The Report · data-driven NFL insights, delivered every morning

Pools

Two office-pool formats, driven by The System's numbers. Future weeks use Elo's current forecast blended with any market line that already exists; they firm up as the season goes.

Survivor

One team a week, never the same team twice, and you're out when it loses. The plan below is the exact optimum for surviving the whole season from Week 16 on, given the numbers now. Alternatives are the next-best teams that week.

Save your survivor season. Sign in and lock in a team each week: the page remembers every team you've used, re-plans the rest of the season around them, and tracks your results.
Chance of surviving all 3 weeks on this path: 57%. Next week: MIN vs WSH at 83%.
Survivor odds compound: even a path of 80% favorites survives 18 weeks only 2% of the time. What the optimizer does is spend your best teams where they are worth most.
WeekPickWin prob.Alternatives
16MIN vs WSH83%DET 76% · LV 75% · PIT 73%
17SF vs PHI82%MIN 79% · JAX 76% · PIT 74%
18BUF vs NYJ84%DEN 81% · SF 78% · HOU 76%

Teams available: ARI, ATL, BAL, BUF, CAR, CHI, CIN, CLE, DAL, DEN, DET, GB, HOU, IND, JAX, KC, LAC, LAR, LV, MIA, MIN, NE, NO, NYG, NYJ, PHI, PIT, SEA, SF, TB, TEN, WSH.

Confidence pool · Week 16

Rank every game from most to least confident; a right pick scores its rank. The order that maximizes expected points is simply by The System's win probability, so here it is. The order and the picks are open to all; The System's percentages are for members, except on the featured game and games that have kicked off.

PointsPickWin prob.Game
16MIN00%WSH at MIN
Sun 12:00 AM ET
15DET00%NYG at DET
Mon 8:15 PM ET
14LV00%TEN at LV
Sun 4:05 PM ET
13PIT00%CAR at PIT
Sun 12:00 AM ET
12NE00%NE at NYJ
Sun 1:00 PM ET
11NO00%ARI at NO
Sun 1:00 PM ET
10CHI00%GB at CHI
Fri 1:00 PM ET
9SEA00%LAR at SEA
Fri 8:15 PM ET
8CIN00%CIN at IND
Sun 12:00 AM ET
7JAX00%JAX at DAL
Sun 8:20 PM ET
6HOU61%HOU at PHI
Thu 8:15 PM ET
5MIA00%LAC at MIA
Sun 1:00 PM ET
4BAL00%CLE at BAL
Sun 1:00 PM ET
3DEN00%BUF at DEN
Fri 4:30 PM ET
2SF00%SF at KC
Sun 4:25 PM ET
1ATL00%TB at ATL
Sun 12:00 AM ET