Ha, Ha. It's Back! The A2K NFL "Pick-Um" Game!

hey spendi, wasn't that game in philly?

you might ask FM about the field surface there, he is a big Iggle fan from way back, as I recall...

that is about as good as it gets there, i think. (it used to be MUCH worse)

this game is not quite following the script.

two minute drill here we go...

Colts lose. Houston wins. This has been a strange week in football.

Very strange week, the Lions lost........

The pretty lawn patterns are saved for the baseball fields.

The guys you refer to are fast enough to be competitive with Olympic sprinters. That, along with the ability to catch a football and hold on to it while taking a good clocking, is a highly valued quality in American football.

Now I know why the thread title begins as it does.



A good clocking cannot be envisaged through all that padding and protection. The dissipation of energy in collisions is much facilitated by the crumple factor.

THERE IS NO WAY TO SUGARCOAT THIS...
As a group we stank this week. We finished with a winning record of .551 in Week #2 vs .708 in Week #1. We piled up a lot of losses in the Houston-Tenn, Cincy-Green Bay and Chicago-Pittsburgh games.
Individually, some of us did well. Osso and Clubber finished with records of 12-4. The tiebreaker gives the week to Osso. Wandeljw, McGentrix, Tico and ElStud came in at 11-5. EhBeth, Ms Cowdoc, Alex and Rockhead ended with 10-6. Region, Johnboy and Spendius managed to salvage a winning week at 9-7.
Then it starts to get ugly.
The best that George, Mysteryman, Fox, Ragman, Imur, Fbaezer, Maporsche, JPB and Panzade could muster was a break-even 8-8. Cowdoc limped in at 7-9. Edgar, Liontamerx and Rhyys stumbled in at 6-10.
And then there was Jespah with a stunning 5-11. I say 5-11.
The best performance by an ESPN expert was 11-5 and the worst was at 9-7.
JPinMilw missed the week. I noticed he has not been on A2K for a while. He is, I recall, a grad student. We hope to see him back next week.

I'm going to try harder.

AND HERE ARE THE STANDINGS THROUGH 2 WEEKS:
(1) McGentrix took advantage of Maporsche's stumble and climbed a notch from 2nd with .781;
(2) Tico rose from 3rd into a tie for 2nd with .750;
(2) ElStud rose from 3rd into a tie for 2nd with .750;
(2) Osso, with two steady weeks moved to a tie for 2nd at .750;
(2) JPinMilw - who did not play - rose to a tie for 2nd at .750;
(6) Clubber had a fine week. He is now at .719;
(6) Maporsce took a hit, dropping from 1st. He also is at .719;
(8) Johnboy is at .688;
(8) Spendius is at .688;
(8) Wandeljw is at .688;
(8) Ehbeth is at .688;
(12) Ragman is at .656;
(12) JPB is at .656;
(14) Fox is at .625;
(14) Imur is also at .625;
(14) Fbaezer is also at .625;
(14) Panzade is also at .625;
(14) Liontamerx is also at .625;
(14) Ms Cowdoc is also at .625;
(20) Cowdoc, at .594, sank from a tie for 9th;
(20) Region is also at .594;
(22) Rhyss at .563, had a dreadful week and slumped from a tie for 4th;
(22) Rockhead, at .563, fell from 25th;
(24) Edgar, at .531, dropped from 17th;
(25) Jespah, at .500, drooped from 17th;
(25) Alex, at .500, rose from 27th;
(27) Mysteryman, at .469, slipped from 26th;
(28) George, at .438, controls the basement.

I did not bother listing most players' positions in the standings after last week vs standings this week. There were 20 players last week who finished at 13-3 or 12-4 or 11-5 and hence in a tie for 3rd or 9th or 17th. Not very meaningful. It will take another week or so for the standings to be useful except at the very top or bottom. Instead look at the winning % to see how close you are to players above or below you. For example, if I can get pick just one more game right this week than Maporsce, I can tie him.
Let me know if you notice mistakes.

A) I cannot believe it's Week 2 and I'm ranked higher than both Wandeljw and Ragman.
B) This is clearly an anomaly that will be swiftly rectified in the coming week.
C) Can I, like JP, take the week off and rise into 1st place?

Could you tell me what are unusual scores? I gave an 8 first week and George came on to say it was a very uncommon score. Are there others?

We will all try harder in WEEK#3. Here is the schedule:
Sunday, 9/27, early games...
Kansas City @ Philadelphia
Green Bay @ St Louis
San Francisco @ Minnesota
Cleveland @ Baltimore
NY Giants @ Tampa Bay
Jacksonville @ Houston
Tennessee @ NY Jets
Atlanta @ New England
Washington @ Detroit
9/27 late games...
Chicago @ Seattle
New Orleans @ Buffalo
Miami @ San Diego
Pittsburgh @ Cincinatti
Denver @ Oakland
Sunday night game...
Indianapolis @ Arizona
Monday night game...
Carolina @ Dallas

Remember to guess the final score in that last game. Deadline for all games is before the kick-off of the 1st game.
New players still welcome but this is probably the last chance.
Thank you.

In the NFL, a touchdown (TD) is worth 6 points. That is followed by the kicker for the scoring team getting to make a short little kick through the goal post for 1 extra point (called a PAT). Rarely missed, so a TD is really worth 7 points.
A field goal (FG) earns 3 points. That occurs when a team on offense marches down the field but runs out of steam. The kicker tries to put the ball through the goal post from up to as much as 50 yards away
If a team on offense gets tackled in its own end zone that is called a safety (S) and gives the defensive team 2 points. It is very rare.
So, in predicting a team's total score, 1 is impossible, 2 would be rare, 3 works but would indicate a pretty inept team, 4 would be twice as rare as 2, 5 doesn't work, 6 would be 2 FG's, 7 is one TD, both doable. 8 (as George noted) would be 2FG + the rare safety. 9 is 3 FG's which would be unusual. 10 works, 11 doesn't.
Everything - for the most part - above that is possible, I guess, using 7's and 3's except for some in the mid teens.

congrats to Tico and McG...way to go guys.
I got a queasy feeling when osso changed her vote from San Diego to Baltimore...she knows her ****, congrats osso

PS- spendi I could never pick as well as you are doing if I was handicapping the Premier League...commendable

8 is also possible with a 6pt TD and a 2pt conversion, which is generally only attempted when coming from behind to attempt to tie and go into overtime. If one team had 15 pts and the other team scored a late TD bringing them to 13 (1 TD and 2 FGs), they might (probably would) attempt a 2pt conversion after the TD. Rarely would you see a score of "8", but you will sometimes see 8 pts total from a TD and 2pt conversion.

Clear as mud, I'm sure...

Or 6 (TD) + 2 point conversion (run/pass the ball into the end zone after a TD, rather than kick a point after).


Not that unusual, is it? Might see the Rams put that up any week now ... if they can get into the red zone 3x in a game.

I know that college has the 2 pt conversion on a PAT. I wasn't aware the NFL does. Rarely attempted, though.
So don't listen to me, Spendius.
I know nothing.

i'm glad you are keeping score, rjb...

Okay, how'd they get to 15?