SuperContest Week 12 Picks: Approaching The Tipping Point

A .500 record in one the most well-known football contests in the world is not going to earn you much of anything. In fact, picking as many picks right as you do wrong is sorta assumed when you plop yourself in the Westgate SuperContest. That is the point of entry. Anything less should be mocked; anything more comes with a follow-up question: How much more?

If the answer is a considerable amount—as it is with many SuperContest hopefuls—than the result might just be an enormous sum of money. If that is not the situation—and it is most certainly not for me, as I navigate my first SuperContest entry courtesy of Odds Shark—than you have to reshape expectations.

As it stands heading into Week 12, I am one game under the .500 mark. The overall output has improved over the past five weeks, but again, the results are what they are.

I finished the week going 3-2 with my picks, the two losses being Buffalo on Thursday and Indianapolis in truly dumpster fire-ish fashion on Sunday night. The three wins came with Arizona, Kansas City and Houston.

Let us turn our attention forward to this week, where things—for once—got off to a good start. As always, the goal (beyond simply getting to .500) is to beat Odd Shark’s game-picking super computer until it feels real computer sadness.

Fade accordingly.

Raiders (+7) vs. Chiefs: Finally, a Thursday winner. Despite Oakland’s best efforts to avoid covering this game in the second half, we start the week 1-0 and, for the time being, hit .500. Now, will it last?

Giants (+3.5) vs. Cowboys: This is an interesting line. I’m backing New York, keeping the dream alive that Eli Manning will avoid throwing double-digit interceptions.  If that’s the case, cover ahoy. (Maybe.)

Texans (-1.5) vs. Bengals: Arian Foster’s status is worth watching, although Alfred Blue—a former LSU option—looked good spelling in. Let’s assume that Foster does not play and deal with the drop off. This is the Mallett-Dalton TCU-Arkansas game you always wanted, and I’m going with the one more likely to kill a spectator with an errant throw.

Seahawks (-6.5) vs. Cardinals: Seattle should bounce back here, even if this isn’t the same Seahawks team many of us expected to see this season. Drew Stanton, while more than serviceable, gets a taste of a still impressive pass rush.

Lions (+7) vs. Patriots: The #FadePats trend continues here, even though such trends have resulted in horrendous pick violence before. (See: Last Week.) The timing of this game is interesting, however, especially with Green Bay on deck for Brady and Co. The Lions don’t win, but they play tight.