Oct. 1, 2007

Every week in the regular season and the postseason, you'll get the following content as a member of the Handicapping Inner Circle:

On Mondays: PFW staff selections, opponents vs. spread, series records, best bets and fast fact
On Wednesdays: Confidence pool picks
On Fridays: Selections from 'Pro Football Weekly on TV'

Here is a sample from Week One ...

PFW staff selections, best bets and fast fact

Aug. 28, 2007

Staff selections were made on Sunday, Aug 26.

"ALL" refers to the staff consensus pick. HOME TEAM IN CAPS. Asterisk (*) denotes team will cover pointspread but lose game. Boldface selection indicates best bet. Because selections are posted Monday, the last week's records include the Monday-night game from the week prior to last week but don't include the Monday-night game from last week.

Fast fact: Teams with new head coaches were 6-4 ATS in Week One of the 2006 season.

Opponents vs. spread

Aug. 28, 2007

CODE: H,  A or N (home, away or neutral) followed by team’s score; number in parentheses is number of points by which that team was favored to win; E means game was rated as even; W is placed next to a team that beat the pointspread; asterisk means that team beat the pointspread in both regular-season meetings that year; T means that neither beat the pointspread; P refers to playoff game; OT refers to overtime game; ^ — at Baton Rouge, La.

Series records

Aug. 28, 2007

Series leader is listed in CAPS with its record below. Series leader’s record at this week’s game site is listed in parentheses, followed by series leader’s record vs. pointspread at this week’s site. This year’s games not included.

Week One confidence pool picks

Sept. 4, 2007

In 2006, PFW editor-in-chief Keith Schleiden far outdistanced the other nine editors in the final week of the regular season, amassing 99 points to vault from third to first place and win the confidence pool for the second year in a row. Schleiden, who had been in fifth place after 12 weeks, was still only third going into the final week. His season total of 1,371 points edged associate editor Chris Neubauer's 1,367 and executive editor Neil Warner's 1,360. For the season, Schleiden also picked the most games correctly for a second consecutive year, 163, ahead of the second-place finisher, associate editor Mike Wilkening, who picked 157.

This feature is designed to be helpful to readers who participate in office pools. Each Wednesday, the editors will make their selections, picking the teams they believe will win the games, without regard to the pointspread, and assigning a point value to each game. For example, in a week when there are 16 games scheduled, an editor will assign 16 points to the game in which he has the most confidence of the outcome (i.e., the most confidence that his pick will win the game), 15 points to the game in which he has the next-most confidence, all the way down to one point to the game in which he has the least confidence of the outcome.

Because these picks are being made each Wednesday, they may differ slightly from the picks in the staff selections table on the Handicapper's Corner page, which are made the previous Sunday. Such changes are usually the result of new injury information. The confidence pool picks will be posted each Wednesday afternoon.

Note: The confidence pool picks will be made throughout the 17-week regular season, but not during the playoffs.

Week One selections from 'Pro Football Weekly on TV'

Sept. 7, 2007

Last season, for the second year in a row, former Bears WR Tom Waddle led the prognosticators on the Pro Football Weekly television show with a 128-123 record, on the heels of a 151-107 record in 2005. PFW publisher/editor Hub Arkush had the best record on locks of the week, going 12-8.

Because of a later taping schedule for the TV show this season, these picks will be posted on Friday afternoon each week. No Thursday games will be included. Links to the current week's Handicapping Inner Circle content will be posted under "PFW Inner Circle" near the bottom of our home page, and links to all HIC content can be found on the navigation bar under Handicapper's Corner > Handicapping IC.

HOME TEAM IN CAPS. Records don't include pushes (ties).

To become a member of the 2007 Handicapping Inner Circle, click here.