NFL Office Pool Picks Week 17
by Trevor Whenham - 12/27/2016

This office pools season needs, like the year 2016, to end. The sooner the better. There have been some good parts of both the year and the season, but there have also been countless frustrations and setbacks. This last week of action was another example of why I hate this office pools season so much. It wasn't exactly a Christmas miracle. I still won more games than I lost - if you aren't doing that with straight up pick then you are really doing something wrong - but yet again I proved that high levels of success this year is a moving target and my scope isn't properly sighted.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 16
by Trevor Whenham - 12/20/2016

It's the second-to- last week of the NFL season. That means that it is the second last week for you to show all the morons you are in an office pool with that you are the king of their world. Remember when you are making your picks this week that Sunday is Christmas Day, so Saturday is the new Sunday this week. There are two Christmas day games, but the bulk of the schedule is being played a day earlier than we would normally expect. So, don't be late with those picks -- you can't get a pick right if you don't make it. Without further ado, this week's straight up picks:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 15
by Trevor Whenham - 12/13/2016

You know what is weird about the last month or so? The absence of jaw-dropping outcomes. Usually we see those in the NFL, but lately we haven't. I mean, look at last week. What, really, was shocking? The Cowboys finally lost, but the Giants earned their ninth win and they did it at home so it is hardly earth shaking.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 14
by Trevor Whenham - 12/6/2016

This is when things really get interesting. All teams have played 12 games. It's a downhill sprint to the playoffs. Lots of games have no meaning at all, of course, but there are several games each week in which the stakes couldn't be any higher. Playoffs dreams are intensifying - and for many teams they will be crushed in the coming weeks. The games just mean more, and that makes picking straight up winners all the more fun. Here are my Office Pool picks for all 16 games on the glorious schedule this week:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 13
by Trevor Whenham - 11/29/2016

It's some kind of cruel irony that I have had by far my two best weeks of this office pool season in the last two weeks - well after I was out of contention for winning the overall title in any pool because of the string of decidedly average weeks that came before these last two. Sigh. Well, all we can really do is aim for winning the weekly purses. And really, there's nothing too wrong with that. Let's keep the success rolling this week with 15 games that seem pretty manageable for the most part.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 12
by Trevor Whenham - 11/22/2016

We are back to a full schedule of games - the bye weeks have come to an end. It comes at just the right time, too - we are coming off by far the best week of the season in our office pool picks. The good news, then, I guess is that there are more games to get right this week - I feel unstoppable right now. Let's not let the preamble get in the way of our success, then. Don't forget that we have three Thursday games this week due to Thanksgiving, so it will be three times worse than usual if you don't get your picks in on time:

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: