NFL Lockdown - Week 8 with X-Girl Meridith from Edgehogs.com

NFL Lockdown has added a new feature this week.  In the past, Besides providing you with all the normal picks for each game in the coming weekend, I have usually highlighted an “NFL Lockdown Girl of the Week.”  Well The Jeff Report has partnered with the XGirls from Edgehogs.com and will be highlighting a different XGirl each week as they will try to out pick me.

What are the XGirls, you say?  Meridith here is glad you asked.  The “X-Girls” are REAL sports experts following NCAA Football, NFL and MMA.  I have started my profile on www.edgehogs.com and you should do the same, after all it’s completely free to sign up.  You can compare your picks against the X-Girls and me at Edgehogs.com.

On top of that, you can also compare your picks against the so-called ”experts.”  If you so choose, you can review the expert’s picks before making your own.  Another cool feature of Edgehogs is that it tracks all of your picks and keeps your overall record.  The site will keep track of your wins and losses, winning percentage, and then will give you an “X-Rating” where you are rated according to your picking expertise.  This is where you can truly prove you know more than the “experts.”

With each pick made correctly you earn more “X Bucks” which you can then later use to enter to win prizes from Edgehogs.

Here is a little more in-depth info about how Edgehogs started (from their website):

“We created edgehogs.com because it’s always struck us that while predictive activity is all around us, we don’t really know which pundits are really good at predicting the outcomes of sporting events.  So, we decided to take a deep dive into years of predictive data and create a unique algorithm that would rank each expert on their predictive accuracy, which has become our Expert Rating or X-Rating.
Once we refined the X-Rating, we wondered how well the top pundits would have fared had they bet their picks in Las Vegas, and it turns out some of them do quite well. The next logical step was to build a site that allows you to see the experts’ X-Rating and allow you to compete against the experts while at the same time betting against the odds. We created the concept of X-Bucks, and edgehogs.com was born.
Next, we conducted a month-long casting call throughout California, auditioning the most attractive, sports-knowledgeable women, looking for that special girl who combines physical attractiveness, on-camera experience and talent and passion for sports. We were more successful than we dared hope, and now the X-Girls are making their own expert picks, hosting their own streaming shows and making prediction videos.
We are striving to make edgehogs.com prediction central – this is where you can plant your flag and make a bold prediction, so you can tell your friends, “I called it.”

Our first X-Girl who is going to attempt to out-pick me (yeah, right, like that’s gonna happen) is Meridith Bartman (no relation).  Meridith has a Bachelors degree in Kinesiology and a Master's in Sports Administration from Fresno State, so needless to say, she knows her sports.  Meridith is carrying a record so far this season of 230-115 (Win pct: 67%).  Meridith has a current X Bucks balance of $76,460.  She also has an X-Rating of 96.8, so she is a formidable opponent.  Also, for your viewing pleasure a few pictures of X-Girl Meridith will be sprinkled throughout this post. 

Here are my straight-up picks compared to Meridith’s:

Game		The Jeff Report's Pick	X-Girl Meridith's Pick
Away	Home
Indianapolis	Tennessee	Tennessee	Indianapolis
Jacksonville	Houston	Jacksonville	Houston
Minnesota	Carolina	Carolina	Carolina
New Orleans	St. Louis	New Orleans	New Orleans
Arizona	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore
Miami	New York Giants	New York Giants	New York Giants
Washington	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo
Detroit	Denver	Detroit	Detroit
New England	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	New England
Cleveland	San Francisco	San Francisco	San Francisco
Cincinnati	Seattle	Cincinnati	Seattle
Dallas	Philadelphia	Dallas	Philadelphia

You can see my picks and how many 'X-Bucks' I've wagered here: http://www.edgehogs.com/profiles/jeff-herr/?sport=NFL

You can look at Meridith's picks and the 'X-Bucks' she's wagered compared to mine here: http://www.edgehogs.com/profiles/meridith-bartman/

To be consistent with my previous NFL Lockdown posts, here are my picks against the spread (still for entertainment purposes only):

Last Week: 8-4-1
Season: 31-22-2

Indianapolis (+9) @ Tennessee (-9) – Tennessee.  Indianapolis just got 60-balled in prime time.  Tennessee just got stomped and are going to be mad.  Indy may actually run the table in reverse.

Jacksonville (+9.5) @ Houston (-9.5) – Jacksonville.  I am calling the upset here.  Even though Jax has the rookie QB their defense has been playing well and Houston has been hit or miss.  If they can stop Arian Foster and put it on Schaub, the Texans will struggle.

Minnesota (+3) @ Carolina (-3) – Carolina.  Carolina continues to deliver and improve.  Minnesota is a lost franchise. 

New Orleans (-13.5) @ St. Louis (+13.5) – New Orleans.  Wow St. Louis is awful.  I don’t blame this completely on Spagnuolo as they have had a lot of injuries.  However, I will say that I wanted Spags as the Chiefs coach and I am perfectly fine, seeing the results, that we have Todd Haley.  The Rams can’t stop anybody.  They are the University of Kansas football team of the NFL.

Arizona (+12.5) @ Baltimore (-12.5) – Arizona.  Baltimore is reeling.  Everyone thought that Joe Flacco was going to take that next step this year and become, but that doesn’t look to be the case.  Flacco has shown himself to be nothing more than an above average quarterback.  Without an all-star defense and running back, he is Matt Cassel with a stronger arm.  That’s right, I said it.

Miami (+9.5) @ New York Giants (-9.5) – New York.  Is it just me or does 2011 have the worst case of just awfully terrible teams ever?  Indy was bad enough.  STL is lost.  Now we have Miami who might not even be salvaged by drafting Andrew Luck.  As they say, you can’t polish a turd.

Washington (+6) @ Buffalo (-6) – Buffalo.  I think Buffalo is legit.  Not to say they are an elite team, but they are as good as their record shows.  The Redskins have been nothing special all season and are not on a hot streak right now.  I expect the Bills to take it to ‘em.

Detroit (-3) @ Denver (+3) – Detroit.  How is this only 3 points?  I know the Lions have lost two straight but Denver is putrid.  The Lions are toy with the Broncos like a kid with a magnifying glass at an ant hill. 

New England (-3) @ Pittsburgh (+3) – Pittsburgh.  New England’s pass defense is suspect and Roethlisberger has started to improve his play.  Mike Wallace will own the Pats secondary and the Steelers will take that step towards the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs.

Cleveland (+8.5) @ San Francisco (-8.5) – San Francisco.  I’m done with Cleveland.  We are officially broken up.  I may stalk them on facebook from time to time, but we are done.  I swear.  Honest.

Cincinnati (-3) @ Seattle (+3) – Cincinnati.  Cincinnati is criminally underrated this year, specifically their defense.  Seattle has about as much get-up-and go as a smart car.  Pete Carroll is one skirt short of being a cheerleader with a clipboard and the Bengals will take this one.

Dallas (+3) @ Philadelphia (-3) – Dallas.  While Demarcus Ware rushing Michael Vick actually works in the Eagles favor as Vick is better out of the pocket, I’m still going with the ‘Boys.  Vick will probably get out of the game at some point and I see the Dallas secondary being able to handle Jackson and Maclin.

San Diego (-3.5) @ Kansas City (+3.5) – Kansas City.  Remember what happened last time these two teams met at Arrowhead on Monday night?  Here we go again.  On Halloween this stadium is going to be LOUD and the noise will frustrate an already struggling Phillip Rivers.  I like the Chiefs chances here.  And yes, I’m a huge homer.