The NFL is on to the postseason, with the 14 playoff teams beginning the trek to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the Miami Dolphins are not one of the top 14 teams this year, though they did finish the season with a winning record for the second straight year. Of course, the Dolphins ended the regular season, then fired head coach Brian Flores and are beginning their search for a replacement.
While that has been the primary focus on the site all week, there are still games to be played, with plenty of great matchups this weekend in the second edition of “Super” Wildcard weekend. This weekend also includes the first Monday Night Football playoff game, so a lot of football to watch Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
Throughout the season, we have been running a picks pool among the contributors here on The Phinsider. We began in Week 1 and will continue all the way through the Super Bowl. Justin Hier won last year’s pool, but he has put himself in a hole heading into the postseason if he wants to repeat as champion. Marek Brave heads into the postseason just ahead of James McKinney in our overall standings.
We primarily focus on the straight-up winners picks, but we do have some contributors who also make picks against the spread and over/under picks. You can check out those picks using the tabs at the top of the table below. You can get the latest odds for each game over at the DraftKings Sportsbook.
For Week 18, CT Smith came away with an 11-5 record, while Kevin Nogle and Hier each had 10-6 marks. Brave and McKinney tied at 9-7 for the week.
Through Week 18 our standings are:
Marek Brave 175-96-1 (64.5%)
James McKinney 174-96-1 (64.4%)*
Kevin Nogle 169-102-1 (62.3%)
Justin Hier 167-102-1 (62.0%)*
*McKinney missed a Thursday game during the season and Hier missed two, giving them fewer games in the standings.
CT Smith and Josh Houtz have both missed at least a week of picks, so they are not in the overall standings, but they do continue to make their picks:
CT Smith 149-90-1 (62.3%)
Josh Houtz 81-51-1 (61.3%)
On to this week’s picks. Check out all of our predictions using the chart below. Thanks to TallySight.com for the widget: