To pick the Pats or not, that is the question

Bill Burt, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·2 min read
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Sep. 22—New England Patriots fans, which is about 95 percent of the participants in this contest, have a hard decision the next two weeks.

The Patriots play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and, well, You Know Who the following Sunday.

While the Pats will be slight favorites this week against the Saints, they will be underdogs when Tom Brady and Tampa Bay come to Foxborough.

I'm guessing the vast majority will pick the Pats over the Saints and a slight majority will pick the Pats in an upset over Tampa.

If I had to pick both games today I'd probably pick the Saints and Bucs. Both are more seasoned with different quarterback situations.

Anyway, the point is that these two games will be a test as the Patriots could be favored in the rest of their games through Nov. 14 against the Browns. The only way the Pats would be favored that game is if the Browns win out or the Patriots win out after Tampa.

It makes for an interesting couple of weeks for fans who "always" pick the Patriots. I have picked the Pats at a 90 percent clip over the last decade, maybe longer.

Can you pick against the Patriots and root for them?

We shall see.

As for Week 2 of the "I Beat Burt" contest, it was a little more like it's supposed to be, which is double-digit wins.

There were nine road teams that won over the weekend, But "only" six underdogs won. That's a recipe for a good week when seven or few underdogs win.

I had 10 winners this week out of the 15 games on Sunday and Monday. Honestly, I thought I picked Carolina over New Orleans, but realized on Monday I went with the Saints.

That's a pretty good week.

Only 25 entries picked more winners. A maximum of 10 T-shirts are awarded each week. The first tiebreaker is Patriots point total (25).

All of this week's winners had at least 11 or 12 correct picks.

All were within two points of the first tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker was used as several entries had 11 winners.

Week 2 winners

Paul Wells of Salem

Walter Ruszkowski of Rowley

Mark Welch of Salisbury

Steve Olearcek of Somers, Conn.

Mike Price of Beverly

James Michael O'Neill of Beverly

Joe Aiello of Manchester

Bill Cullen of Peabody

Larry Jordan of Orange, Calif.

Bina Beauregard of Amesbury

Robert Bilodeau of Seabrook