Friends in football,
We have a BFIG champion.
32 entered Week 14. Commish told you we'd have carnage. I didn't expect "it's over" level carnage.
MAKE YOUR WEEK 14 PICKS
- Go to your competitions page >>
- Pick deadline: 5:15pm PT Thursday (12/15)
We made the Titans, a 3-point favorite over a divisional rival, a Majority Pick. They got blown out.
We were heavy on the Seahawks, a 3-point favorite over a surprisingly resurgent Panthers team. Carolina never trailed.
Week 14's BFIG pick distribution screamed "necessity picks" given many of the NFL's best teams were big favorites... but few to nobody had those teams available to pick.
Saving the big boys requires strategy. It requires resolve. It requires Moxie.
And you can't win a SZN competition without a little Moxie.
@zachewing, a SZN rookie, started his first-ever BFIG run with the following picks: Saints, Broncos, Bears, Packers, Bucs, Rams, Raiders.
Seven weeks. Seven wins. Just ONE potential playoff team used.
Heading into Week 14, he was the only BFIG survivor with the Bills available AND the only survivor with the Eagles available. He also had the Vikings available, for good measure.
While everyone else had to take the likes of the Titans and the Seahawks, @zachewing took the Bills and the Bengals, still knowing he had the Eagles in the hopper for next week.
That is how you win BFIG titles. Congrats to @zachewing, who joins 13 others in the BFIG Hall of Champions. We'll do an interview soon and feature his words in an upcoming email.
See @zachewing's BFIG pick history >>
BFIG RECAP
Pick spreadsheet | Game outcomes | Golden Spreadsheet
We went from 32 to 1 after our first Majority Pick loss since Week 11, 2020, plus a Baker miracle and several other outcomes went the wrong way. Four weeks ago, Commish boldly predicted BFIG would end in Week 14. I nailed it, though I would have been very wrong about HOW it happened.
"The same thing happens EVERY year."
If you go back through BFIG history, it's easy to spot the commonality among champions: They made at least one crucial late season pick that no one else could make. You can make it pretty far without saving teams, but it's nearly impossible to win it all without one or two heavyweights stashed away.
WEEWOO RECAP
Pick spreadsheet | Game outcomes
Would you believe me if I told you @zachewing also won WeeWoo Week 14? No? I wouldn't either because that'd be ridic... OH MY GOD HE DID WIN. Nine people tied at 12-1, including Mr. BFIG Champ himself. Tack on a WeeWoo $559 (that's $5,030 split nine ways) to that BFIG giant check, good sir. Zach only missed the Raiders, whereas the other nine somehow predicted a Wolford/Baker victory. Three missed on Seattle, two on Tennessee, two on Arizona, and one on the Giants.
"The upsets are BACK"
Commish won't say he told you so but... the upsets will almost always happen. And can you imagine if the Cowboys - one of the biggest picks in WeeWoo history - hadn't snatched victory from the jaws of Texans defeat? Our best record in a measley 13-game week would have been 11-2.
FITZMAGIC RECAP
Pick spreadsheet | Game outcomes | Golden Spreadsheet
We went from 167 to just 7 after the same carnage that produced a BFIG champ left most Fitz (former) survivors licking their wounds.
"SAME"
Here are the Week 14 picks from our seven survivors: BUF-PHI, BUF-CIN, BUF-KC, CIN-LAC, DAL-PHI, DET-NE, KC-SF. With one exception (DET-NE), these were people who'd saved the big guns deploying them at the perfect time. And we still have some dry powder. The Golden Spreadsheet tells us one person still has the Chiefs, and one has the Eagles.
Stat of the week: Panthers team rushing yards since they traded Christian McCaffrey: 173, 169, 64, 232, 36, 185, 223. That's an average of 155 per game. Before the trade? 77 per game.
Yours in football,
The Commish