This contest was played under CBS Sports Football Pick'em under the pool called Rochester Challenge. We add to that the bowl games results/NCAA playoff game results in website www.rtsports.com. If you do not play the bowl contest, you don't get any points at all for those games. Our winner this year is Billy Rochester. As is the case virtually every year, our "NFL picks only" winner beats most, if not all, experts who do this for a living with only two experts being better this year The CBS Sports experts seem to do better as a team than others I can find, so I included them. Everyone can check out their NFL picks against the big boy experts below. The Bowl Game/NCAA Playoff Game part of our contest was also won by Billy Rochester. He got 32 correct out of 46 games played. Bowl games have gotten really hard to pick. Most of the numbers just below involve NFL picks, but our contest winner is based on all picks in both NFL and college games. Those numbers, as usual, are at the very bottom. So, here are the numbers.
Here are the final NFL standings for this year including playoffs. (Tie games count as incorrect picks.) Normally, you have to pick every regular season week except for one or two to be included. If you didn’t pick a week, you received a point total for the week that was one less than the lowest point total for that week.
Michael O 205-80 71.9%
Billy 203-82 71.2%
Chris S 203-82 71.2%
Rick 198-87 69.5%
Greg 194-91 68.1%
Karl 180-105 63.2%
Here is the all-time NFL record for one season in our contest.
Draftman Rick in 2005 was 196-71 73.4% (Best media expert ever - Matt Bowen in 2024 was 210-75 73.7%)
Here are the NFL standings for all previous years for the three guys who I kept stats for over the years. (No stats for 2011)
Rick 4089-2117 (23 years) 65.9%
Chris S 2887-1578 (approx. 17 years) 64.7% (Chris stopped playing after week 12 of 2005 and resumed in week 4 of 2013.)
Billy 3956-2250 (23 years) 63.7%
Here is how people who do this for a living did. (No stats for 2011)
This list mostly comes from Inside The NFL (Now on CW) or CBS’s The NFL Today.
Cris Collinsworth Retired Last 10 years 1722-923 65.1%
Warren Sapp Retired Last 3 years 503-273 64.8%
Ray Lewis 46.1% against the spread in 2022
Julian Edelman 49.1% against the spread in 2022
Brandon Marshall 46.8% against the spread in 2022
Dan Marino Retired Regular seasons only for 2012 and 2013. 7 year total 1181-666 63.9%
Cris Carter Retired Last 5 years 853-482 63.9%
Bill Cowher Unable to get after 2017. Might not pick full seasons now. Previous 6 years 980-556 63.8%
Phil Simms No straight up picks this year (49.1% against the spread in 2022) Last 7 years 1345-766 63.7% Could not get 2014, 2015, 2018 or after 2020.
Boomer Esiason Unable to get after 2017. Might not pick full seasons now. Previous 6 years 981-577 63.0%
Shannon Sharpe Retired Regular seasons only. Last 2 years 320-192 62.5%
Bob Costas Retired Last 5 years 830-505 62.2%
CBS Sports Expert Picks Team
Ryan Wilson 194-91 68.1%
Jamey Eisenberg 193-92 67.7%
John Breech 188-97 66.0%
Jared Dubin 188-97 66.0%
Dave Richard 188-97 66.0%
Tyler Sullivan 185-100 64.9%
Pete Prisco 184-101 64.6%
Will Brinson 164-121 57.5%
Pro Football Weekly usually had 9 guys who pick all the games for the whole year plus a "Consensus" of the 9 guys' picks, but the magazine went bankrupt after 2012 after about 40 years. Some of them were very good, but our winner beat all of them most of the time.
USA Today staff made picks online this year. No picks for 2021.
Tyler Dragon 206-79 72.3% Last 3 years 560-278 66.8%
Nate Davis 196-89 68.8% Last 10 years 1745-962 64.5%
Mike Middlehurst-Schwartz 193-92 67.7% Last 2 years 352-202 63.5%
Lorenzo Reyes 190-95 66.7% Last 9 years 1566-874 64.2%
Jarrett Bell 188-97 66.0% Last 11 years 1887-1087 63.5%
Chris Bumbaca 175-110 61.4% Last 3 years 513-293 63.7%
The Spartanburg Herald-Journal often carried the NFL picks for this person from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch but didn’t carry anyone since 2012...
Dan Caesar - St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has not picked since 2013. Last 5 years 861-474 64.5%
ESPN had 11 NFL “experts” who picked the games. Many of them were not good at all. However, Matt Bowen just had the best season I have ever seen by any NFL media person ever! He was 210-75 which is 73.7%. Here are three ESPN experts of note.
Matt Bowen 210-75 73.7%
Mike Clay 197-88 69.1%
Dan Graziano 188-97 66.0%
Here are totals from our College picks this year. This includes the 219 games on the website, and 46 bowl games/NCAA playoff games. Not everyone picked the bowl games. Unpicked bowl games count as a loss.
Billy 189-76 71.3%
Rick 187-78 70.6%
Chris S 184-81 69.4%
Michael O 180-85 67.9%
Karl 168-97 63.4%
Greg 148-117 55.9% No bowl picks-accidentally did not get an invite. Not counting bowl games, Greg was 148-71 67.6%
Total NFL plus College for this year. (Contest Winner) Note: Number correct wins the contest, not percentage. So, if you miss picks, it hurts you.
Billy 392-158 71.3%
Chris S 387-163 70.4%
Rick 385-165 70.0%
Michael O 385-165 70.0%
Karl 348-202 63.3%
Greg 342-208 62.2% (Not counting bowl games, Greg was 342-162 67.9%)
Contest Winners by Year (2001 through 2004 was NFL only. 2005 to the present is NFL and College.)
2001 - Chris Sturgill
2002 - Chris Sturgill
2003 - Josh Page
2004 - Rick Anderson
2005 - Rick Anderson
2006 - Josh Page
2007 - Rick Anderson
2008 - Rick Anderson
2009 - Rick Anderson
2010 - Josh Page
2011 - Josh Page
2012 - Rick Anderson
2013 - Rick Anderson
2014 - Billy Rochester
2015 - Anthony Cancer
2016 - Rick Anderson
2017 - Rick Anderson
2018 - Rick Anderson
2019 - Billy Rochester
2020 - Greg Kallner
2021 - Chris Sturgill
2022 - Billy Rochester
2023 - Rick Anderson
2024 - Billy Rochester
May God always be your number 1 draft pick!
Draftman Rick