Hello scrumblers! Week 15 was one of our more interesting weeks, with a couple big road wins and a lot of variety in picks. We had two perfect scores this week – congratulations to Dan and myself. With Detroit suffering a rare home loss, we also had quite a few people who were hit hard this week.
After the dust cleared, Mary’s 4-point week gave her a little separation from her nearest competitors. She now has a three point lead with three weeks to go!
Also, in one week I somehow rose from 14th place to 8th. Dreams can come true! (as long you dream small)
When analyzing the standings, Fletcher pointed out that he has impressively dropped from a third place tie in week 7 to second-last in week 14. That’s a drop of 18 spots in 7 weeks. He held is brittle grip on 22nd place this week with his 1-point week and a commanding 2 point lead above last.
The story of Fletcher introduces a good thought experiment. Charlie Hergenrother was tied for third place with Fletcher in week 7. Could Charlie or any of us intentionally tanked our picks enough to plummet down the standings to end up where Fletcher stands today? If so, then it holds that Fletcher could pull a George Castanza and just pick the opposite of whatever he was thinking to surge ahead instead. If he had done this, he would have 25 more points during this past 8 week stretch would would put him square in second place and one point behind the leader. Somewhere in this 8 week nosedive is a consistently poor strategy than could be turned on its head to lead to a winning play. Hmmm.
Here are the week 16 games. It is slim pickings once again, so we have a division rivalry and two stinkers. Good luck!
- PHI @ WASH
- JAX @ LV
- SF @ MIA
Picks are due Friday. No excuses!