The Field is Set! This season we kick off our own version of the legendary Stardust contest, in which you have sixteen notable handicappers go head to head until the final winner is left standing. Half the field is made up of notable experts, the other half came from Subscriber Qualifying Round Winners.
Best of all, we'll post the actual contest picks and reasoning behind them for each of the contestants rounds by round so you can follow along.
Contest lines are the lines posted on the Spread Quick Picks page each week.
1. Atlanta -2.5 over NY Giants
Atlanta has been up and down this year. This week they will be ready to play and will be up against an inexperienced quarterback.
2. Cleveland -1 over NY Jets
Cleveland has been underachieving this year but has played tough teams. They’re a good home team and will beat the Jets with Pennington out.
3. New Orleans +4 over Denver
New Orleans is another one of those up and down teams, however, they will keep it close against Denver and interception-prone Jake Plummer.
4. Baltimore -8 over Dallas
Put a 40-something year old quarterback on the road against the best defense in the NFL and you don’t score many points. Baltimore is hot and will roll over Dallas at home.
5. San Diego -4 over Oakland
There’s a reason that San Diego beat Oakland 42-14 2 weeks ago: they’re a good team this year and Oakland is struggling. SD will win again this week.
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TMW Subscriber - R.Shine
GB Packers @ Houston Texans
The popular opinion seems to be to take the Texans as a home dog. I'm going to buck the public and stick with a Packer team that is clicking on all cylinders (27, 38, 41, 28 and 34 points scored in their last five games.) Houston has lost their last two by a combined 53 points! One team is on the way up...one team is on the way down. Packers in a blow-out!
Pick: Packers -3
NE Patriots @ Kansas City Chiefs
This is strictly a numbers play. The Chiefs are 10-6 straight-up on Monday night and 11-4-1 versus the spread at home on Monday night. On the contrary, the Patriots are 3-12 straight-up and 6-9 versus the spread on the road on Monday night. The Chiefs have scored 45 and 56 points in their last two home games and are returning home after two straight road games. Spot seems to be perfect for an outright win.
Pick: Chiefs +3
NY Jets @ Cleveland
The Browns are coming off a stretch of games against Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia. The Jets, without Chad Pennington, should be a welcome relief. Curtis Martin should be able to put up some yards but if the Browns can hold onto the ball (13 turnovers in last four games) I look for them to win by a TD.
Pick: Cleveland -1
Dallas Cowboys @ Baltimore Ravens
The Cowboys were embarrassed last Monday night and teams that get embarrassed in front of a national audience have a tendency to show some pride and bounce back with solid effort. Granted, the Cowboys don't have many weapons on offense but the Ravens offense is nothing to write home about either. I look for the Ravens to maybe score 20 points so as long as the Cowboys can score two touchdowns, we should cover.
Pick: Cowboys +8
Washington Redskins @ Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles are flying high after their Monday night whippin' of the Cowboys. The Redskins, on the other hand, are coming off a poor effort against the Bengals. The obvious pick is to take the Eagles and lay whatever points are necessary. However, if you look closely at the Redskins' losses, you will notice that only one was by more than a touchdown (Packers in Week 8). To me, the line is too high. I can see an Eagle letdown and a final score something like 23-17. Give me the points!
Pick: Redskins +11
Quarter-Final Matchups
First Round Matchups
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WEEK
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Expert
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TMW Subscriber
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WINNER
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3
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Sports Insights: every wager placed offshore registers at SportsInsights.com
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R.Shine (CA)
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R.Shine
see Picks
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4
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Mike Orkin: statistics professor, author, and creator of the Optimizer NFL software.
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J.Kelly (CA)
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Mike Orkin
see Picks
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5
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Brandon Funston: Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Expert, Brandon knows the scoop on the NFL.
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T.Corpis (CA)
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Brandon Funston
see Picks
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6
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Aaron Schatz: The founder of acclaimed NFL stats site FootballOutsiders.com
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"Wunderdog"
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Aaron Schatz
see Picks
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7
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Benjamin Eckstein: co-founder of America's Line and authority on all things gambling.
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S.Penhos (Mexico)
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S.Penhos*
see Picks
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8
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Roland: The founder of TwoMinuteWarning and winner of last season's H2H Challenge.
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J.Palazzolo (NV)
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J.Palazzolo
see Picks
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9
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Stanford Wong: legendary Blackjack expert, author, founder of SharpSportsBetting.com
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K.Aird (Canada)
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K.Aird
see Picks
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10
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'Kevin Lewis': MIT grad, million dollar winning blackjack player, star of Bringing Down the House
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M.Gargone (AL)
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Kevin Lewis*
see Picks
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* same overall record, won tiebreakers
