November 8th, 2009
2009 NFL Week 9 Beatpath Picks
Time for the Week 9 picks! (Better late than never.)
Beatpaths and ITB were 8-5 this week, while Isaacson-Tarbell was 7-6. I didn’t make any personal picks, so I am still two ahead of the ITB picks for the season. The BeatPicks were 5-5, or 20-8 for the season. Three games are BeatPicks this week, and I am making one personal pick of Philadephia over Dallas. (There I go, getting emotionally invested in Philadelphia.)
Once again, the beatpicks are: If there is a beatpath, pick the favored team. Otherwise, pick the team with the best win-loss record. If they’re the same, pick who beatpaths favors in the beatpath rankings. An (x) means you might want to consider overruling in favor of the home team.
| Isaacson-Tarbell | Beatpaths | Isaacson-Tarbell-Beatpaths | |
| Record So Far | 72-44 | 79-37 | 79-37 |
| Last Week | 7-6 | 8-5 | 8-5 |
| Green Bay (4-3) at Tampa Bay (0-7): Believe it or not, Green Bay does not have a beatpath to Tampa Bay, so Tampa Bay could get a beatwin out of this. But, it is a unanimous pick for Green Bay in the Bay Bowl. | GB | GB | GB |
| Miami (3-4) at New England (5-2): A clear unanimous pick and a BeatPick for New England. | NE | NE* | NE |
| Kansas City (1-6) at Jacksonville (3-4): No BeatPick, but a unanimous pick for Jacksonville. | JAC | JAC | JAC |
| Houston (5-3) at Indianapolis (7-0): No BeatPick, but a unanimous pick for Indianapolis. This is a battle between two teams with no beatlosses. Indianapolis has had some roster problems recently, this game could be interesting. | IND | IND | IND |
| Baltimore (4-3) at Cincinnati (5-2): Cincinnati is favored according to all methods, which is slightly surprising to the Denver homer in me. | CIN | CIN | CIN |
| Arizona (4-3) at Chicago (4-3): Both teams have the same record, so IT picks Chicago for being the home team. Beatpaths has Arizona ranked one slot ahead, so they are the official pick – but again, since the rankings are so close, you might consider the home team anyway. I’m sticking with Arizona because I think it’s Good Arizona’s turn to show up. | CHI | ARI (x) | ARI |
| Washington (2-5) at Atlanta (4-3): Atlanta is a BeatPick and a unanimous pick over Washington. | ATL | ATL* | ATL |
| Detroit (1-6) at Seattle (2-5): These teams are actually ranked right alongside each other, but Seattle is favored in all cases. This will probably be another one of Seattle’s mysterious shutouts, after which everyone will think they’re a good team next week. | SEA | SEA | SEA |
| Carolina (3-4) at New Orleans (7-0): According to the ranking slots, this is the most lopsided game of the week, but since Carolina is “pretty good for 30th”, it’s actually the third-most-lopsided. New Orleans with the unanimous pick and BeatPick. | NO | NO* | NO |
| Tennessee (1-6) at San Francisco (3-4): San Francisco has a unanimous pick over Tennessee. I’m tempted to pick Tennessee here but I won’t. | SF | SF | SF |
| San Diego (4-3) at NY Giants (5-3): The NY Giants have been in a free-fall lately, but are still favored by IT. Beatpaths picks San Diego, though. Since the NY Giants have the better record, ITB sticks with them. | NYG | SD | NYG |
| Dallas (5-2) at Philadelphia (5-2): Another big disagreement in methods. IT picks the home team, but beatpaths and ITB pick Dallas due to a better ranking. I will personally pick Philadelphia. | PHI | DAL | DAL |
| Pittsburgh (5-2) at Denver (6-1): Denver with a unanimous pick over Pittsburgh, due to record and ranking. | DEN | DEN | DEN |
November 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
“Believe it or not, Green Bay does not have a beatpath to Tampa Bay, so Tampa Bay could get a beatwin out of this.”
I do not believe. GB->CLE->BUF->CAR->WAS->TB.
This seems like the only incorrect beatpick of the week so far, though, and I don’t think any of the other wins cause inconsistent tangles. So… does this whole loop get wiped out, or is there a shortcut? I don’t see anything shorter than GB->CLE->BUF->CAR->TB->GB, which only preserved WAS->TB (yay!). GB->DET->WAS->TB->GB is no help, for instance, because DET->WAS is wiped out before that loop is considered. So, a five game beatloop.
GB will have a chance to restore that path by beating Dallas next week, though. Given that Chicago is the best team Green Bay has beaten, though, I’m not counting on it.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Yep, you’re right, there’s still a beatloop. So far I have TB->GB->CLE->BUF->TB .
November 9th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Ah, Buffalo beat Tampa, too. There you go, that’s the shortest loop. It will remain the shortest path to resolve the loop irrespective of what goes on tonight.
I just realized that my evening commute is going to be hellish. I don’t like Monday night Broncos home games…