Silver and Black Pride’s Divisional round pick’em competition

I hope everyone enjoyed a stress-free Wild Card weekend since the Las Vegas Raiders were out of it. That being said, our Silver and Black Pride Pick’em competition is winding down as the Divisional round of the NFL Playoffs is coming up and we only have seven games left to decide our champion!

This Saturday isn’t the greatest slate on paper as our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook have the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants as heavy road underdogs against the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. But Sunday should be interesting as the spreads for the Cincinnati Bengals at the Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys at the San Francisco 49ers are both within a touchdown.

Ahead of the action, let’s take a look at our writers’ standings for the pick’em challenge after 277 contests:

1. Matt Holder 180-95-2 (65%)
2. Bill Williamson 160-95-1 (62%)
3. Ray Aspuria 170-104-2 (61%)

Playoff-only rankings

1. Bill Williamson 4-2 (67%)
2. Matt Holder 3-3 (50%)
3. Ray Aspuria 2-4 (33%)

Bill was the best picker among our writers this past week and the only one to go above .500. That will give him a little more breathing room against Ray, who tried to make up ground by going with upsets but ended up falling flat...whomp, whomp, whomp. I had a humbling 3-3 performance but still should coast into the writer’s championship.

2022 Overall Leaders

1. Da r8dazzz Idaho 183-92

2. RaiderFan 178-97

3. Jeepraider 176-99

t4. Bodega Bay Raider 173-102

t4. torindorn4life 173-102

t4. Trashman 173-102

t4. TommyRaider 173-102

t4. 12Personnel 173-102

9. RaiderRich25 172-103

t10. dafe2cat 171-104

t10. Unreliable Narrator 171-104

Wild Card Top Pickers

Bodega Bay Raider 5-1

Da r8dazzz Idaho 5-1

NastyNates 5-1

RaiderHess 5-1

Davante All Day 5-1

Bagdad 5-1

RaiderRich25 5-1

torindorn4life 5-1

Just Win Baby 5-1

Nashviller8r 5-1

warchant 5-1

Trashman 5-1

The Autumn Wind 5-1

scifigeek 5-1

A big shoutout is in store for basically the entire Silver and Black Pride community as 14 of you went 5-1 this week! That’s pretty impressive so give yourselves a big pat on the back. Unfortunately, Da r8dazzz Idaho was part of that crew and now holds a three-pick lead over myself with seven games left in the competition. So, it’s looking like Idaho is going to run away with the trophy this year.

We do have a couple of interesting battles in the community though. RaiderFan and JeepRaider are two games apart from each other for third place, and we currently have a five-way tie for fourth place with RaiderRich25 sitting one game behind that cluster. So, things might be pretty clear at the top but there are plenty of battles within the top 10 to keep an eye on as we close out the competition.

Make sure to get your picks in this week and may your picks be good!