Let me begin today with some housekeeping, but not same copy/paste from previous weeks for the new players.

We have had some issues getting picks posted correctly. Some have been your issues - making picks, editing picks, and submitting picks inside the Google Form. Some have been ours - correctly guessing which multiple (but slightly different) usernames are from same or different people.

Here are some steps to make sure that your picks are accurately recorded each week:

• Bookmark and use one of O.C.C's links (here is his newest page). For BTB (and sister SBNation) members, use the link that autofills your username. That guarantees a consistent and correct spelling each week. I can't post that link here because FanPosts don't have the technology embedded. The alternate link - here - doesn't autofill your username. Please make sure you spell it the same way each week.
• Make sure that every game has a selection. Your entry cannot be submitted if a game is missing. Re-check each pick before you submit. Sometimes, computer gestures (such as scrolling using arrow keys) can cause game selections to be toggled from what you intended.
• Before you submit, consider opening a blank Notepad or Word-type document. Type your winners (no formatting is needed) and save that *.txt or *.doc file with a name like "Pick 256-05" (no quotes). That covers you in case something happens with your entry. You will have a file (documented with time/date stamp) that you could email to me or O.C.C in case there's a problem or mistake with your entry.
• Many of the problems come from using the Edit function to return and change picks before the deadline. O.C.C and I are suggesting this - don't use the Edit function to change picks. Just submit an entirely new slate of picks. When he sees multiple entries from the same username, he deletes all but the most recent. So, to play it safe - if you're can't remember if you got your picks in, or if you want to make changes - just submit a new entry.

Most of our problems come from guessing whether similar usernames are entries from the same person or from different people. Here are some of the ones that we have assumed are from the same person:

• BVANZANMAN (wk 1), Bvanzanman (wks 2-3), BVANZAAN (wk 4) = same person
• calgarcia (wk 1), calgarcia3 (wks 2-4) = same person
• ctcowboy (wk 1), CTCowboy (wks 2-4) = same person
• eduardo colon (wk 1), Eduardo Colon (wk 2), Edward colon (wks 2-4) = same person
• ericfurton (wks 1-3), eric.furton (wk 4) = same person

Others were even easier to figure out, but I am still unsure of this one. We have had entries this season from:

• capitalT (wk 1)
• Capital T (wk 3)
• CapitalT (wk 4)

Two of these are actual BTB usernames. We have no idea if all entries are coming from the same person, if they are three different people, or if each username has participated (and one of them participated the other week).

SHOUT OUT TO ALL VERSIONS OF CAPITAL T - please let us know which weeks belong to which username. Currently, we're scoring those as three different individuals.

[EDIT - CapitalT responded - below - and I have edited this FanPost to combine his three weekly entries into one username, updating all the numbers in my tables.]

Check your scores (below I have the entire scoreboard). If your scores are split between/among multiple usernames, please let us know so we can combine as needed. I have already edited two previous FanPosts to accommodate those updates.

Each week, early on Tuesday morning, the contest entry link will be activated, and you may begin posting and editing your entries for the upcoming weekend. After the Thursday kickoff, the link will be deactivated. All of our entries will be loaded into a spreadsheet and O.C.C will begin preparing the next week's contest.

[Link was activated late Monday night. It is active now through Thursday kickoff.]

Earlier on Thursday, O.C.C will also post the picks of the Front Page Writers, and give a reminder that all new picks need to be in before Thursday kickoff.

In the final post of the week (sometime Friday or Saturday), O.C.C will post a link to download the week #5 spreadsheet that is automatically generated from all of your entries. This lets you follow along and keep score - you and your fellow participants. With these spreadsheets - week #1, week #2, week #3, and week #4 - you may join me in tracking yourself and everyone else this season. Or, you may just continue reading and let me do the work for you.

End housekeeping, and on to report:

Each week of Pick 256, we have had some players not return from our record 467 week #1 participants. However, we had also added new participants each week (nineteen this week alone). We are now tracking 564 individual players. Wow!

Here's my participation table, where I track each week's participants along with the season-long number of individuals who have played at least once:

Since everyone has to submit a pick for each game, there were 322 picks for each game (except, one lost his Thursday pick because it was submitted late; however, O.C.C's continued grace allowed his other fifteen picks to stand).

I don't know how long that grace will continue, so let me encourage you - start clicking your (bookmarked) contest link as early as you wish on Tuesday morning. Don't wait for one of us to post. The link will be the same each week (turned off on Thursday after kickoff, and turned on by Tuesday morning for the next week's contest).

We had three games that wiped out most of us. More than 90% of us missed TB over PIT, MIN over ATL, and NYG over WAS (second straight week to mis-pick NYG). And, also for the second week in a row, more than 75% of up mis-picked KC (over MIA in week #3 and over NE in week #4). No game was unanimous, although one rounded to 100% in O.C.C's report. We actually had one person pick JAC while everyone else picked SD (for a quarter, he was looking like a genius; now, he is just anonymous).

Here's how we did in week #4 picking each game (sorted by our wins - most down to least):

We had the exact consensus picks as the Front-Page Writers (same majority preference for each game) for the second time (also in week #1). They got us by one game in week #2, and we returned the favor last week. So, for the sixty-one games that have been played, our consensus has favored the same team as the FPWs fifty-nine times, and we are deadlocked after four weeks.

Here is the table tracking our head-to-head with the FPWs:

The past two weeks, we have had some flirtations of perfection. However, 91% of us missed NYG over WAS, so we entered Sunday games with only thirty escaping an early defeat. Only seven got TB over PIT; two of those also picked NYG and one also picked MIN over ATL; but, no one hit on the trifecta (got all three games right that 90% of us each missed).

Because of those three hits, our individual average score (6.96) was a full game lower than our consensus (8). Another contributor was how many picked the Saints. In week #1, many more played, and nearly one-fourth of the entries picked SF over DAL. In week #4, more than one-third picked the Saints.

I got fussed at on another thread for listing all 112 who picked the Saints Sunday night. But, after three rocky weeks, I'm starting to get a better perspective on the relative strengths of each team and posted my best relative score (only one shy of the top score).

In my perspective, the only way that the Cowboys could have lost Sunday night is by shooting themselves in the foot. They are trending upward each week. They dug a huge hole and couldn't overcome that deficit in week #1; in week #2, they didn't dig that hole and controlled the game. In week #3, they dug the same hole, but overcame it; in week #4, they again didn't dig the hole and controlled the game.

These aren't last years 49ers or Saints. We know that the Eagles have won with smoke and mirrors, but the 49ers aren't that great either. They were fortunate enough to hang on against a team that scored no offensive points. The Saints had lost two "upset" games on the road, and posted a mediocre and unimpressive home win. These weren't the all-powerful Saints that had embarrassed us last year. The Cowboys were, and proved that they were, the better team. That was no upset.

I'm glad that someone picked JAC last week. I hope that this Sunday is the first Pick 256 unanimous pick, with all of us picking the Cowboys over the Texans. Then, when the Cowboys go to Seattle and knock off the Seahawks (who have already been beaten, and can be beaten), that won't be considered an upset either, and the only unhappy people will be Seahawks fans, and people who picked them to win.

Byes began this week, and there were only thirteen games. Five were able to survive those three 90% disasters and post remarkable scores of 10 for the week. Two of them got NYG right, one got TB right, and one got MIN right. The other one missed those three but got the other ten correct.

Here are all 322 scores from week #4, sorted alphabetically by score:

After a nineteen-way tie in week #1, Dcowboy rose to the top and took solo possession of first place by one game. Last week, he posted another near-top score and has expanded his lead to two games. This week was a repeat (near-top score and a three-game lead).

Congratulations Dcowboy, and well-done. You're in your own ZIP code, and you're almost in your own area code (three game lead, only two others within four games, and a five-game lead over the first cluster of players). Each week, I have said, "Keep the hammer down, and let's see if we can match your pace." You have done so, and we have not.

If you want to see your name without having to visually scroll through these two long tables, use the Windows shortcut CTRL-F (control key plus F) and enter your username. Every instance will be highlighted, and CTRL-G moves to the next instance.

Here are all 566 scores (everyone who played any or all four weeks), sorted alphabetically by score:

Look for O.C.C's Pick 256 newest post today; look for the Front Page Writers' picks to be published on Thursday morning; and get your picks in for week #5 before Thursday night.