The NFL Picks Page | About the Site

About the Site

Welcome to the 2023-2024 Season of The NFL Picks Page!

The site is now in its 28th season (!?!), and it has only gotten bigger and more fun to play. Back in 1996, the site started out as a way for me to keep track of picks for my small office pool. Once I got into it and started having fun with it, I let a few outside people in on it – and the site took off.

The NFL Picks Page is completely free. It is meant to be fun, competitive, and lively – veteran pickers love the weekly exchange of opinions on the Bulletin Board. I hope you will find that it adds to your interest and excitement about each week's NFL games.

Though it took a lot of time and hard work to develop what you see on the site, I'm always open to comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Please use the Feedback form often to let me know how the site works for you.

One of the nifty features on The NFL Picks Page is the ability to create your own pool and compete against your friends, co-workers or anyone you invite. To start a pool, go to the Create a Pool page. Your pool can be public (open to anyone) or private (only open to those you invite). You also choose whether your pool will be scored Vs. the Spread (default) or as a Straight-Up (Pickem) pool. Be sure to let your players know which type of picks your pool will use.

After you create the pool, you can send invites out via email or Facebook to make it easy for players to join. Feel free to "advertise" your public pools on the Bulletin Board.

Straight-Up Picks: Due to popular demand, in 2010 I added the option to play Straight-Up picks, in addition to Vs. the Spread. These picks are optional and your record / stats will be kept completely separate from your Spread picks. You can make both types of picks each week and you can toggle the default view for your stats pages to be Spread or Straight-Up. The same is true for Pools. Straight-Up stats and rankings will be kept separate and Poolmasters can designate the default scoring for their pool. So if you want to do a Straight-Up pickem pool on The NFL Picks Page, now you can!

User Guide

Questions

If you have any questions after reading this, please try the Frequently Asked Questions page before emailing The B-Man.

Registration and Login

Register first. You can't pick until you've registered. Please don't register more than once. If you need to change your username or your password, you can use the Edit Info page. If you forget your password, use the Feedback page, don't re-register.
The site uses a browser cookie to keep track of your user number so you don't have to login every time you visit the site. This may cause a problem if you and one or more friends are using the same computer to make your picks. In that case, you can each login separately by using the Login link on the menu. There's also a Log Out link at the bottom of your stats on the left side.

Making Your Picks

Spread vs. Straight-Up Picks: For 14 seasons, the only way to pick on this site was Vs. the Spread. In 2010, I added Straight-Up picks. Both sets of picks are kept completely separate -- separate picks, separate tie-breakers, separate rankings, separate stats, etc. On almost every page near the top, there is toggle link to go back and forth between Spread and Straight-Up. The default view will remain Spread picks, but you can change the default by using the "Set as Default View" link if you'd rather focus on Straight-Up picks. You can submit one or both sets of picks each week.
Spread Picks: These picks should be made based on the point spread for each game, not straight up who will win the game. Early in the week, some games may have "No Line", usually because of an injury to a key player in the game. If the spread is "No Line", pick who you think will win the game, regardless of the score. I will try to update the "No Line" spreads by Wednesday night. However, the final spread updates will be made by Friday morning (or Wednesday when there is a Thursday game). Your picks will be scored based on the final spread, not the spread that was posted when you made your picks. So be sure to check your picks before Sunday to catch any spread updates if you made your picks early in the week.
A note on the spreads: I always use half-point spreads to ensure there are no "pushes" – games where the final score matches the spread exactly and no one gets a win for that game. This way every game will count.
Straight-Up Picks: These picks are simply based on who you think will win the game. If there is a tie, no win or loss will be recorded for that game.
You can edit and resubmit your picks as many times as you want before the deadline. The deadline is 5 minutes before kickoff for each game. Your latest picks will simply overwrite your old ones. If you're sharing your PC with another player, be sure to login before editing your picks.
Note on the deadlines: If you miss the deadline for picking a game, you automatically get a loss for that game. If you can't submit your picks for some reason, use the Feedback form or e-mail me your picks and I'll try to get them posted.
One nifty feature on the Make Picks screen is the Quick Pick button. This button is helpful if you're in a hurry or just need a new strategy. Using Quick Pick, you can easily select all favorites, all underdogs, all home teams, all visitors, or random picks. Another option you can select is Players' Picks. This option will pick according to what the majority of players on the site are picking for each game. Just select the option you want and click the button. Your picks will be filled in automatically according to the Quick Pick option you selected. Then all you need to do is enter the tie breaker total, your password and click Submit Picks.

AutoPick

AutoPick is another helpful feature. By enabling AutoPick (you can do this when you Register or Edit Your Info), you're telling the site to automatically submit picks for you if for some reason you miss the deadline. This option is helpful if you know you're going to be out of town for a week or two and can't submit picks. It also helps if you're in a pool and don't ever want to be caught with no picks for a week if you forget or miss the deadline. AutoPick options include: all favorites, all underdogs, all home teams, all visitors, or random picks. I'll run AutoPick each week just before I post Sunday's results.

Important AutoPick Note:

three (3) AutoPick weeks

Tiebreakers

The tiebreaker for each week is total points in the last game on the schedule, usually the Monday Night game. If two or more people pick the same number of games correctly for the week, the person who guesses closest to the actual total points without going over gets the top spot for the week. If all of the tied players are over the actual total points, then the winner will be the one closest to the number. You must enter a valid total greater than zero to be eligible for the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker is only used by the site to determine the weekly winner, but all of the rankings including pool rankings are sorted by the tiebreaker. So you can use it in your pools to determine your weekly winner as well.
The season-long tiebreaker is best single week, weeks 1-17 (regular season), based on winning percentage. This has never been needed for the overall site but can be used at the poolmaster's discretion for your private pools. Check with your poolmaster on the policy for your pool. Example, two people tie at the end of the season but Player A went 13-3 (81%) in his best week while Player B went 12-2 (86%) in his best week. In this case, Player B would win the season tiebreaker. The site calculates the Best Week tie-breaker using each player's best 5 weeks during the regular season (if players are still tied after that, what can I say, they tied). Players will be ranked according to this tie-breaker in all of the overall season standings (for the site and your pools). In the rankings table, if you roll your mouse over the player's name, you should see a pop-up note with their actual Season Tie-Breaker Rank.
Separate AutoPick / Tiebreakers - There are separate AutoPicks and Tiebreakers for Spread and Straight-Up picks. You can edit your AutoPick settings by pick type on the Edit Info page.

Rankings

Ranking system - The NFL Picks Page uses a point system for rankings, not simply your won-loss record. You get 2 points for a win and minus 1 point for a loss. This system is designed to give you some credit for picking every week and makes sure newcomers don't dominate the standings with one or two good weeks.

Pools

Anyone can create a pool. Once you create a pool, you can invite friends to play by sending them a link. If your pool is private, you can set a password so only invited players can join. If your pool is public, no password is required and anyone can join. Feel free to advertise your pool public by inviting others to join on the Bulletin Board.
Spread vs. Straight-Up ("Pickem") Pools - When you create the pool, you can designate your pool as a Vs. Spread (default) or Straight-Up pool. Be sure to tell your players which type of picks to submit each week. Regardless of the pool type you select, the pool records and rankings for both Spread and Straight-Up picks will be kept separately. You can always view the rankings and stats both ways. If you want, you can even have prizes for both types of picks in the same pool. Up to you.
Pools are ranked against other pools on the site by their members' combined picking percentage. A pool must have at least 5 players for it to be ranked. If your pool does not have 5 or more players, it will not be ranked (NR).
If you ever want to remove yourself from a pool, you can do so using the Leave a Pool page. If you're the Poolmaster and you'd like to delete a pool you created, send a note to The B-Man.

Viewing Picks

To view other users' picks, click on their user name on either the Rankings page or the Bulletin Board. Or you can select their user name from the listbox on your View Picks page and click the View Their Picks button.
Note: Players now have the option to hide their picks from other users until after the picks deadline – so you may not be able to see their picks until then.
To see how everyone on the site picked each game, check out the Picking Stats page. This page will show you how many people picked the favorite and how many picked the underdog for each game. It's not meant to be a guide for making your picks. It's strictly there for curiosity's sake.
To see how teams are doing against the spread this season and in seasons past, check out the Team-by-Team Stats page. This page will show you each team's record versus the spread overall, when they're the favorite, the underdog, at home, on the road, and all the combinations. If you are a number-cruncher, this page is for you.

Live Scoreboard

Scoreboard LIVE!: If you haven't already, check out the Scoreboard LIVE! feature. It lets you stay on top of your picks for the week with up-to-the-minute scores on game day. Use it to check your record as the games are happening!

Message Boards

Use The NFL Picks Page Bulletin Board to post interesting comments about the site, this week's games, your favorite team, other users' picks, etc. If you have any problems with the site, use the Feedback form or e-mail me directly.
Each pool has its own private bulletin board. Only members of the pool can view or post to the pool bulletin board. To see the latest posting and access the bulletin board, go to your pool's home page.

Updates and Other Site Info

Look for final weekly results and a new schedule on Tuesdays.
For detailed information about terms of use and privacy practices for this web site, please see the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Lastly, check out The B-Man's Homepage and see what else your humble webmaster is up to.