11/2/26
We are now into the month of November when football weather starts to come around with a nice crisp in the air and the contenders and pretenders are separated. Week 8 of the NFL season brought out a lot of the contenders (the entire NFC North) and some pretenders also popped up like the Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens. We would see a historic moment when Tampa Bay became the first team since 1974 to win a game without completing a pass. We would also get a historic performance in Professor DW’s Football Pick ’em Challenge as one contestant came just short of a perfect week.
We once again had 14 games on the schedule with the Saints, Giants, 49ers, and Texans all on a bye. Double digits were going to be required to be in the running this week with limited upsets and the swing games being toss-ups. Arizona did pull out a shocking victory in Dallas which not many people saw, including William Pecson. However, that was the only game that William lost. He nailed the other 13 games and cruised to a strong victory in the best performance so far this season.
William’s dominance did leave an opening for second with Nate Stahley and Chris Barnes tied at 12 going into Monday Night Football. Trent Twamley correctly picked Chicago to get a statement win in Seattle which is exactly what happened and that moved him into a three-way tie with Nate and Chris. To the tiebreaker we went and it was another lower week with 195 total penalties accepted. All three tied for second went low with Nate guessing 120 while Trent went with 136. Neither could beat Chris as his guess of 180 was very close and earned him a second place finish.
William and Chris are also new entrants into Professor DW’s Exclusive Postseason Tournament as they lock up the spots in week 8. That gives us 15 total entrants already with 20 spots still remaining as we are headed towards the most contestants to qualify for the postseason ever. Both William and Chris will look to keep playing to block out some of the remaining 20 spots to try to limit the size of the field and improve their chances of winning the secret grand prize. Both Chris and William reached the postseason next year but each will be in search of their first championship for the season.
After a disaster of a week 7, Professor DW actually had a nice week in week 8. DW finished with 10 points but missed his upsets of Cleveland over Pittsburgh and also didn’t see the upsets of Arizona over Dallas or Chicago over Seattle coming. He continues to make improvements but the streak is safe and sound for the foreseeable future. DW is excited to have European games back after a week long hiatus.
The big upset of the week happened early with Arizona taking down Dallas in overtime. It wasn’t as missed as Arizona’s last huge upset win over the LA Rams as four entrants made the pick. Kim King, Josh Huxel, MJ Hargrave, and Chris Barnes called the Cardinals win but I don’t think any of them saw it being led by Gardner Minshew in his return to an NFL field.
Week 9’s contest is up. The deadline to enter is back to 4pm on Thursday so get signed up ASAP. Congratulations William and Chris and best of luck to everyone this week.
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