Friends in football,
We're on an unprecedented four-week tear. BFIG has become easy. Irrational confidence is creeping in. Our "picks while at the bar" coefficient is through the roof.
Our winning percentage, Weeks 4 through 7: 94.3%, 83.5%, 96.3%, 93.7%.
A reminder of Weeks 1 through 3: 48.9%, 87.5%, 23.9%
We're in the danger zone when people go "Pats and Rams - Lock it in" because fear of future difficult picks has evaporated.
Stay steadfast, pigskin pals. Stay vigilant, Moxie marauders. In the words of @BigDaddy, "Case BEERKEGNUM had a damn award named after him LAST YEAR. Things change quickly."
Second Chance moved to TWO picks this week. BFIG has two more one-pick weeks to go. ONWARD.
WEEK 8 PICKS AND FAST FACTS
Spreadsheet view: BFIG | SC
Group pages show picks for just your group
FAST FACTS:
- The Steelers, who tied the Browns in Week 1, are our top pick. 31% of us picked them to beat... the Browns.
- Houston (23%, vs. Miami), Chicago (20%, vs. Jets), and New England (8%, at Buffalo) round out our top four picks.
- We have an unusually high 16 teams in play in BFIG (last year's Week 8 saw just eight), while Second Chance did Commish proud in picking ALL eligible 28 teams at least once.
- There was a giant discrepancy with the Chiefs: 27% of Second Chancers made them one of their two picks, while just 4% of BFIGers did the same.
- Usually you can explain this with "already picked" percentages, but 62% of BFIG still had the Chiefs going into this week.
- Thus, it seems we're firmly into saving strategy territory. Commish will unveil 2018's first Golden Survivor Spreadsheet shortly (telling us what % of people have each team remaining).
- No one picked the Packers in BFIG.
- Three brave and beautiful souls picked the Packers in Second Chance.
- Godspeed, Cheesehead dreamers. Commish loves you more than most.
WEEK 8 AWARDS
"You've Got Moxie, Kid" Award
The SZN's third most prestigious award, behind the BFIG Title Belt and the Haynesworth Hustle Award. You can't win BFIG without showing a little Moxie!
@hockey3430 (Eagles): "Everyone knows that an Eagle can travel to the UK much easier than a Jaguar. Read a science book for christ sakes. Eagles by 1000 "
Commish says: And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is how you know that a team in borderline disarray with three losses in four games is going to win, HANDILY, in a game played across the f***ing ocean. GO GET THAT MOXIE HOCKEY.
Commish Communication Award
Quite simply, this is BFIG's best weekly comment (or three)
@npaliga (Steelers): "This is my eighth pick this year. Im starting to feel like Blake Bortles. "
Commish says: There is no better way to honor the potential retirement of BORTLEMANIA!!! than this pick comment.
@nedairanpour (Dolphins, Raiders): " Being a Chargers fan, I did the grossest thing I could ever do! I picked the Raiders! I did it as a show of solidarity for my husband (crice103) who is a Raiders fan. I know, we got married anyway. And since we are now having a child together, I figured our soon-to-be-born baby should learn what compromise is all about. Adulting at its finest..."
Commish says: I rewrote it for you: "I figured our soon-to-be-born baby should learn misery and woe early, so he/she can withstand years of crushing BFIG defeats without losing hope or resolve that the Title Belt will one day be theirs."
"I Could Sell You Bengals Tickets" Award
When BFIG began in 2009, the Bengals were AWFUL. Can you convince anyone that your pick is the right pick? Then I bet you could sell Bengals tickets, too!
@dhoben (Steelers): "Big Ben has more wins in Cleveland than every Browns QB since 1999.....and this game isn't even in Cleveland. Enough said."
Commish says: This year's Bengals winners have me thinking I should rename this award, "Ooooooooof."
Definitely Not Concussed Award
Can you teach us something new? No, there are no rules. Just teach us something. Anything. Please?
@Bigstu121 (Bears, Chiefs): "A team that started off at the Dallas Texans and ended up being the Kanas City Chiefs combined with a team originally know as the Decatur Staleys, now better known as the Chicago Bears are going to get me home. I’m going to use all that luck these two franchises have been carrying to get them to four Super Bowl appearances and two wins in a collective 158 season. I can’t lose. "
Commish says: This is why this award was invented. THANK YOU FOR HONORING OUR... HONOR, BIG STU.
THIS WEEK AT THE NORWOODS'
Long the First Family of BFIG Commenting, Rob and Paige have never met a laughably absurd and questionably relevant analogy they didn't love.
@crashfu14 (Bears, Patriots): "Inspiration for our BFIG picks (and non-picks) can be found almost anywhere, even in literature. “Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later… Harry Potter must not choose the Detroit Lions. Dobby never meant to kill. He only meant to maim, or seriously derail Harry Potter’s survivor pick. He Who Shall Not Be Named (Matthew Stafford) cannot be trusted.”"
Commish says: You need Harry Potter wisdom to avoid the Lions? I'm getting concerned you two aren't eating enough Froot Loops over there...
@rnorwood (Rams, Vikings): "A ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of sorts has emerged in the NFL, at least as it relates to survivor pools. It runs from New York to Nashville, down to Tampa and back to New York, encompassing a massive area of unreliability or a geographic cone of uncertainty, if you’re into that sort of thing. 3-4 Defenses have been swallowed whole with little to no warning. Various models and computational risk analysis have led the phenomenon to be called the Prosciutto Triangle. If there’s one thing we can all agree on about smoking a ham… the hardest part is packing it into your pipe. I’m avoiding the Triangle entirely, staying further west. Keep a weather eye, mateys."
Commish says: I take it back. THE FROOT LOOPS ARE FLOWING!
MORE PICK COMMENTS
@Gurley4MVP (Bears): "It is Week 8 and I am somehow still alive. I am shocked. The Commish should be too. My track record says I should have gone down with the masses at least 6 weeks ago. There are two things I have learned in playing this Survivor competition. 1. I don't know crap about football. Yeah, I do alright in Fantasy, but this concept of Any Given Sunday has led me to 7 lucky picks (a 60+ yard field goal, a last minute drive, etc.). I don't even bother watching the game I choose because at some point my luck will run out (hopefully not just yet). 2. There is no allegiances in Survivor. Some of my best friends are Packer and Jet fans. My brother loves the Lions. So this week, I am rolling with the Bears. If I ever get close enough to the $50K, I think they will understand (even you, Commish). "
Commish says: You almost got it right. There is one allegiance in survivor: To the Survivor Gods. Dance for them. Recite their golden rules. And never miss an opportunity to crush a BLL in their honor, preferably while watching Jags-Titans at your local sports bar.
@jahnyb (Chiefs, Steelers): "This is hard.......going to go drink BLL...Bye Commish!!"
Commish says: Was this an invite? What bar did you go to? CAN I COME?
@TebowPlaysBaseballNow (Texans, Bears): "The fans have asked... UCKFUB is back with a vengeance. And it might be the last week until Weeden Third Chance because I've officially gone insane and picked Houston and Chicago. But let's make this fun while we still can.... a DOUBLE EDITION OF UCKFUB IS HERE! Houston: Did you know that every night an estimated 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from under the Waugh Drive Bridge to hunt for mosquitoes? JJ Watt trains here in the off-season, attempting to tackle as many bats as he can (bats can fly as fast as 99 MPH - roughly the same as Eli Manning). Chicago: Did you know that Hugh Hefner started the original playboy mansion in Chicago? There was a brass plate over the door that said "If You Don't Swing, Don't Ring." Jay Cutler was a frequent visitor during his time with the Bears."
Commish says: NO LIFE IS COMPLETE WITHOUT UCKFUB (Useless City Facts with Britt). Thank you, in-BFIG-marriage-counseling friend. Thank you.
@jsl8tzky (Chiefs, Cardinals): "I was going to pick the rams but couldn't pick against my team. I was going to pick the bears but ftb. Dear Nathan Peterman, I miss you already even though I had to google to find your first name. You look more like a Scott than a Nathan. In fact Nathan does not really sound like an American football name at all. Change your name, and get your job back. We need you. We miss you. Sincerely, all of us. "
Commish says: One of my favorite parts about reading pick comments: Deciphering acronyms I never knew existed (and maybe don't actually exist outside the minds of a few passionate fans). FTB and FYSP!!! (F*** Yeah Scott Peterman)
@liz (Texans, Bears): "Chicago Bears since coach Matt Nagy was a Univ. of Delaware quarterback; Houston Texans since they are an odds on favorite and am saving my KC Chiefs (GM Brett Veach also played for U of D) pick. Go Blue Hens!"
Commish says: This is incredible. An entire University of Delaware-themed pick comment and NO mention of Flacco. His eliteness has hit rock bottom.
@James_hunter (Colts): "How long til Gruden trades himself for a 3rd round pick and a case of Bud Light Limes?"
Commish says: Is he trading himself to... wait for it... The SZN?!? GET HIM IN THE POOL!!!
@mnwildfan79 (Patriots): "Division Game? Check Road Game? Check Trap Game? Check I know this pick is wrong, but it feels so right. "
Commish says: MY MISSION IS FUTILE
@ryankempsoos (Patriots): "The Giants Defense has hairy nipples. And i thoroughly believe Alex Smith will slowly pull each hair out one by one with methodical dump offs to his running backs and 28 play drives that end in field goals. But i still have to play this week "safe" (if there is ever such a thing) Tommy Terrific has not and will not let the Bills embarrass him on primetime television."
Commish says: This felt like a Bengals Tickets award submission until you totally went vanilla, Kemp Soos.
@Bradgandel15 (Texans): "Only reason I did not go Patriots is because I feel a large majority will take them. Also, I am very confident the Bills will pull off another upset and I will look like a genius for saying it out loud."
Commish says: NBA equivalent: "Only reason I did not go [team playing Timberwolves] is because I feel a large majority will take them. Also, I am very confident that Jimmy Butler will become the consummate team player and I will look like a genius when Minnesota wins."
@ktenney12 (Steelers, Patriots): "You might thinking I'm backing New England and Pittsburgh due to a love of Mr. Rogers and Cheers, but there's a deeper logic than that. If one, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (btw Brady's dad has business cards that say the O.G. Tom Brady) were to throw an interception each and every time he drops back for his next thousand pass attempts, his career interception rate would still be superior to that of Nathan Peterman; A QB who was so bad he's forcing poor Derek Anderson, who signed thinking he was going to get paid to attend meetings not play football, to face off against actual NFL defenses. While, Hue Jackson could win his next 100 football games and still have a worse career winning percentage than Mike Tomlin. And that includes the season he went 8-8 in Oakland. On the bright side this season was the year Hue finally has more career wins than fingers. "
Commish says: There should be a Nathan Peterman museum, right? Best case: It becomes the premier warehouse of wild NFL stats - a true NFL nerd's kingdom. Worst case: It only takes three years for everyone to forget who Peterman is. Risk worth taking? I THINK SO.
@Pushmataha (Steelers, Patriots): "Chalk on chalk this week with the nice Commish pivot to two picks going forward... If these two picks do not hit then I will jump in the Lake Erie of Memphis TN."
Commish says: Is the Lake Erie of Memphis just Zach Randolph's kiddie pool?
@NotoriousBOG (Bears, Bengals): "I have stopped trying to explain myself to you. "
Commish says: Y?
@Ken5100 (Colts): "Oakland really sucks ass. In the words of DJ Khalid, Indy gets Anothaaaaa One."
Commish says: In the words of Commish, we're getting close...
@thrushtimothy (Redskins, Colts): "Sometimes I think best on the toilet. "
Commish says: Closer...
@Fuchsey (Bears, 49ers): "Can you put me in the email so my mom will be proud of me"
Commish says: HI MOM!! (Annnnd that'll do it for this week. Good luck, everyone!)