreads, but an upset here by Jacksonville will be in “Buster Douglas” upset territory.

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)

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	44-33 (.571)	36-41 (.468)	43-34 (.558)
LAST WEEK (Week 5)	9-5	8-6	6-8

LOCAL GAMES

RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	7-11	3-15	7-11
LAST WEEK (Week 5)	1-2	1-2	0-3
WEEK 6 LOCAL GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
N.Y. Giants at Chicago (Thursday night)	CHI	NYG (+7.5)	CHI
Pittsburgh at N.Y. Jets (Sunday 1pm)	NYJ	NYJ (-2.5)	PIT
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay (Sunday 1pm)	PHL	PHL (-1.5)	TBY
New Orleans at New England (Sunday 4pm)	NO	NO (+2.5)	NE

BIG GAMES

RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	8-7	9-6	7-8
LAST WEEK (Week 5)	3-0	3-0	2-1
WEEK 6 BIG GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Detroit at Cleveland (Sunday 1pm)	CLE	CLE (+2.5)	DET
Green Bay at Baltimore (Sunday 1pm)	GBY	GBY (-3.5)	GBY
Indianapolis at San Diego (Monday night)	IND	IND (-1.5)	SDG

OTHER GAMES

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
SEASON	30-15	25-20	30-15
LAST WEEK (Week 5)	5-3	4-4	4-4
WEEK 6 OTHER GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Cincinnati at Buffalo (Sunday 1pm)	CIN	CIN (-7.5)	CIN
Oakland at Kansas City (Sunday 1pm)	KCY	OAK (+9.5)	KCY
St. Louis at Houston (Sunday 1pm)	HOU	HOU (-7.5)	HOU
Carolina at Minnesota (Sunday 1pm)	MIN	MIN (-2.5)	MIN
Jacksonville at Denver (Sunday 4pm)	DEN	JAX (+27.5)	DEN
Tennessee at Seattle (Sunday 4pm)	SEA	SEA (-13.5)	SEA
Arizona at San Francisco (Sunday 4pm)	SFO	ARZ (+11.5)	SFO
Washington at Dallas (Sunday night)	DAL	WSH (+5.5)	DAL

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.

Week 5 was a high-scoring affair and the game hinged on the performance of Tony Romo.  We told you to play Tom Brady over Romo.  Romo had one of the most prolific games of his career with 48 points and Brady did not pass for a touchdown for the first time in 53 games.  Brady scored 5 points and that 43 point difference was plenty to turn the tide in favor of the Anti-Start Team.  Outside of that matchup, the Start Team was better on 6 of the other 8 lineup slots and outscored the Anti-Start Team, 111-80.  But, we are still above .500 in won-lost (3-2) and by position (24-19-2) with more points scored than allowed overall.

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

SEASON: 3-2 W-L (.600), 534 PF, 524 PA (.505), 24-19-2 by position (.556)

Here is the Week 6 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 ($6.1)	QB	Matthew Stafford DET ($6.3)
Matt Schaub HOU ($5.5)	QB	Sam Bradford STL ($5.8)
Doug Martin TBY ($6.4)	RB	Ray Rice BAL ($6.1)
Darren Sproles NO ($5.6)	RB	Fred Jackson BUF ($6)
A.J. Green CIN ($6.3)	WR	Pierre Garcon WSH ($5.8)
Randall Cobb GBY ($6.0)	WR	Larry Fitzgerald ARZ ($5.6)
Antonio Gates SDG ($5.6)	TE	Julius Thomas DEN ($5.8)
Alex Henery PHL ($4.6)	K	Garrett Hartley NO ($4.9)
Seattle Seahawks SEA ($5.5)	DEF	New England Patriots NE ($5.4)
$51.6 million	TOTAL	$51.7 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.