NFL Office Pool Picks Week 11
by Trevor Whenham - 11/15/2016

I'm at the stage this year in my office pools that you never want to get to I am in it only for moral victories. Wins haven't been coming at quite the ideal rate, and dreams of championships are long since dead. All I can do to salvage some pride is to dwell on the picks that turned out well and make me feel a little clever as a result. I'm not going to impress anyone else with the way the season has gone so far, in other words, so I might as well try to impress myself.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 10
by Trevor Whenham - 11/8/2016

The Lions are the team to beat in the NFC North right now. If you try to convince anyone you saw that coming you are obviously lying. And not one of those convincing lies that could easily be true, either. That division has caused more headaches than any other this season when it comes to making office pool picks. It must be something about that northern air or something, because the AFC North hasn't exactly been straightforward, either.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 9
by Trevor Whenham - 11/1/2016

I'll admit it - I'm getting a bit tired of parts of this NFL season. I'm clearly not the only one - the TV ratings are in the toilet, or at least they are relative to what they have been. There have still been some real highlights, obviously - the play of the Patriots is profoundly impressive, the Raiders have mostly been great, and Dak Prescott is a great story, for example.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 8
by Trevor Whenham - 10/25/2016

I have a point of pride from last week's selections - I picked the Chargers to win at Atlanta. It was a nice pick - a risk, but the kind that you need to do every once in awhile when it's been a long season of highly average office pool picks and you need to shake things up a bit. The flip side of this story, sadly though, is that I took a good handful of other similar risks last week and, aside from the Chargers, they all sucked. Awful. This week it feels like there are fewer risks. It feels like a more straightforward week. Hopefully that's a good thing:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 7
by Trevor Whenham - 10/18/2016

Big Ben's knee went pop and the Steelers collapsed - taking my office pool with it. That's really a metaphor for this season. Each week starts off promising but then something derails it and we limp to another fine-but-not-exciting result. We're like one of those teams that isn't quite good enough to get into the playoffs but isn't bad enough to get a draft pick that could change things in a hurry. It has just been a mediocre season. That changes now, though - or at least that's the theory. Here are the straight up picks for your office pools this week:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 6
by Trevor Whenham - 10/11/2016

How did last week go in our office pool prognostications? Fine. Not great, but fine. That's pretty much how the whole season has gone. We have gotten a lot more right than we have gotten wrong, but just one of the first five weeks has been in the strong category. It's not ideal, but there is still plenty of time to recover. Starting now. Here are the straight up picks for the sixth week of the NFL season to get you ready for your office pool picks:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 5
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2016

The results from last week's NFL action split cleanly into two groups - they were either comfortably predictable or they were kind of bizarre. The Bills shutting out the Patriots in Foxboro. Definitely bizarre. The Lions blowing it against the Bears - a bit odd. The Chargers basically forcing the Saints to beat them - bizarre. The Colts taking three quarters off and still expecting to beat the Jags - bizarre.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 4
by Trevor Whenham - 9/27/2016

Well, that week that just was… something. Mostly, I'm just glad it's over. Buffalo goes from looking like they were on track to the No. 1 pick to beating one of the best teams in the NFC badly in one week - after firing the only coach on staff who seems competent. Carolina quickly opens up a 10-point lead at home - and then never scores again.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 3
by Trevor Whenham - 9/20/2016

The first week of the season went pretty much true to form. It was fairly easy to pick winners. Week 2? Not so much. The Rams went from the worst team on the planet to beating Seattle in one week. The Chiefs and Raiders proved conclusively that momentum doesn't exist. Sam Bradford, for the first time as a pro and totally unpredictably, looked like a first overall pick, and he made Green Bay look old and creaky in the process.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 2
by Trevor Whenham - 9/13/2016

I was hoping for an epic start to the office pool season in the opener. Instead, I got something that was... pretty good. Thanks to being on the right side of more of the crazy, close finishes than I was on the wrong side, we wound up with 12 correct. I don't have a lot of regrets about the four I got wrong, either. The Panthers could easily have won if Cam Newton wasn't seeing in triple after getting his head beaten in.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 1
by Trevor Whenham - 9/5/2016

This is the year. I can feel it. For several years now I have picked every game of the NFL season straight up to help you with your NFL office pools. Some years have been better than others, but I have not yet had one of those years that you dream of - one in which you have basically all but clinched your pool by Thanksgiving. We're due, and it's going to happen. Buckle in and enjoy the ride:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 17
by Trevor Whenham - 12/30/2015

This NFL season seems designed for just one purpose - to crush my soul. Each week I make these straight up picks, and each week the powers that be find new and unique ways to torture me. I mean, honestly - St. Louis beating the Seahawks in Seattle?! The Patriots losing to the Jets in bizarre fashion?! The Steelers stinking it up against the Ravens?! The Panthers having a disaster of a game at the horrible Falcons?! Ridiculous. All of it.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 16
by Trevor Whenham - 12/22/2015

Last week, in relative terms, was a miracle for these picks. Getting 12 games right in a week won't win most good pools, but compared to the incredible duds I have been tossing out with regularity this season, 12 wins is really something to write home about. We could ride that momentum to another big week - as long as the road teams do well because we picked seven of them here. Here are the straight up picks for the week for your office pools:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 15
by Trevor Whenham - 12/15/2015

I've complained a lot this year, but I really don't have much to complain about when it comes to last week. For the most part things made sense - at least compared to most weeks of this season. Sure, it was tough to see Denver falling short against the Raiders or Andy Dalton breaking his hand and ending the game against the Steelers early. For the most part, though, it went as it should. Here's hoping that this week is more of the same. Here are the straight up picks for this week:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 14
by Trevor Whenham - 12/8/2015

Another week, another set of games for us to pick. If this season stays true to form then the one thing we can be sure of is that there will be odd results in here. Some games will make complete sense and turn out true to form. And then the Eagles will beat up on the Patriots in Foxboro - or this week's equivalent craziness. All we can do is hope for the best - it seems like we're due. Here's how the straight up picks for the week set up:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 13
by Trevor Whenham - 12/1/2015

I haven't played darts in a long time. I used to play a lot when I was younger - always in the bar, of course. A wife and kid changes that - in good ways, mostly. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it a little, though. Luckily, I feel like I get to relive old times and play darts each week of this NFL season when I make these picks. Or rather, I probably wouldn't be any worse off if I did use a dartboard to choose my teams.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 12
by Trevor Whenham - 11/24/2015

This week of the season is significant for two reasons. Thanks to Thanksgiving we get to enjoy the best Thursday of the football season - and arguably the second best of the year after the first day of the NCAA Tournament. This is also the week that finally marks the end of bye weeks. That means we are back to 16 games each week - just as it should be. Unfortunately, with the way things are going this season, more games just means more opportunities for bizarre and unpredictable things to happen.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 11
by Trevor Whenham - 11/17/2015

This season has had no shortage of surprising and interesting results, which have made it tough for the purposes of prognostication, and last week was no exception. You could argue for a long time about whether Green Bay or Cincinnati loss was the bigger shock of the week, and you wouldn't be wrong regardless of which side you were on. This week doesn't look too tough to call for the most part, but then neither did last week. Here's how the straight up picks look for this week:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 10
by Trevor Whenham - 11/10/2015

It was a rough week for a lot of people trying to pick winners in games. It was tough to foresee the unbeaten Broncos get handled by the Colts - with their impressive defense overrun by the seemingly helpless Indianapolis attack. It was just as tough to imagine the Niners beating anyone - never mind an Atlanta team that actually looked competent through six weeks. Or Tennessee looking like a whole new team with a new coach. You can't complain about this season being boring. Or, unfortunately, always predictable. Here's hoping things are better this week:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 9
by Trevor Whenham - 11/4/2015

After this week every team will be at least halfway through their season. Eight games should be enough that we have a good sense of where teams are at and which ones are legitimate. At least that's the theory. What we know already is that, with a few notable exceptions, there are a whole lot of really mediocre teams this year. There are only 11 teams in the league at this point that are above .500, and three of those 11 are just barely there at 4-3. Last year there were 16 teams that finished the season above .500.