BFIG Nation,
I opened the update email with thoughts on the NFL's current protest inferno. You can read those thoughts here: The Irony in How We Get Back to Watching Football >>
Now, let's recap the week that nearly dropped us all out...
WEEK 3 HEALTH CHECK: WE NARROWLY AVOIDED THE APOCALYPSE
Damage done: 4,832 started the week; 11 picked teams lost, knocking out 1,668 people; 3,164 of us are moving on to Week 4.
Could it have been worse? Yes; it was nearly BFIG's second-ever survivorpocalypse. In Week 2, 2015, 95% of us dropped out when the top five Vegas favorites all lost outright. Last week? Packers (31%): Tied game in final minute; won in OT. Pats (26%): Needed TD in final minute to win. Dolphins (15%): Lost. Steelers (10%): Lost. Eagles (4%): Won on a 61-yard FG at buzzer. Broncos (3%): Lost. Rams (2%): Won 41-39. Ravens (2%): Lost. Panthers (2%): Lost. The sum of those picks? 95%.
Closest call: Packers over Bengals. Down 14 at half and trailing the whole game, our top pick needed a "shit only Aaron Rodgers can do" moment to tie the game with 14 seconds left. He absolutely cannoned this out route throw to Jordy Nelson, and the Packers kicked a field goal to win in OT.
Easiest win: Bears fans over Cutler. Toughest question of the week: Were Bears fans happier over their own team's upset victory, or the Jets' demolition of Jay Cutler's Dolphins? For the 710 Miami backers in BFIG, that was one rough game to watch.
Toughest loss: Bears beat Steelers. One of those, "Ugh, this is terrible, but they're still gonna pull out the W, right?" games... where they lose. The Bears overtime drive: Jordan Howard for 1, Tarik Cohen for 36, Howard for 18, Howard for 19 and a touchdown. Excruciating.
Team SZN record: 0-2. @TheGM (Dolphins) is... proud? He made it farther than ever before. I'm (Steelers)... not surprised? My seventh consecutive exit by Week 3. Commish: 100X better at talking about survivor vs. picking survivor.
SECOND CHANCE STARTS NEXT WEEK: GET IN!
Everyone who's in the NFL SZN (so, you) can play in all competitions. In Second Chance, you start fresh (all teams available), and follow the same exact rules as BFIG. Last person standing wins $10K.
New friends can play, too! The NFL SZN is now $14.99 for everything from Week 5 on, starting with Second Chance. Grab your referral link from the refer friends page and go make some friends' days.
Deadline to get in and pick is next Thursday (10/5) at 5:20pm PDT. Join the competition here: theSZN.com/competitions/join/23/
DO A WEEK 4 PICK'EM WITH YOUR GROUP SO YOU CAN PICK BENGALS-BROWNS AND JAGS-JETS
Groups are like a super simple fantasy football league you can do for any SZN competition. Whoever does best in your group, wins.
You can now do weekly pick'ems. Play for bragging rights, or throw $5 or $10 into a side pot.
WEEK 4 SURVIVOR PICK POWER RANKINGS ARE LIVE
Commish is holding on to his season lead, but @BigDaddy pulled off his first weekly win in a tough Week 3. We all have the Packers near the top (again), but @LibbySims thinks the Patriots are gonna get beat.
HOUSEKEEPING
- If you haven't turned on SMS pick reminders, you're being straight up reckless. They've saved hundreds of people from missing picks. Turn 'em on: theSZN.com/account/edit
- Picks lock THURSDAY at 5:20pm PDT. There are zero exceptions. Make a pick early; change it if needed.
- Your pick isn't locked until you see the pick confirmation page. Selecting your team DOES NOT LOCK IN YOUR PICK. You have to click "Submit picks."
- Your "Active Competitions" section is now on the Competitions page, too. (On mobile, that's the only place it is!)
- Second Chance Pool starts in Week 5. Join it now.
- You can create and join groups at any time. If you and your friends aren't competing for bragging rights or a side pot yet, get in a group together.
- Commish and GM play in all SZN competitions, but we can't win any money. This isn't DraftKings amateur hour.
- The Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl
- Commish loves you