Well, the bye has come and gone, and the Cowboys did much better this week than some of us in picking 10-for-10. It was a little tougher this week picking from only thirteen games instead of the usual sixteen.
Many of you took the bye as well. This past week marked the fewest number of participants so far. Only seventy-three submitted a full 10-for-10 slate. After the early games kicked off, I commented in the open thread that I would administer grace and let people enter just the final five games that hadn't yet kicked off.
One made a snide comment, but three more, including KD Drummond himself, took advantage of that opportunity. More on that after the jump, along with this week's best. No one got 10-for-10 this week. The Giants killed almost all of us there, but there were three who got 9-for-10.
More...
Again, this was our lightest week so far, as you can see here.
Participation | |||
Week | Submitted | Skipped | Total |
1 | 81 | 0 | 81 |
2 | 86 | 26 | 112 |
3 | 96 | 30 | 126 |
4 | 86 | 43 | 129 |
5 | 76 | 53 | 129 |
It seems like each week has at least one trap game - one that we all (or almost all) pick wrong. Thank Eli Manning's late pick six for helping the Giants pull defeat from the jaws of victory. Out of 73 entrants who submitted 10-for-10, only wittenfan didn't submit a pick in that game. And, only Alpha (one of the 9-for-10s this week) picked Seattle. The other 71 of us lost with the Giants. Oh, well, better the Giants losing like that this week than the Cowboys. Last week hurt enough.
Thanks to that killer game, no one got 10-for-10. Two other games that we generally lost were Raiders-Texans and Chiefs-Colts. Most of us picked the home teams there as well.
The concensus wasn't THAT bad this week - the majority picked nine games correctly, missed the three just mentioned, and split right down the middle with the Tampa Bay-San Francisco game.
We still have some lopsided favorites. Look at the near unanimity with our love for the Chargers, Saints, Packers, and Patriots (wins). Our three collective losses (Giants, Texans, and Colts) were pretty lopsided as well. The least action was on the matchups with teams with the worst records (Cardinals-Vikings and Chiefs-Colts). We're Cowboys fans; we don't waste time with losers.
Here's the table showing the results of our picks this week:
Week #5 Results (Home in CAPS) | |||
Win | Winners (we're great) | Lose | |
71 | San Diego | DENVER | 2 |
70 | New Orleans | CAROLINA | 1 |
61 | Green Bay | ATLANTA | 6 |
53 | NEW ENGLAND | New York Jets | 4 |
43 | BUFFALO | Philadelphia | 17 |
42 | DETROIT | Chicago | 10 |
38 | Cincinnati | JACKSONVILLE | 12 |
36 | PITTSBURGH | Tennessee | 23 |
23 | MINNESOTA | Arizona | 15 |
Win | Losers (we're bleep) | Lose | |
1 | Seattle | NEW YORK GIANTS | 71 |
22 | Oakland | HOUSTON | 41 |
11 | Kansas City | INDIANAPOLIS | 30 |
Win | Pretty Even (we're indifferent) | Lose | |
26 | SAN FRANCISCO |
Tampa Bay |
26 |
This was my worst week yet. I went HOMER and picked the home team to win each of my ten picks. One.Cool.Customer graciously weighed in with the observation that statistics predicted that I wouldn't get more than six winners. He was right - only six home teams even won this week (road teams won the other seven games). However, I only got four of those six right because I didn't select in the other two games won by the home team (I wanted the Jets to beat the Patriots and the Bears to beat the Lions).
I began the week three out of the lead, tied with KD and one ahead of O.C.C. My 4-for-10 was so bad (tied for worst this week) that I didn't gain any ground on KD (he got 4-for-5 picking only the late and night games) and O.C.C. We are now tied, but have dropped six off the lead (T-33).
Last week, I sang the praises of Englishneil, who had been tied for the lead each of the first four weeks. I must have jinxed him, because he didn't submit an entry this week. Only one of last week's co-leaders, mdlusk, is still atop the overall leaderboard. He is joined this week by BishopWest, illcowboy, and Jebediah Flibberbrush. All three of them got 8-for-10 this week to join mdlusk at 38.
Everyone is still bunched tightly together. Seven of you only trail by one. Six more have 36, and are only two back. Seven are tied at 35, and six more complete the top thirty at 34 - just four back of the lead.
One housekeeping note: no one got dinged this week for failing to pick the Cowboys. However, there were two who picked all thirteen games. KD's rules are clear, and I have reminded you each week. If you pick more than ten games, then only the first ten get counted. Any extra picks are ignored (cough, Rummob and dbunny8it, cough). OK?
Here are this week's leaders (weekly and overall). KD will again have the full overall leaderboard in his next Front Page post.
Leaderboard | ||||
Week #5 | Score | Overall | Score | |
Alpha | 9 | BishopWest | 38 | |
LiveNDieBlue | 9 | illcowboy | 38 | |
Rat-Pack | 9 | Jebediah Flibberbrush | 38 | |
BishopWest | 8 | mdlusk | 38 | |
cproctor6 | 8 | IMHO | 37 | |
GordBerl | 8 | jstaubach | 37 | |
illcowboy | 8 | Pnut Gallery | 37 | |
IMHO | 8 | qbfannn | 37 | |
jakezze01 | 8 | Rat-Pack | 37 | |
jazzbo251 | 8 | Rohpuri | 37 | |
Jebediah Flibberbrush | 8 | ziggy 19 | 37 | |
lxblssng | 8 | Alpha | 36 | |
Portland's Cowboy fan | 8 | BigBad Joe | 36 | |
TheDynastyReturns2011 | 8 | Hookem Up | 36 | |
BigBad Joe | 7 | scotscowboyfan | 36 | |
Damnsammit | 7 | Specific | 36 | |
DarkKnight88 | 7 | wittenfan | 36 | |
demarcus94 | 7 | Allan Uy | 35 | |
Dezstroyer88 | 7 | ChiaCrack | 35 | |
Enja | 7 | Grady90 | 35 | |
FuriousDman | 7 | InkedKing | 35 | |
Hookem Up | 7 | lxblssng | 35 | |
I am Ironman!!! | 7 | neon greon | 35 | |
Jason Pai | 7 | Panzer84 | 35 | |
Jessy S | 7 | Benthere | 34 | |
kitten mittens | 7 | FuriousDman | 34 | |
mdlusk | 7 | GordBerl | 34 | |
Nord15 | 7 | jazzbo251 | 34 | |
Panzer84 | 7 | Travlr | 34 | |
Pearson88 | 7 | Tuna Helper | 34 | |
Pnut Gallery | 7 | .FRoST.USAF | 33 | |
qbfannn | 7 | tattooed cowboy | 33 | |
Rohpuri | 7 | 1Bullseye | 32 | |
Specific | 7 | hookerhome | 32 | |
StarloverinWNC | 7 | Jeremiah_24 | 32 | |
Static | 7 | JLMax09 | 32 | |
Uncas | 7 | KD Drummond | 32 | |
wittenfan | 7 | One.Cool.Customer | 32 |
If you are not on these lists, then you are out of the top 38. I only included this many this week so I could see myself still among the overall leaders.
Remember, the Cowboys are playing this week, and you will need to make a pick between Cowboys and Patriots. Otherwise, your entry will not be counted. They are the late game on Sunday afternoon, so it will be possible to miss the early games' kickoffs and still get counted this week.
I look forward to the return of the Cowboys, and more than fifty of you who sat out this past week. Welcome back, Cowboys and all of KD's 10-for-10ers. Bring it.