2018 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 1

Okay, the NFL preview series is all done. The NFL Tournament of Champions is in the books. And with the 2018 season kicking off today... it's time to renew my favorite feature of Confessions of a Sportscaster.

In the first full NFL season that I'd been writing Confessions of a Sportscaster, I started picking NFL games against the spread, and loved it. That was 2012, and here we are with this feature beginning its seventh year. But it's no fun just doing this on my own. I like making it a competition. And competition needs a rival writer.

That's where Adam Quinn comes in. He's my wife's cousin's husband, but he's also a good friend who I get to see a few times a year when he comes up from Texas, though he's from the area and lived here until just a couple years ago. Fortunately we stay in touch and I'm honored to have him back once again.

Our overall contest is not just between us, even though he's the featured guest picker. We are rejoined this season by my old friend from my WONC days, Chicago Bulls Confidential blogger, 90's Youth Life podcast host, and guy who was devastated by 1994 Jeff Blauser's virtual show of power in Geoffrey Clark.

The rest of the group is a bevy of family. We're joined by my brother-in-law Joe, who I think was really excited to get in on the contest this year. Meanwhile, Adam and I pulled off some recruitments for the contest in his wife Jen and their son Aiden, while my wife Kristen is also on board. Knowing how these things work, either Kristen or Jen are on tap to be the first to pull off an undefeated week in COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em history, and that's largely because Adam already jinxed himself by text yesterday.

Every week you'll see our standings for the week as I'll link to our ESPN group, and I also tabulate our picks in comparison to each other on a Google sheet (thanks to Adam for creating the original a few years back whose template I took and publicized, and have adjusted for this year to account for the increase in participants). But as for the column it's me and Adam every week unless he has a commitment that takes him away, in which case I'll try to recruit a guest columnist.

Adam is our defending champion for the 2017 season and looks to defend his crown. In the four years we've done this so far, we've split in terms of who's done better for a given year. That makes 2018 a rubber year, and one I'm looking forward to. But before we make our picks, I would like to cede the floor to our defending champion.

The boys are back in town!  Haha, back and ready to embark on a great season. Things are finally look up for my Bears and down on GB!  More on that later.

Them's fighting words, sir. For the inaugural 2018 post, Adam and I disagree on seven games out of 16. Without any further ado... let's get to it!

2018 NFC East Preview

Rejoice, COAS readers: tomorrow the NFL is back!

That means I need to wrap up my preview series today. For the past couple weeks I've gone division by division around the country making my picks for the upcoming year. Yesterday I wrapped up the AFC (you can view my full playoff picks here), and so today I need to finish up the league and NFC.

But before I do that, one final time I'm looking to make a shameless plug with the annual COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em contest. You can join the group through that link to see how much better at picking NFL games against the spread you are than I am, while I renew my rivalry with Adam Quinn in our weekly column. The first edition of the season comes out tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to getting back to it.

But until then, here's a look at the NFC East.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Championship

We interrupt our series of NFL season previews for... some more NFL content, as the final step of my project comes to completion.

I wasn't even sure I'd be able to do a project like this with my simulator not getting current teams out. But then in April they released the 2017 NFL teams, and I was able to start running a renewed NFL Tournament of Champions! All 52 Super Bowl champions entered a gauntlet at the beginning of May, playing 12 games apiece to narrow the field down to 24 teams. After four more weeks, we're down to our final two in the quest to find the Champion of Champions.

Playing the role of our visiting team is our number two overall seed and defending Champion of Champions in the 1999 St. Louis Rams. The Rams went 10-2 in group play, losing to a pair of playoff teams but taking the group crown by one game over the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They've followed that up with wins over the 1971 Dallas Cowboys, 1992 Dallas Cowboys, and 2016 New England Patriots, all at home, to reach this stage. But in this title round, they are purely by seeding the underdog.

Our host is the best team from group play and our top overall seed in the 1996 Green Bay Packers. Coming off a quarterfinal appearance in 2014, the Packers were the last remaining undefeated team in group play, winning their first eight games before falling to the 2011 New York Giants, but that was their lone blemish en route to an 11-1 mark and home field advantage throughout the postseason. They've taken advantage of it, knocking off the 2015 Denver Broncos, 1968 New York Jets, and 2000 Baltimore Ravens to reach the pinnacle of sport: a date for immortality and the Championship of Champions.

As the top overall seed, the Packers get to play this game at Lambeau Field. Weather conditions from Green Bay over the weekend will be taken into account. You can view the history of this year's Tournament of Champions, including standings and scores, here. As has been the case all tournament, all simulations have been provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's crown a champion!

2018 AFC East Preview

The NFL season kicks off in two days! We've almost made it!

I've worked my way around the rest of the country, and now we're down to just the East divisions in both conferences. Given the alternating pattern, we're starting with the AFC East today, which is a little weird still given that the Patriots are the Patriots.

I'm taking the opportunity once again to plug this year's edition of the Pigskin Pick 'Em contest which you can join here. Every Thursday (except for Thanksgiving, where it will get accelerated to the day before) I will be joined by Adam Quinn for our picks against the spread.

Until then, let's preview some more football teams.

2018 NFC South Preview

Happy Labor Day! I'm not taking a full break on the holiday with the NFL season just three days away. This means you have just three days to get in on the annual COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em contest. Thursday morning the weekly series will be renewed as Adam Quinn and I return to picking games against the spread and taking potshots at anyone and everyone.

But in the meantime, there are still three more divisions to preview, and today we're looking at maybe the deepest in the league in the NFC South.

2018 AFC South Preview

Happy Friday! We're onto the second half of my series of NFL previews and beginning the second thousand posts here at Confessions of a Sportscaster!

So far I've covered the North and West divisions in my circle around the country, and we're working through the South now before finishing up out east.

Continuing with my pattern of alternating conferences, we're back in the AFC today as we look at its South division.

2018 NFC West Preview

In October of 2011, I started this blog as a way to market myself and have some fun writing about sports. And today, August 30, 2018, marks a milestone for me: the 1000th Confession of a Sportscaster.

Most of these confessions have been about one of the seven Tournaments of Champions I've run, the most recent of which is awaiting its championship game this weekend. I'm also picking up a seventh year of my Pigskin Pick 'Em contest, renewing my weekly column with Adam Quinn where we pick NFL games.

But the honor of being my 1000th Confession goes to my preview series for the 2018 NFL season, in particular my picks for the NFC West. Let's get to it!