Congratulations to Jess Root for making it through the entire 2011 RotB Playoff Pick'em sitting atop the leader board. RottPhiler's 27-20 NY Giants pick may have been the closest to the actual score and earned him 41 Pick'em Points, but Jess' 304 total points was 31 points better than runner-up kj197728.

Thank you to those that participated each week of the playoffs to qualify for the final Playoff Pick'em standings. RotB Pick'em will be back for it's fifth year in September. If symmetry of the 2007 and 2011 seasons is any indication, 2012 should be a "super" year for the Cardinals. Enjoy the off season folks!

Final Overall Playoff Pick'em Standings

The 2011 NFL comes to a close with Super Bowl XLVI, a deja vu game from Super Bowl Tyree three years ago. Tom Brady appears in his fifth Super Bowl and aims to reclaim the Lombardi Trophy that the New York Giants won from his Patriots in Arizona in SB XLIII. The local NorCal papers have dubbed it Super Bowl Weak and perhaps many really don't much care for either team, but 'ell, it's the bloody Super Bowl!!! So don't have something in common with the Forty Whiner fans, pick a team and make some noise Sunday, especially with RotB's Playoff Pick'em coming to an end. That farce of a exhibition football game known as the "Pro Bowl" this past Sunday will have left most participants feeling gypped. The scoring was high but the presentation was rather dull even if we did get one last taste of Larry Fitzgerald, Adrian Wilson, and Patrick Petterson before the offseason. The NFC was the favourite among all but one particiant, with a 31-28 AFC prediction, tonyman121 earned the best Pick'em Point result of 9 points...because he was the only one to pick the AFC to win!!! As you can see below, the leader board is tight at the top and a very close prediction in the Super Bowl may be enough to win it all. IF your name is not in the table below, you missed a pick somewhere this post-season and will have to wait for RotB Pick'em to return in September. Best of luck, folks!

Overall Standings Through Pro Bowl Weekend

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It's a rematch of Super Bowl XLIII as the Patriots and Giants rely on the failure of their opponents' special teams to advance them to Super Bowl XLVI. Tawakol's 24-17 prediction for New England was the closest and earned him 46 Pick'em Points. Most of the RotB faithful had the New York football Giants winning and Tyler Nickel's 24-16 was the closest and earned 45 Pick'em Points. The top of the standings haven't changed much with the top spot a 37 point improvement over last year's score at this point. Jess' lead is not out of reach, especially with the quirky Pro Bowl next on the schedule. This game is truly a "wild card" game as the score can really be about anywhere for either conference. The NFC won last year, 55-41, with a rosters chock full of "Pro Bowl alternates". Not sure what to predict for a score? Perhaps some of last year's predictions may help. Good luck.

Overall Playoff Pick'em Standings

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The 2011 NFL Divisional Round had some upsets to say the least, as the Saints and Packers were favoured by the RotB Faithful but failed to win. The Ravens and Patriots held up their end of the bargain for most participants. Sadly, I was not one for the first time ever. Seattle, your blizzard is all my fault. Only a couple people picked the 49ers with martinsan91's 24-21 prediction being the highest point value. Drullin'OverDaCards may think he sucks at Playoff Pick'em but his 41-16 pick of New England earned him a best 40 points. Many were close on the Ravens' score, but robloosli's 20-17 was the closest at 46 points. The Giants weren't a total upset as more people picked them to win than they did the 49ers and Jess Root and Redbird Nation #1 earned 40 Pick'em Points with different predictions (G-men 34-27 & 31-24 respectively).

There are still four games on the docket with the "wild card" Pro Bowl in the mix. Anything is possible and no lead is insurmountable. Best of luck!

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Wild Card Weekend was deemed by many to be "dull" and the four games on the schedule were likely to be lackluster. For the first time in 22 years, yours truly said "to hell with the playoffs" and didn't watch a single game so I really can't comment on them aside from scratch my head about this Tebow character. Perhaps I ought to catch a game next weekend!

Both az78true and don f earned 39 Pick'em Points for their Houston picks of 27-17 and 24-14 respectively, best for this game. No one picked Detroit to win and many were close to predicting the score, but martinsan91 was closest with a 41-28 prediction and 46 Pick'em Points. People began to see their scores suffer as many had figured the Falcons were good for more than two lousy points; 35 Pick'em Points were the best garnered by hadrarius and JoeCB1991 for their scores of 24-17 and 21-14 respectively. Only one soul had faith in the Broncos and so Thomaldo was well ahead of the rest with his 27 Pick'em Points from his 16-13 prediction.

If your username is in the table found after the jump, you're in the running for the Playoff Pick'em crown. Remember that you need to pick a winner and predict a final score (not total points). Picks need to be in before the Saints/49ers kick-off on Saturday to be valid. Like last week, you're welcome to adjust the final score of a particular game as much as you like before the kick-off of that game. If you miss a game or week, you're out of the running. With another four games this week there should be plenty of opportunities to make up ground or lose it. Good luck!

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With the regular season having finished up cardinalbrown finds himself with bragging rights for the whole off-season. Competition was close in RotB Pick'em 4.0 and fun to follow along with, so why stop with the regular season? It's time for RotB 2011 Playoffs Pick'em!

1. The entire weekend's bracket of games must be predicted before the first game's kick-off time. To qualify for the Playoff Pick'em Championship, the entire NFL playoff schedule must be picked; miss a single game and you're disqualified.
2. Pick a winner and final score, not total points!
3. Pick'em Points are awarded based on a correctly picked winner and how close your predicted score is to the actual final score.
4. Whoever has the highest Pick'em Point total after the Super Bowl is the winner.

Pick'em Points are assigned as follows:

• Correctly picked winner earns 50 points minus the difference between your predicted score and the actual score. An exact score match earns a 10 point bonus (so 60 points total).
  
• Incorrect picks earn 20 points minus the difference between your predicted score and the actual score.

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A fourth year of Revenge of the Birds Pick'em League has come to a close. The leader board hadn't changed much for the latter half of the season and that remains the case after the full Week 17 schedule was picked. Two participants correctly picked 14 games, cardinalbrown & hadrarius. The shared Week Won Point gives cardinalbrown 2.01 points for the season, best in Pick'em, to go along with Iron Man and Overall Pick'em Championships. Congratulations cardinalbrown!

THANK YOU to all participants this year and a big YOU'RE WELCOME to those that gave thanks. I appreciate it.

The first table shows the final standings of all QUALIFYING participants (minimum nine weeks picked, picked in Week 16 & 17). After the jump you will find ALL the participants from the 2011 Pick'em Season listed. Remember, Playoff Pick'em starts with the WildCard Weekend; the rules will be up by Thursday morning, so stay tuned!

2011 Final Overall RotB Pick'em Standings

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A good thing the Patriots came back and the Packers and Saints won as expected, as many of us would be sitting well below .500 for Week 16. It was looking to be a massive logjam at five correct picks until hevchv and KDean75 rose above the rest of the pack with six correct picks and a share of the Week Won Point. Congratulations!

The first week of mandatory picks, Week 16, saw a few of our regulars fall from the standings. I hope the holiday merry making was worth it! Now our final week of the NFL schedule is upon us and we are picking the entire 16 game schedule for the week! To qualify for the final standings you need a total of nine weeks picked, with last week and this week mandatory pick weeks! cardinalbrown still sits atop the standings but anything is possible when 16 games are being picked.

Best of luck and thank you for participating in the fourth annual RotB Pick'em League. A big "thanks" to my regulars that have been at it for three years and more. You know who you are! Thank you to the new participants this year and I hope you'll give it another shot. Playoff Pick'em starts with Wild Card Weekend and I don't see why I wouldn't be back for a fifth year of RotB Pick'em in 2012.

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 16 (Part 1)

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The standings have gotten considerably tighter after Week 15 action. cardinalbrown stumbled slightly which allowed others to make-up on lost ground going into the final two weeks of Pick'em. The Steelers stumbled in the dark of Candlestick and created a seven-way tie for the Week Won Point with six correct picks.

Week 16 is the a mandatory pick week. If you hope to qualify for the final standings you have to pick this week and have to have nine total weeks picked by the end of the season. Next week the entire schedule of games is picked so get ready for an exciting finish!

If you're bummed that you didn't catch the Pick'em wave in time or had been disqualified along the way, fear not, as RotB Playoff Pick'em starts with Wild Card Weekend. Be ready to predict winners and final scores!

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 15 (Part 1)

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A strong week for many, but in particular for azcardswinez who went perfect for the week. cardinalbrown sits atop the Pick'em AND Ironman standings after 14 weeks, having a 1.6% lead over Cuckoo for Coco Puffs.

Finals and life got in the way of some who were late in getting their picks in; as much as I'd like to forgive the lateness the Pick'em Rules Lawyers™ are very clear on the necessity of all picks must be in by the start of the earliest scheduled Pick'em game. That's been Thursday for awhile so get your picks in ASAP!

This is an elimination week for Phil7178 and sauve_monkey. This is also the last week you can willingly skip picking as Week 16 and 17 are mandatory pick weeks.

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 14 (Part 1)

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Another strong week in the standing for many participants, particularly those faithful to the Cardinals. Kudos for you all, shame on us cynics for thinking the Cowgirls could keep their skirts straight for five quarters! Big congratulations to our CoC, Jess Root, who only mistook the Falcons as winners this last week and takes the Week Won Point with seven correct picks.

Superfizzogotflow is still atop the overall standings but is quickly understanding that the more weeks played, the more those early "spikes" in the picks average out. cardinalbrown is 0.2% behind the overall and still holds onto a two-game lead in the Iron Man standings.

It's an elimination week for CardsFan08 and Jessesb while Superfizzogotflow knows it's necessary to play every remaining week of the 2011 season to qualify for the final standings.

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 13 (Part 1)

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Thanksgiving indeed!  Everyone picked well this week and no one had more than three incorrect picks while two souls had perfect weeks!  Congratulations Jess Root and TBru!  Everyone's winning percentages will be nicely padded giving the more regular players a chance to catch up with those that have played a few weeks well and are poised to win the Pick'em Championship.  The Iron Man leader remains cardinalbrown though others have made up ground.

It's an elimination week for BIGRED CARDINAL and DustGrazer while Superfizzogotflow knows it's necessary to play every remaining week of the 2011 season to qualify for the final standings. 

Best of luck folks and Happy Holidays.

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 12 (Part 1)

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Week 11 was a 50/50 week for many participants as perceived favourites failed to follow through (hello New Jersey teams!).  The Cult of Tebow Faithful were rewarded with seven victories.  Congratulations, robloosli and JoeCB1991.

This is an elimination week for those who only have three weeks on the "books".  That means blank_38, khodder, Peter Jacob Hornig, and Superfizzogotflow have to pick every remaining week of the 2011 NFL season to qualify for the RotB Pick'em Championship.

cardinalbrown maintains a two game lead in the Iron Man Pick'em standings while SenSurround remains atop the overall standings by 0.8%.  This week has Thanksgiving Day games is on the schedule so be sure to get your picks in on time. No UFL championship game on the schedule this year since their season ended early.  I will find an appropriate "who cares?" game to replace it.

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 11 (Part 1)

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*Bump:  get your picks in before the Thursday Night Football kickoff, otherwise you will be served cheese to go with your whine along with a #1 49ers Fan dunce hat.*

Week 10 started off rough for the majority of participants with Oakland, Arizona, and Denver upsetting the group consensus favourites.  The Cardinals faithful reaped the rewards and RottPhiler was the biggest benefactor only getting the Tampa Bay pick wrong.  Congratulations!  Nearly everyone finished the week strong and hopefully this will carryover to Week 11.

This is an elimination week for those who only have two weeks on the "books".  That means AlaskanCard, PhoenicianPakFan, Redforelife, and Superfizzogotflow have to pick every remaining week of the 2011 NFL season to qualify for the RotB Pick'em Championship.

cardinalbrown has taken a two game lead in the Iron Man Pick'em standings, remembering to get the full slate of picks in before the Thursday Night Football game's kickoff.  This week another Thursday game is on the schedule so be sure to get your picks in on time.  Late picks are not valid, even if you take a "loss" on the Thursday game.

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 10 (Part 1)

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Congratulations to TBru, who picked Green Bay to win in Week 10.  He was the only one of this week's four Survivors to make a successful pick and thus is the last participant remaining and can now claim to be the 2011 RotB Pick'em Survivor Champion!

While the Eagles, Panthers, and Ravens failed you, Desmondz, kj197728, and Tyler Nickel, you played it well all the same.  Thank you to all 57 participants this season!

*Reminder:  All picks need to be submitted before Thursday Night's kick-off in San Diego.  "Iron Man" folks in particular, this means you!*

Week 9 of the 2011 NFL season was an unsettled week of final results across the schedule, in particular for the eight Pick'em games.  Five picks would give you a piece of the Week Won Point which is shared between cardinalbrown, Eurocard, hadrarius, Skii, and newcomer Superfizzogotflow.  Congratulations!  For many two or three picks was the best that could be done but there is still half a season left to make up ground and vie for the RotB Pick'em Championship.

We are now at the play or be disqualified portion of the Pick'em Season.  To qualify for the final standings you need to have a total of nine weeks picked and have to pick Week 16 & 17.  This means that there can be no more "newbies" to the ranks.  It also means that CARDSxFAN32, Cardsfan44, Cardszfan, Jim Coughenour, and Superfizzogotflow must pick this week and every remaining week to still qualify for the final standings.

We also have our first Thursday night game this week which means everyone's picks for Week 10 need to be submitted before that kick-off time! 

2011 RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Week 9 (Part 1)

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The 2011 season is half over and 57 different people have been on RotB Survival Pick'em "island" yet only four remain.  The collapse of the Chiefs and the Raiders returning to recent form led to the demise of Eurocard and KDean75, but eight weeks was twice as long as the majority of participants lasted.  Good job!  The choices become more difficult as after this week's choice, the remaining four participants have used up effectively a third of the NFL teams (seriously, who picks the Colts this year?).  Best of luck!

Week 8's game were filled with upsets on the Pick'em docket, with the Vikings, Steelers, and Chiefs bucking the prediction trend of participants.  Still, Cuckoo for Coco Puffs, KDean75, and kj197728 were able to get six picks correct and share the Week Won Point.  The standings have shifted slightly but the usual suspects are still lingering near the top of the standings.

If you haven't played Pick'em yet and you would like to get in on the action, Week 9 is the latest you can play and still qualify for the championship with nine weeks played...and only if you pick every week to close out the season.  Starting next week, no new players will be able to join in.

Pick'em League Overall Standings Through Week 8 Part 1

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Eight weeks into the 2011 NFL season and the Survivor pool is still deep, even after losing 25% of the participants this past week.  Brady may not have lost to the Steelers in seven years but all streaks come to end eventually (the Cardinals losing streak would be nice to see in the rear view mirror, yes?), as billydacardsfan found out.  Then there is Gildo who was a "no show" at the Survivor window.  I hope all is well Gildo!  So we go into the middle week of the 2011 season with six participants left on RotB Pick'em Survivor island.  

Looks were certainly deceiving in Week 7.  What could have been a good "padding" week for the winning percentages turned out to be a week of trap games (hello Baltimore), injury affected games (Oakland), and uncertain divisional games (Houston).  If you were one of the seven that picked five correct games, congratulations!  If you were one of the many that had three or less correct picks, you weren't alone!  If we throw out the one-and-done atop the overall standings (who will be off the chart in Week 10 if no more picks are made), Drullin'OverDaCards sits atop the Iron Man standings at least.  Ten more weeks to go folks, so plenty of time for the standings to shift.  Heck, Jess may even get out of the basement.

Pick'em League Overall Standings Through Week 7 Part 1

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After seven weeks, we still have eight participants in the Survivor pool.  Dallas, New Orleans, and even Houston proved to be wise picks.  Then there was the random streaker CARDSxFAN32 running through the RotB Pick'em Survivor spreadsheet with only a Cardinals logo covering all the naughty bits.  Sadly, Mr. Head & Shoulders tackled him before he could get off the field...much like our beloved Cardinals.  Week 8 looms with many interesting options yet a diminishing number of options for our eight survivors.  Best of luck!

The New Orleans Saints were supposed to beat the hapless Buccaneers, at least according to blank_38 when he selected them for last week's survivor pick.  Divisional games are rarely good choices in survival situations as anything is possible.  Those that took the Steelers, Raiders, and Bengals (?!) move on to Week 7. Good luck!

A good week to pad your winning percentages is what Week 6 turned out to be with the only game that really skunked all of us was the San Francisco victory (except for Thomaldo).  Seven people had seven correct picks (Thomaldo picked Buffalo) and all share the staggering 0.14 of a Week Won Point.  Congratulations!  Atop the standings the original Pick'em Rules Weasel™, Drullin'OverDaCards, finds himself alone.  It only took three years, mate, best of luck holding onto the spot!  Week 7 should have some good "padding" potential but looks can be deceiving.

Pick'em League Overall Standings Through Week 6 Part 1

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An interesting mix of stellar picks this past week with some less than stellar picks.  Some last minute tweaks worked for some, less so for others.  It's kind of like those old multiple choice question tests...typically your first choice is the right one.  While a couple were one game short of perfection, Tyler Nickel nailed it this week and received the full Week Won Point, the second tie-breaker and likely an important tie-breaker in the Iron Man Pick'em rankings.  SenSurround remains atop the overall standings, either playing possum at key times or having forgotten to post but only needs to pick four more weeks before the final two mandatory weeks to qualify for the Pick'em League Championship (nine total weeks).

Pick'em League Overall Standings Through Week 5 Part 1

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Sadly this isn't a tale from the Old Testament but an all too common trend in RotB Survival Leagues:  pack mentality on picks tends to lead to a mass exodus of participants when the heavily picked team falters.  This year, the Seattle Seahawks have played David in defeating the Goliath New York Giants, eliminating a dozen participants.  The remaining nine (current) participants will find that their options with byes and fewer "obvious" picks will make life interesting, starting with Week 6.  Best of luck!

Pick'em Survivor Participants Week 5

RotB Survivor League's ranks thinned somewhat after the NFL's Week 4 action, all thanks to the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills falling to the upstart Cincinnati Bengals.  Okay, one delusional participant picked the Vikings.  And CardsIrish has more reasons to hate the 49ers.  :wink: Still, 21 "Survivors" advance to see Week 5 and find that their options for obvious games to pick becoming harder to discern.  Good luck!

RotB Survival League Through Week 4

For every bad week, Pick'em League-wide, we have, there's a good week to offset it and this past week was certainly a good week.  Six different users share the Week Won Point, having picked all but one of the games correctly, with billydacardsfan being the only one whose devotion to the Cardinals costing him a perfect week.  Congratulations!  Many other participants picked five or six correct so Week 4 will help your winning percentage.  Week 5 has some interesting games on the docket with some teams that are hard to gauge...but that's the point of Pick'em.  I can't put the Seahawks on the schedule every week.  :wink:

Pick'em Overall Standing Through Week 4 (Part 1)

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Week 3 of RotB Pick'em 4.0 was a rough week, conjuring memories of last year's ineptitude when half the participants were at or below .500 in the early portions of the season.  We're not quite there yet, but another 3-5 week and many of us will be pining for a winning record.  Six victories is all it took to take home the Week Won Point, shared between azcardswinez, kj197728, and robloosli.  Congratuations!  SenSurround takes the week off and finds himself atop the standings for his efforts (?!) while azcardswinez and robloosli vie for the lead in the Iron Man Pick'em standings.  Best of luck on your picks for Week 4!

RotB Pick'em Overall Standings Through Week 3

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Three weeks of the 2012 NFL regular season are in the books and the spreadsheet is "green" with survivors for this week.  Granted, the Chiefs gave the majority of the San Diego folks a bit of a scare, as did Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.  Survival is all about getting the pick right and not how overwhelmingly dominate the pick was, right Baltimore backers?  Poor Rams...  And poor folks that thought to jump into Pick'em Survival at this point with a Cardinals pick.  Cue trombone:  wonk, wonk, wooooonk. 

As you look at the Week 4 match-ups, remember you have to pick each week to maintain your win streak and you cannot pick the same team twice.  Skip a week or pick a loser, you're voted off RotB Pick'em Survivor Island.  Wonk, wonk, woooonk.  Okay, now the horn player is just being annoying...

RotB Pick'em Survival:  It's Green

The second week of RotB Pick'em 4.0 looked tough at first glance considering the uncertainties of the early season.  Nevertheless, it was a strong week for the majority of participants with many posting six correct picks if not more.  In fact, cardinalbrown pitched a perfect week of picks.  Congratulations on a relatively rare feat in Pick'em history (third time, maybe the fourth ever?)  Those that didn't fare well, no worries, the season is still young and Pick'em is an endurance run, not a series of sprints.  Atop the rankings sits one of those sprinters, four-year Pick'em veteran, KDean75, whose .875 winning percentage gives him the Week 2 lead.

2011 Pick'em Overall Standings Through Week 2

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