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2010-2011 NFL Expert Picks

Finally, it’s time once more for the NFL Pick ‘Em. With an impending work stoppage in 2011, let’s enjoy it while we can, shall we? New York (okay, New Jersey) got the Super Bowl, Sam Bradford got $50 million guaranteed without ever touching a ball in the NFL, and the Pats were the latest Boston team to become riddled with injuries, among many football developments. In the midst of all this, we here at Sports of Boston are proud to present our selections for how the next season will turn out.

Seven of us have made choices for the final standings of the top six teams in each conference, in addition to which conference winner will have the best record, and to settle any ties, how the top three draft picks next year will be meted out. The points will be given as follows:

• Successfully picking a team to make the playoffs is worth one point.
• Successfully picking a team to win the division (seeds 1-4) is worth two points instead.
• Successfully picking which team will finish with the NFL’s best record is worth two points. Any ties here will be broken based on strength of schedule, then strength of victory.
• As a bonus, correctly guessing the #1 seed in each conference if worth six points, then five points for the #2 seed, and so on.
• The first, second, and third tiebreakers in the event of two experts finishing with the same score are picks for which team will get the first, second, and third draft picks (worst, second worst, and third worst records) respectively. (The NFL breaks ties here using strength of schedule, then divisional/conference tiebreakers.)

Meanwhile, our experts see the closest division being the NFC North, perhaps disagreeing on whether or not Brett Favre will be as influential, if possible, as last year. Even the Jets got two nods over the Pats for the division. The Cowboys, Saints, Chargers, and Ravens should all be getting a top-4 seed, and the Colts should definitely be moving on, as should the 49ers, thanks in no small part to the retirement of Kurt Warner. The Rams, Browns, and Bucs all appear to be top (or bottom) contenders for excellent draft picks, which will probably end up costing them if rookie salary caps aren’t imposed before then.

It’s mostly similar to the NFL’s group of experts, who do see the Falcons as a good draw and have less regional bias for the Patriots, though I don’t think any of us here at SoB see the Bengals winning the Super Bowl. In any case, without further ado, I present to you Sports of Boston’s annual compilation of data for the purpose of ascertaining predictions for the 2010-2011 NFL regular season results, and other big words:

Tags: NFL Pick 'Em, NFL Picks