Games and contests still open for Pats fans
We're not far from kickoff to the 1:00 games but there is still time to join in the fan of various free games and contests for bragging rights among Pats Fans.
First and foremost I encourage everyone to join Alamo's seventh annual Predict the Score Contest. As the name suggests, you simply predict the final score of the Patriots game against hundreds of fellow Pats and NFL fans; there are weekly winners as well as an overall season champion for the person who is closest to the correct score.
In the Yahoo Pro PickEm league you match your talent at predicting who will win each NFL game on a week to week basis. This is simply straight up with no point spreads involved, but the twist is that you assign 'confidence points' to each game. The game winner you are most confident in gets 16 points, the next team gets 15, all the way down to the winner of the game you have the least confidence in winning, that gets assigned one point. Again there are weekly and season-long winners. The league ID is 33370 and the password is MHK.
The Boston Globe is running a Patriots Fan Prediction Contest in which you predict the winner of each of the Pats' sixteen regular season games; prizes include a $300 gift card to the Pats Pro Shop, an autographed photo of Tom Brady, and lunch with Greg Bedard. And no, I did not make that up. Deadline to enter is Monday at 2:00 PM eastern time.
There are also a pair of eliminator/suicide pools in dire need of participants. The first is a Yahoo Survival Football league; Group ID is 30888, group name is PatsFans and the password is MHK. The second one is an ESPN Elinator league; league name is PatsFans.com, League ID is 1720 and the password is gillette.
ESPN Gridiron Challenge is a salary cap based game. No draft; you just select any players you want each week as long as you stay under the salary cap (each player is assigned a dollar value). Nice thing about this is you can include any player that you want on your team. League name is PatsFans.com, League ID is 2279 and the password is gillette.
NFL Week One Picks
Simply picking winners each week is not particularly skillful or interesting in my opinion; how often do any of the writers that do that choose an underdog? Rather than that I'll offer opinions based on the spread or the over/under, with how confident I am with those picks, risking an imaginary $100. Warning: my only guarantee is that I will be woefully wrong on more than one selection.
Bears (+3) vs Falcons - 15 units
I know Atlanta is a very good team, but the team that was in the conference championship game is an underdog at home?
Steelers (+2 ½) at Ravens - 15 units
Pittsburgh is the defending conference champ, and has a long history of success against Baltimore.
Eagles at Rams (+5) - 15 units
Philadelphia's sieve-like offensive line has been overlooked while this so called Dream Team was being assembled.
Seahawks at 49ers, under 41 - 15 units
I'm thinking something along the lines of 21-10 between these two.
Colts at Texans (-7) - 10 units
Bengals at Browns, under 38 - 10 units
Lions (+1 ½) at Bucs - 10 units
49ers (-6) vs Seahawks - 10 units
The rest:
Chiefs (-4) vs Bills; under 40
Titans (-1) at Jaguars, under 38
Giants (-1 ½) at Redskins, over 40 ½
Cardinals (+7) vs Panthers, over 37 ½
Chargers (-9) vs Vikings, over 43 ½
Cowboys (+6 ½) at Jets, under 41
Dolphins (+7) vs Patriots, over 45 ½
Raiders (+3) at Broncos, over 40 ½
Browns (-6.5) vs Bengals
Steelers at Ravens, over 37
Lions at Bucs, under 43 ½
Falcons at Bears, over 40 ½
Eagles at Rams, under 44 ½
Colts at Texans, over 43 ½
