A comeback in Week 2 of the SuperContest

LAS VEGAS – Was my performance in week two of The Westgate SuperContest a sign of things to come or just a lucky fluke?

My strategy of talking to as many people as I could before making my selections went out the window this week, and I'm happy with the results by going solo with my picks.

However, after my Thursday Night Football loss of stupidly taking the Bengals to beat the Texans, I did NOT expect a 4-0 run on Sunday. Yet, that's what happened for Team Gamenight – and I WILL TAKE IT.

It was a much needed hot streak after a 1-4-1 record through the first six picks of the NFL season, and I'm now over .500 with a 5-4-1 overall mark.

Week 2 Outcome

When you pick games that are over by the start of the fourth quarter, you know you had a good week.

The Titans, bucking the Week 1 trend of the consensus picks losing outright, wrecked the Jags on the road and easily covered the -2 line. The Patriots equally walked all over the Saints in New Orleans by scoring 21 points in the first quarter and had no trouble being favored by -6.5. Sunday afternoon, the Broncos made the Cowboys look lost in their blowout win as +2 home dogs even with an hour delay for weather.

I was ready to go buy a lottery ticket my hand was so hot on Sunday, but I wasn't done yet, as I had Atlanta in the late game.

The Falcons' 34-10 lead to start the fourth quarter on Sunday Night Football was almost shocking given the fact that Green Bay defenders had claimed the loss in the NFC Championship game last season was due to Packer injuries. That clearly wasn't the case, and Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn improved to 5-0 against Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers scored 14 points in the final frame and still lost the game by double digits, as the Falcons bounced back to cover the -3 line after a Week 1 half-point loss ATS to Chicago.

I finished with a 4-1 record for Week 2.

The Field

For the consensus picks that we discuss each week on the Fade Or Follow Podcast (heard every Saturday night here and soon on iTunes), the contest field had a bounce back week, too. After opening 0-5, the contestant's most popular selections had a winning record of 3-2.

The 48 percent increase in teams entering the 2017 SuperContest has caused questions about the gambling knowledge of the overall field. There is one school of thought that there are more novice players in the contest than ever before, and that's why the consensus went 4-9-1 ATS for the top 14 plays in Week 1. However, we don't know that to be a fact and will need a lot more data before we can determine if the largest field in history is more or less talented at picking games than years past.

The big question now is which trend will continue into Week 3 – is the contest on track for a hot streak, or was it just a lucky week? More to come later when we put our Sports Action selections out for a third time this season.

Here's how the top 14 picks made out this week (9-5):

Team Sports Action

Unfortunately, our three other Sports Action teams did not have as hot of a week as I did.

Team Beatrix Kiddo went 2-3 after their fast 3-1-1 start to the contest. However, their 5-4-1 record overall is still good enough to be tied for 595th place (same place for Team Gamenight). In a contest with over 2,700 teams, that's not a bad place to be after two weeks.

BK hit on the Redskins' win on the road at the Los Angeles Rams and the Broncos' big win over Dallas. They missed on the Packers, Jags and Saints covering as dogs.

Team Sports Action took a step in the right direction with a 2-3 mark after a 1-3-1 start. They correctly picked Tampa's massive win over the Bears and Washington's successful trip out West to beat the Rams. The games that did not go as planned were the Jets failing to stay with the Raiders as +14 dogs, the Saints losing at home getting +6.5 and the Jags getting crushed as +2.5 home dogs.

Team Bet The Process is licking its wounds a little after Week 2 took a bite out of their record. While they correctly selected the Dolphins' win at the Chargers, they missed on the Saints, Jags, Vikings and Jets, who all failed to cover as dogs. BTP now has the same 3-6-1 overall record as Team Sports Action for the contest.

Overall, it was not an awful week for us at Sports Action in the SuperContest. Team Gamenight and Beatrix Kiddo lead the pack, but we have 15 weeks to go. There are 75 picks left to make in this thing. We are no way near knowing who will win the $1.3 million.

Until later this week… here's our song of the day!

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