2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 7

If we go by weeks, we are officially a third of the way through the NFL season. And with that, we begin the second period of picking NFL games against the spread.

I was thrilled mid-afternoon on Sunday as I was in good shape, but I crashed a little bit in the late slate. Ultimately, Adam took four of seven games from me, I took three of five from Joe, and Adam took five of eight from Joe in Week 6. This means for the column, Adam was able to gain a little bit of ground, as I find myself seven games back and Joe nine. Groupwise though, Adam was outshone by much of the rest of the group, and his overall lead has been trimmed to just three games.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. Part of the reason everyone had decent weeks was the fact that collectively the group went 0-4 on hero picks, including Adam missing a couple. As such, I'm the only one without a miss on a hero pick; unfortunately that's out of a sample size of two, which doesn't help my cause. We hit on our lone consensus pick this week though, which puts us at easily our best mark since we started keeping track back in 2016.

And so as we look ahead to Week 7, I disagree with both Joe and Adam on seven games apiece, while the two of them disagree on eight games out of 15. This could be a big week of shakeups, so let's get to it!

2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 6

The coalition returns off a solid week across the board as we get ready for Week 6 of the NFL season!

The good news is that Adam and I split our six disputed games and I swept the two with Joe, while Adam took four of six from Joe. The bad news for me is that Adam maintains his fairly sizable lead over the rest of the group. The rest of us are all clustered together, with Matthew currently alone in second place after an outstanding week.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. Adam maintains his dominance in games where he's heavily in the minority. Of note, we went 3-0 in consensus games this past week, putting us well over .500 in that category for the season. Hopefully we can maintain that, as it's good for all of us.

Looking ahead, Adam and I disagree on seven games out of 14, Joe and I on five, and Joe and Adam on eight. Let's get to it!

2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 5

We're about a quarter of the way through the season, and the coalition returns to action for Week 5 of the NFL season.

Adam has long had this theory of "The Great Reversal," where everything we think we know about an NFL season flips on its head. That informed a lot of his picks this past week, and to an extent it worked; he took six of our eight disputed games. Joe, meanwhile, finally caught fire as he swept our six disputed games and grabbed four of six from Adam.

Adam remains in the lead overall, but with my down week, he now holds a sizable five game lead on the nearest competitor. The rest of us are all hovering in that 5-7 game range. This is fine; everything is fine.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. As a general rule, those of us who have been picking more contrary to everyone else seems to be having more success, and Adam's numbers bear that out, as he's 5-0 in games where he's either gone hero or had one other person agree.

And so as I make an attempt to claw my way back in our first week with byes, Joe and I disagree on only two games, but Adam disagrees with each of us on six out of 14. Let's get to it!

2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 4

With three weeks in the books, the coalition returns for another week of picking NFL games against the spread!

This week ran the gamut for the group from good to bad, but the standings by and large stay the same. Adam did extend his lead by taking three of five from me, though we increased our gap with Joe as I took four of five from him and Adam took five of their six. At this point, seven games separate first place from last place, and five of the seven pickers are within four games of each other.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. As a group, we went 1 out of 3 on hero picks, but we're still hitting on over 50% of them as a group. Adam and I are the only two not to lose a hero pick through three weeks (granted, out of a sample size of 2 apiece). We're also just over .500 on consensus picks.

As we look ahead, Adam and I disagree on eight games this week, while Joe disagrees with each of us on six games. Let's get to it!

2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 3

Two weeks down, and the coalition returns to action for a third week of picking NFL games!

Adam has often said that Week 2 is when we start to see things get more towards the norm for a season compared to the surprise of Week 1. I'm hoping that's not a sign, as he took five of seven games from both me and Joe last week; Joe and I split our four disputed games. Adam's strong Week 2 showing has him in first place among the group, a game ahead of me. Most of the rest of the group is still right in the mix, though John has fallen to the back of the pack, six games off the pace.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. We're continuing to do fairly well on consensus picks, and folks who have gone hero so far are 6-4 in such games. I think my favorite sub-stat of that is that the three of us columnists are a combined 5-0 when we've gone hero. Again... I hope this isn't an omen because regression to the mean never happened for Adam last year.

Looking ahead now, I disagree with five games apiece with Adam and Joe, and the two of them on six games out of 16. Let's get to it!

2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 2

First week jitters are hopefully out of the way, and now we move on to Week 2 of our quest to pick NFL games against the spread!

So far, even year magic is working fairly well. As a group we had a good opening slate, splitting our two consensus picks and finishing above .500 combined between the seven of us, and a year after we hit on just over 50 percent of hero picks collectively (mostly thanks to Adam), we went 2-3 this week.

Column wise I'm off to a good start after taking three of four from Adam and four of six from Joe; they split their four disputed games. Group wise, this has me one off the overall lead after I missed the Monday night game.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. As we look ahead now to Week 2, Adam and I disagree on seven games, Joe and I on four, and the two of them on seven games out of 16. Let's get to it!

2024 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 1

We back.

Confessions of a Sportscaster has largely gone by the wayside with the chaos of life in general, but the one longest running feature will continue for its 13th overall season and 11th featuring its main participants.

Every year, I've been doing NFL picks against the spread, often failing fairly miserably, sometimes acquitting myself fairly well. I'm hoping 2024 will be a redemption year, because 2023 was... not good. It follows a pattern though, looking back.

For those of you new to COAS, we have an annual group on ESPN's Pigskin Pick 'Em contest where we pick games against the spread set on ESPN and try to see how well we fare. My picks, along with a rationale, will appear here weekly every Thursday morning (earlier for holiday weeks). But it wouldn't be as much fun if it was just me. So joining me once again this season is Adam Quinn, who won the column title in 2023 by a wide margin. Joe Klecka will also have his picks featured on a weekly basis. Also in the ESPN group, though their picks will not appear in the column, are 2023 champion and co-host of Then There Were Two: A History of the World Series Geoffrey Clark, Joe's uncle Jim, and rounding out our group this year are a couple new entries in Adam's friend John and my seven year old son Matthew.

While ESPN keeps track of scores, I also tally up how we've picked in relation to each other on a weekly basis on a Google sheet. In 2023 Adam accounted for nearly half of all "hero" picks (i.e. he was the only one to pick a team in a game) and hit on a group-best 66% of those games. That seems to be a key factor in figuring out who wins.

So as we prepare for another amazing season of NFL football, for our opening act groupthink largely prevails as Adam and I disagree on four games, Joe and I on six, and the two of them on four games out of 16. Let's play!