So close, but yet...

When I started running numbers - actually, getting caught up recording everyone's entries and scoring the early games, I saw that most had a couple of games that were consistently missed - Bears-Chiefs and Falcons-Texans. When I finished counting the games, I did my first data sort and my eyes widened. Whose name was on top of the sheet? Mine! I was the only one that had six games right through the Sunday early games; and, I was one of only two who hadn't missed one yet.

I looked to remind myself what I had left - four games, all involving NFC division leaders: Packers, 49ers, Saints, and Cowboys. I'm about to get 10-for-10! Wow!

Then, the family beckoned, and I went out with them. No problem. I've got the Cowboys on the DVR. I'll come home and watch it during the night game, and then watch the end of the Saints-Lions and see how it ends. My curiosity got to me, and I flipped the car radio over to the Cowboys game around 6:20 pm (CST). Game was still in progress, but sounded as it it were late (either fourth quarter or OT), and it sounded close.

I heard two plays. The second one ended with "Cardinals win" from Brad Sham. Bye, bye, 10-for-10.

I commented about this already on KD's contest page. And, I also offered more unsolicited information when I made my picks: my checklist of games I was picking and games I was avoiding. Except for the Cowboys, my checklist was spot on:

Checklist:

• pick whoever is playing another NFC East team – check
• pick whoever is playing the Colts – check
• Tebow vs. Christian; hmmm; pick Tebow – check
• always pick Houston (make my band guys happy) – check

Avoid:

• Baltimore on the road against a weak team – check
• Orton going back to Chicago (who has the advantage there?) – check
• PST team traveling east and playing early – check
• team on six-game losing streak playing a team that just fired its coach – check

I avoided the "Orton bowl". Bears without Cutler aren't as good as Bears with Cutler. Texans without Schaub are still pretty good. Raiders had to travel from West Coast to East Coast and play early. I also avoided that trap, and skipped most of the (shrug shoulders, make a wild guess) other games.

The final comment I put in my final update on KD's page was:

CDMac24 asked earlier if there had ever been a back-to-back 10-for-10 winner. My reply was:

No back-to-back

There has only been one two-time 10-for-10 – mdlusk.

He was one of your group this week, plus he got 10-for-10 earlier this season in week #2. Hardly a back-to-back!

The closest anyone has come to back-to-back is 19-for-20. Three guys got 9-for-10 in week #11 and joined you at 10-for-10 this past week. Those three: demarcus94, Hookem Up, and Jebediah Flibberbrush..

Add CDMac24 to that 19-for-20 "almost" club. He asked the question, and was that close to being The Answer.

If the Cowboys has beaten the Cardinals, i would have gotten my first 10-for-10, but CDMac24 would have gotten his own wing in the Hall of Fame for going back-to-back.

I still have not seen the game, and I’m sure I will get mad when I see how close the Cowboys came to winning in regulation. But, I’m a Cowboys fan. I don’t pull against them; and, I don’t pick against them.

I would rather get 9-for-10 with that loss than have a 10-for-10 with an asterisk (*picked against Cowboys).

Much more after the jump...

I apologize that I am so late this week. December is a crunch month for church music ministry, and my plate is very full of work, school (my sons' concerts and programs), and other family commitments.

We had a handful (ten) make picks on the Thursday game this past week (Eagles-Seahawks). I expect many more to jump on this week's NFL matchup (Cleveland at Pittsburgh). Feel free to post Thursday Game Only picks on this FanPost. I will take care of counting those picks and transferring them to KD's next contest page.

We also had a couple of stragglers, including KD Drummond himself (for the second time, but who's counting), who missed the deadline for early games and only picked the late games and night games. So, the participation table will say "73", but there were only seventy-one of us with full 10-for-10 participation. We have added new people each week this season with one exception, so there are a bunch of you to track. Here's that table:

As mentioned above (and in my comments), we had a few trap games this time. The biggest killer, of course, was the Cowboys' OT loss at Arizona. The other games that got the most people were Bears falling to Chiefs, Falcons falling at Houston, and Oakland falling at Miami.

We nailed our wins - the four heaviest played games were unanimous, and three other wins only had one pick against the favorite. We split our "we don't care" games - one narrow win, one narrow loss, and one even. So, our cumulative record this week was 10-5-1.

Here's the table that tabulates how we picked each game:

I'm leaving something out. Oh, yeah, the weekly salute and the overall leaderboard. After last week's unprecedented nineteen 10-for-10s, I figured there would be fewer this time. I didn't anticipate that I would be one of the near-misses. So, congratulations to me, and congratulations to CDMac24 for going 9-for-10 this week. Our only miss was the Cowboys. I was that close to my first 10-for-10, and CDMac24 was equally close to going back-to-back. After answering CDMac24's question about back-to-back and looking up best-of-20 scores, I looked a little farther. FYI, the best three-week run had been 26-for-30 until this past week. The new three-week standard is now 27-for-30, established these past three weeks by Hookem Up (9-10-8).

Aaron Burtram asked this week about comparing average scores instead of just single-week and overall. I explained that these are KD's two criteria, but if I got a chance, I might run those numbers as well. His reason for asking - he has only participated these past five weeks, and is at 41 in the overall. That's a whisker over eight per week. If he had picked in all thirteen games, and averaged eight per week, he would be the overall leader, with over a hundred.

But, that's not how we're scoring (at least, not this week). Still setting the standard, at or near the top each week, is Jebediah Flibberbrush. This week, he had a "bad" (for him) week, only getting 7-for-10 and allowing the field a small window of opportunity to come after him. Our new second place, wittenfan, did just that, after her third straight strong showing (8-10-8). The rest of the top ten are pretty much the same people, in a slightly different order as the jockeying for final position has begun.

Here are the top dogs - this week and overall:

Finally, if you want to go ahead and make your Thursday game only picks (or even all ten), you may post them as comments on this FanPost. I will take care of counting them and transferring them over to KD's new contest page in a day or two. Here are the games (KD's order may vary; don't worry about the order):

Thursday, December 8

Cleveland at PITTSBURGH

Sunday, December 11

New England at WASHINGTON

Kansas City at NEW YORK JETS

Houston at CINCINNATI

Indianapolis at BALTIMORE

Atlanta at CAROLINA

Tampa Bay at JACKSONVILLE

New Orleans at TENNESSEE

Philadelphia at MIAMI

Minnesota at DETROIT

San Francisco at ARIZONA

Chicago at DENVER

Oakland at GREEN BAY

Buffalo at SAN DIEGO

New York Giants at DALLAS

Monday, December 12

St. Louis at SEATTLE