NFL Office Pool Picks Week 17
by T.O. Whenham - 12/27/2011

We are in the final week of the season, so this is the last chance for office pool players to pick up some weekly prizes, or to pile up the last points they need to take down the grand prize. It has been an interesting but very challenging season, so I have to admit that I’m not entirely sad to see the regular season end and the playoffs start. Hopefully the postseason will make more sense than much of the regular season has.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 16
by T.O. Whenham - 12/20/2011

Last week was perfect proof of just how little sense the NFL can make at times. Within minutes of each other on Sunday the Colts managed their first win and the Packers suffered a highly improbable defeat at the hands of an impressively good Kyle Orton and the Chiefs.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 15
by T.O. Whenham - 12/13/2011

As I get ready to make my NFL office pool picks this week I need your help. If I ever say anything positive about the Bucs again this year or even consider picking them again this year then reach through your computer screen and slap me.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 14
by T.O. Whenham - 12/6/2011

It took 13 weeks in this NFL season, but we have now officially seen everything. The icing on that cake came on Sunday when Dallas head coach Jason Garrett iced his own kicker late in regulation time. The field goal was missed, and the Cowboys lost to the lowly Cardinals in overtime.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 13
by T.O. Whenham - 11/29/2011

I don’t know about you, but I have found this to be a frustrating season for my NFL office pool picks. A couple of weeks have been really bad, but most have just been solid. What I have lacked, though, is a truly impressive breakthrough week.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 12
by T.O. Whenham - 11/22/2011

This is where things get interesting. The bye weeks are over, there are six games left for each team, and this is where we separate the men form the boys in the NFL. We have a pretty good idea of what teams are all about by now, and those will be tested under fire from now to the end of the year.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 11
by T.O. Whenham - 11/15/2011

After a week with a full slate of games on the NFL schedule last week we return one last time to a limited slate thanks to bye weeks for the last four squads. Mercifully that means that the Colts definitely can’t lose this week. It also means that the Texans have two weeks to figure out what they are going to do without Matt Schaub.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 10
by T.O. Whenham - 11/8/2011

We will reach two minor milestones this week in the NFL — the first week of full action since the start of the bye weeks in Week 5, and the first Thursday night game since the Saints visited the Packers to open the season back at the beginning of September. At the risk of jinxing myself it seems like the league is starting to make a lot more sense now than it was at the start of the season.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 9
by T.O. Whenham - 11/1/2011

We bounced back nicely last week from a really lousy week before that. Let’s keep the upward arc going with even better results this week for our NFL office pool picks. To help you decide which teams to back in your NFL office pools, here’s a look at who I think will be the straight up winner in each of the 14 games to be played this week:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 8
by T.O. Whenham - 10/25/2011

I just finished watching Jacksonville beat the Ravens on “Monday Night Football”. That’s all the proof you need that anything can happen in the NFL. Some weeks are better just forgotten, and last week was one of those. It’s a new week now, though, so without further ado here are my NFL office pool picks for the coming week of NFL action:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 7
by T.O. Whenham - 10/18/2011

It was a solid week last week. Not one to write home about, but far from a disaster. There were some results that could have verged on the unexpected — the San Francisco upset at Detroit, Philadelphia remembering that they could play, and Tampa Bay’s excellent bounce back among them — but nothing that was totally out of left field. The coming week’s NFL schedule has a few more potential traps than last week, but it is reasonably manageable. Here’s how I see the week playing out with my NFL office pool picks:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 6
by T.O. Whenham - 10/11/2011

It’s time for another week’s worth of straight up NFL office pool picks. Last week was fine, but far from overwhelming -- there were some surprises like there are so often in the NFL. This week we will look to do better, and it feels like we have a reasonably straightforward card to choose from here.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 5
by T.O. Whenham - 10/4/2011

Last week was just the kind that I hope for each week, and a very useful one for office pools. It wasn’t 16-0, but it was almost the next best thing. There were 13 wins, and two teams I didn’t pick — San Francisco and Cincinnati — weren’t teams that most people would have picked, either. There’s nothing wrong with getting one wrong if few people get it right.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 4
by T.O. Whenham - 9/27/2011

It was a bit of a strange week last week, but we managed to weather it acceptably well. It wasn’t a great week, but it certainly could have been worse. The good news is that some of the games we got wrong for our NFL office pool picks are ones that few people would have called correctly — Buffalo over New England being the most obvious example. Another week, another set of picks for your office pool:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 3
by T.O. Whenham - 9/20/2011

That’s more like it! After a totally forgettable opening week last week was far more successful in terms of picking winners. The games made sense when I looked at them at the start of the week, and for the most part they turned out like expected. Even the NFL office pool picks that didn’t turn out right were mostly close. Now let’s carry the momentum forward to this week. All games are picked straight up, not against the NFL point spreads.

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 2
by T.O. Whenham - 9/13/2011

That opening weekend was one I would like to forget in my office pool, and I’m sure that that is the same for a lot of people. The list of disappointing teams is long — Denver, Dallas, Seattle, the Giants, Cleveland, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and the mystifying Falcons and Steelers. I’m just going to pretend that none of that happen and start fresh this week. Here’s my list of NFL office pool picks for this week’s games — remember, these are all picked straight up, not against the NFL point spread:

NFL Office Pool Picks Week 1
by T.O. Whenham - 9/5/2011

It’s NFL time again. Hallelujah! Early each week during the NFL season I’ll be offering my guidance and advice for all of you who are participating in the most American of workplace activities — the NFL Office Pool. I’ll look at every game of each week and pick a winner. These NFL office pool picks will all be straight up, so tge point spread won’t be considered. Good luck, and here’s to a great season:

NFL Office Pool Picks - Week 17
by T.O. Whenham - 12/29/2010

We’ve made it -- the end of the line for the regular season. Our NFL office pool picks this year have had their ups and their downs. We’re going to head into the playoffs on a big upswing, though -- even though I hate pretty much everything about this last week of the season:

NFL Office Pool Picks - Week 16
by T.O. Whenham - 12/21/2010

Last week wasn’t quite as strong as recent weeks, but at 9-7 at least it was above .500. The way things were going for a while in the early games I didn’t think that was going to be the case. This week we’ll look to give a Christmas present to ourselves by putting together a huge week of NFL office pool picks.

NFL Office Pool Picks - Week 14
by T.O. Whenham - 12/14/2010

Last week was reasonably successful, though in two cases we learned hard lessons about just how important quarterbacks are - I certainly didn’t have Detroit beating Green Bay, and at the time of making those picks I didn’t think to weigh the chances that Matt Cassel’s appendix would give out on him before I picked the Chiefs in a mild upset that really didn’t materialize.