OT - How many wins will Panthers have? Also, NFL Picks Against the Spread Competition

[bwgood77]

Hey all, once again we will be having the NFL Picks against the spread competition for all of RealGM forum members.

It only takes a couple minutes to join and also to make your picks each week, and you can see how you do against fellow forum members as well as experts. It adds an extra interest to the games on Sunday, so hopefully people join in and participate to make things fun.

Group Info:
Link:
http://games.espn.com/nfl-pigskin-pickem/2017/en/group?groupID=101036

Password: basketball
Please use RealGM username for name of entry
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When does it start?
Register and submit your entry no later than the first kickoff of the NFL season - Thursday, September 7, at 8:30 pm ET.
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How to Play?
1. If you don't already have one, create an ESPN account.
2. Join group. Pick an entry name that matches your RealGM username.
3. Check your user settings here. Enable Group email and Reminder Email, so you don't miss picks any week.
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Rules
[*] Each Tuesday, spreads will be posted on ESPN for the the upcoming week.

[*] Lock-time. All entries will use a rolling lock which allows a player to pick any game that has yet to kick off. Selections submitted after the deadlines are considered invalid, and no points will be received. It is good to make preliminary picks a few days before the games and adjust your picks leading up to the games as you see fit to eliminate the chance of forgetting to make any picks that week at all.

[*] Overall tie-breaker - higher number of points scored for Week 17.
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Competition
Champion
The player with the highest number of correct picks throughout the season wins the title.

Each correct winning pick will receive one (1) point. Points are not lost for incorrect picks. Picking every game, every week is essential.

However, to ensure people don't drop out if they forget a week or have a terrible week, each entry will have their lowest scoring week dropped from their score.

Click on my sig below to go to the discussion thread.

[amcoolio]

11. A shame, because we could win 12 or 13 with this schedule but I'm not sold at all on the secondary outside of Bradberry or the WR corp outside of Benjamin. Atlanta has a down year. Tampa finishes 2nd in division. All the NFC South teams between 8 and 11 wins.

Hurney probably makes a trade soon because that's what he does.

[Hornet Mania]

I'll go with 11 as well. Won 6 last year (and I think our expected wins was something 7.5) with Cam and Keuchly either concussed or out of a significant portion of games, if they stay healthy I expect a bounce-back thanks to the easy schedule.

[UNCNYC]

I chose 12. I think this team is loaded this year. With Mcaffrey giving Cam a dual threat gonna help loads. I still want gano to go and we need to finally get rid of the HIGHLY overrated Derek Anderson as well as Bersin. Our secondary will be the biggest question along with Cams health. If Cam stays healthy we win the superbowl.

[bwgood77]

I'll go with 11 as well. Won 6 last year (and I think our expected wins was something 7.5) with Cam and Keuchly either concussed or out of a significant portion of games, if they stay healthy I expect a bounce-back thanks to the easy schedule.

You think the schedule is that easy? The AFC east is easy outside of the Pats, and possibly the Dolphins, but the NFC North is pretty tough outside of the Bears.

I guess with the two last place matchups against the Niners and Eagles helps, especially relatively speaking in relation to other teams within the division. With the Falcons having to play at Seattle and Cowboys in week 10 after Elliott should be back that could be a couple losses. And then the Bucs will get the Cards and Giants.

[Hornet Mania]

I'll go with 11 as well. Won 6 last year (and I think our expected wins was something 7.5) with Cam and Keuchly either concussed or out of a significant portion of games, if they stay healthy I expect a bounce-back thanks to the easy schedule.

You think the schedule is that easy? The AFC east is easy outside of the Pats, and possibly the Dolphins, but the NFC North is pretty tough outside of the Bears.

I guess with the two last place matchups against the Niners and Eagles helps, especially relatively speaking in relation to other teams within the division. With the Falcons having to play at Seattle and Cowboys in week 10 after Elliott should be back that could be a couple losses. And then the Bucs will get the Cards and Giants.

Yeah, I don't have a very high opinion of the NFC North. I completely expect both the Lions and Vikings to crater this year, Sam Bradford staying health and/or passing for 70% completions is not going to happen two years in a row, and Detroit has done nothing (from what I saw) to improve and had few obvious candidates for internal improvement aside from (maybe) Abdullah breaking out finally. We all knew they were frauds last year with the hot start against bad teams, the awful finish and whimper of a playoff loss sealed my opinion on their team. I think Green Bay takes that division in a walk.

Basically I see the entire AFC East slate (NE aside) as plausibly winnable now that the Dolphins are going to be neutered by Jay Cutler, the entire NFC North slate (GB aside) is plausibly winnable, the last-place games will help, and 3-3 or better in the NFC South should be within reach. Saints are primed for an age/cap-induced meltdown anytime now, if they start slow or Brees plays poorly (or both) it could get very ugly for both him and Sean Payton. Ownership has been itching to clean house for awhile now, I can't imagine why since Payton is basically the only great HC in their history, and every year we're further from the "you can't fire him! He won a Super Bow after Katrina!" defense holding up. The Bucs are a paper tiger every year, until they prove different I see 10-6 as outside their reach. The new offensive weapons are shiny, but people forget their RB situation is LOL quality til week 5 at least and the problem with them wasn't their offense anyway it was shoddy D that got them embarrassing outcomes like being beaten by the Rams at home. Folks forget, but if Tampa just doesn't allow an LA team flying cross-country for a 1pm game to score 37 points the Bucs would be in the playoffs. Those letdowns likely will continue. Atlanta is the big threat, obviously, but the Super Bowl hangover is real and it remains to be seen how their offense will fare with a new OC.

I think 11-5 is our medium-good outcome. I could see us realistically going anything from 6-10 (with injury) or 13-3+ (health+NFC south implodes), in reality I think the "truth" about our squad lies between the results of 2015 and 2016. We are not the NFC-dominating juggernaut who blasts everyone but Denver out of the building, but we're also not an "exposed" bad team who lucked into a 17-2 record two years ago. If our slate was more difficult I'd say 10-6, I gave us a +1 simply because we got the 4th-place schedule.

I like the low-cost additions we made *Peppers and Munnerlyn), McCaffrey is another nice weapon for Cam, the young DBs will both be a year more experienced so I expect improvement there too. It just seems like an up year for the team. I got the same feeling in 2015, I could be wrong of course, but as long as the team is healthy they should be in the mix again.

[bwgood77]

I'll go with 11 as well. Won 6 last year (and I think our expected wins was something 7.5) with Cam and Keuchly either concussed or out of a significant portion of games, if they stay healthy I expect a bounce-back thanks to the easy schedule.

You think the schedule is that easy? The AFC east is easy outside of the Pats, and possibly the Dolphins, but the NFC North is pretty tough outside of the Bears.

I guess with the two last place matchups against the Niners and Eagles helps, especially relatively speaking in relation to other teams within the division. With the Falcons having to play at Seattle and Cowboys in week 10 after Elliott should be back that could be a couple losses. And then the Bucs will get the Cards and Giants.

Yeah, I don't have a very high opinion of the NFC North. I completely expect both the Lions and Vikings to crater this year, Sam Bradford staying health and/or passing for 70% completions is not going to happen two years in a row, and Detroit has done nothing (from what I saw) to improve and had few obvious candidates for internal improvement aside from (maybe) Abdullah breaking out finally. We all knew they were frauds last year with the hot start against bad teams, the awful finish and whimper of a playoff loss sealed my opinion on their team. I think Green Bay takes that division in a walk.

Basically I see the entire AFC East slate (NE aside) as plausibly winnable now that the Dolphins are going to be neutered by Jay Cutler, the entire NFC North slate (GB aside) is plausibly winnable, the last-place games will help, and 3-3 or better in the NFC South should be within reach. Saints are primed for an age/cap-induced meltdown anytime now, if they start slow or Brees plays poorly (or both) it could get very ugly for both him and Sean Payton. Ownership has been itching to clean house for awhile now, I can't imagine why since Payton is basically the only great HC in their history, and every year we're further from the "you can't fire him! He won a Super Bow after Katrina!" defense holding up. The Bucs are a paper tiger every year, until they prove different I see 10-6 as outside their reach. The new offensive weapons are shiny, but people forget their RB situation is LOL quality til week 5 at least and the problem with them wasn't their offense anyway it was shoddy D that got them embarrassing outcomes like being beaten by the Rams at home. Folks forget, but if Tampa just doesn't allow an LA team flying cross-country for a 1pm game to score 37 points the Bucs would be in the playoffs. Those letdowns likely will continue. Atlanta is the big threat, obviously, but the Super Bowl hangover is real and it remains to be seen how their offense will fare with a new OC.

I think 11-5 is our medium-good outcome. I could see us realistically going anything from 6-10 (with injury) or 13-3+ (health+NFC south implodes), in reality I think the "truth" about our squad lies between the results of 2015 and 2016. We are not the NFC-dominating juggernaut who blasts everyone but Denver out of the building, but we're also not an "exposed" bad team who lucked into a 17-2 record two years ago. If our slate was more difficult I'd say 10-6, I gave us a +1 simply because we got the 4th-place schedule.

I like the low-cost additions we made *Peppers and Munnerlyn), McCaffrey is another nice weapon for Cam, the young DBs will both be a year more experienced so I expect improvement there too. It just seems like an up year for the team. I got the same feeling in 2015, I could be wrong of course, but as long as the team is healthy they should be in the mix again.

Makes sense.