After 34 days, 11 playoff games, and hundreds of entry picks from 60 contestants, the winner of this year's NFL playoff contest is Ed V.! He scored a total of 3,400 points throughout the four weeks of the contest and correctly guessed the victors of 8 of the 11 playoff games, including the Super Bowl victor. Beginning the contest in 21st place after WEEK 1, he quickly rose to the Top Ten where he stayed until the very end. This is the first year that Ed V. has finished in the overall Top 3. Congrats to him on winning the top cash prize of $150!
Tim H. finishes in 2nd place with 3,270 points, winning the 2nd place prize of $60. Finishing in 3rd place is Jen C. with a total of 3,210 points. She wins the 3rd place prize of $30. Twelve contestants round out the Top 15, each winning $5: John M., Jeremy G., Alvin C., Gavin D., Jason L., Jim A., Dave C., Matthew A., Jami L., Andria C., Edmund V., and Jun V.
Overall, both Jami L. (54th to 12th) and John M. (46th to 4th) improved the most in the rankings, each jumping up 42 places from WEEK 1 to WEEK 4. Other contestants who made big comebacks were Michael D. (59th to 19th), Jim A. (48th to 9th), and David S. (50th to 20th). There were a total of 35 contestants who were in the Top 15 at some point during the contest, and 10 contestants had cracked the Top 3.
Only 16 contestants correctly predicted that the Seattle Seahawks would be crowned Super Bowl champions, and few thought that the game would be a blowout. The Seahawks and their No. 1 defense thoroughly dominated the Super Bowl, limiting Peyton Manning and the usually high-powered offense of the Broncos to only 8 points. The contestants who scored the most points for WEEK 4 were: John M. (1,475 pts), Jen C. (1,425 pts), Gavin D. (1,350 pts), Maria V. (1,325 pts), and Ed V. (1,300 pts). Father/daughter combo Ed V. and Jen C. both finished in the Top 10 for WEEK 4 and earned the 50-point Spouse & Family Bonus.
Ten of the Top 15 contestants (and all of the Top 7) correctly picked the Seahawks to win -- that's how important the Super Bowl victor was in determining this contest's winners. Hypothetically, if the Broncos had made a huge comeback and won a close game, the Top 3 contestants would have been Jason L. in 1st, Jami L. in 2nd, and Matthew A. in 3rd!
Check out the updated Contestants and Leaderboard pages to check out everyone's final ranking and point total. Click on a contestant's photo to open his/her final profile stats for the entire contest.
Here are the correct answers to the questions for WEEK 4 (click on each answer for validation):
Q1: Winner of coin toss = Seattle Seahawks
Q2: 1st play of the game = Run (M. Lynch up the middle for 3 yards)
Q3: 1st penalty of the game = Seattle Seahawks (on R. Okung, false start -- an earlier penalty on P. Manning was declined, so officially it never occurred)
Q4: Jersey number of player who scores 1st TD of the game = Even (M Lynch, #24)
Q5: Longest yardage score = Touchdown (87-yd kickoff return TD by P. Harvin vs. 33-yd FG by S. Hauschka)
Q6: 1st sack of the game = Seattle Seahawks (P. Manning sacked for -7 yards)
Q7: Successful 2-pt conversion? = Yes (P. Manning pass to W. Welker is complete. Attempt succeeds.)
Q8: TD return of punt, kickoff, interception or fumble? = Yes (M. Smith TD interception return for 69 yds)
Q9: Higher 3rd down conversion percentage = Seattle Seahawks (7-12, 58% for SEA vs. 6/13, 46% for DEN)
Q10: Referee's call reversed? = Yes (Fumble play by C. Maragos was challenged and reversed)
Q11: Higher yards/punt avg = Jon Ryan (45.0 yds/punt vs. B. Colquitt's 30.0 yds/punt)
Q12: More tackles & sacks = Danny Trevathan (12 tackles vs. B. Wagner's 10 tackles)
Q13: Higher yards/carry avg = Knowshon Moreno (3.4 yds/carry vs. M. Lynch's 2.6 yds/carry)
Q14: Higher yards/catch avg = Demaryius Thomas (9.1 yds/catch vs. G. Tate's 5.7 yds/catch)
Q15: Higher passer rating = Russell Wilson (123.1 rating vs. P. Manning's 73.5 rating)
Q16: Super Bowl XLVIII Victor = Seattle Seahawks 43, Denver Broncos 8
Q17: Margin of victory = 15+ points
Q18: Combined total score Over/Under 47.5 pts? = Over
T1: Combined score total = 43 (SEA) + 8 (DEN) = 51 points
T2: Combined passing yards = 206 (SEA) + 279 (DEN) = 485 passing yards
Over the last few days I've tried to be as thorough as possible, double- and triple-checking the final results of this contest. But there's always the possibility for human error, even when using an Excel spreadsheet to make all the calculations. So to give everyone a chance to review the accuracy of this contest's final results, I will wait one week before sending the Top 15 contestants their cash prizes (via their choice of Paypal or check). During this time, if anyone finds any errors/discrepancies in the entry picks or leaderboard scores, please let me know right away. You will have until Friday, February 14 at 10pm CST to inform me of any errors. After that time, I will award the winning contestants their prizes, and this year's contest will officially come to a close.
I hope you had as much fun with this contest as I did, and I look forward to doing it again next year. 'Til then, thanks for playing and God bless!
-- Gerard Carandang
