Jeff Zillgitt

Jeff Zillgitt at USATODAY writes a column called "The Zen Zone". Apparantly, he's been picking NFL games all year long.

In his recent playoff entry, USATODAY.com - Regular-season reflections and playoff picks to savor, he writes "this gig gets stressful when readers rely on you for correct predictions. Bear in mind, I'm no Wayne Allyn Root. I'm just a guy who digs the NFL, watches the games, does research and types out a few words. At any rate, I enjoy making the picks, and I'm ready for the wild-card games, albeit with some trepidation. There should be four close games this weekend. For the fun of it (well, for the fun of it and for ego gratification), let's see how I stacked up against other prognosticators this season."

He then goes thru the web and finds various experts NFL picks this season and lists them.

I, the Sportz Assassin, went 182-74 this season. So. it was neat to look at Mr. Zillgitt's list to see how I performed against those experts.

23-Joe Theismann, ESPN: 148-92 (for objectivity's sake, Theismann did not pick any Sunday night games)
22-Bob Costas, HBO: 156-100
21-Eric Allen, ESPN: 157-99
20-Mike Golic, ESPN: 162-94
19-Cris Carter, Yahoo!: 165-91
18-Ira Miller, San Francisco Chronicle: 168-88
17-Dan Marino,HBO: 168-88
16-Ron Jaworski, ESPN: 169-87
15-Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: 169-87
14-Greg Cote, The Miami Herald: 169-87
13-Brandon Funston, Yahoo!: 170-86
12-Chris Mortensen, ESPN: 171-85
11-Mark Schlereth, ESPN: 171-85
10-Can Inman, Contra Costa Times: 171-85
9-Mike Harmon, Yahoo!: 172-84
8-Terry Bannon, Chicago Tribune: 173-83
7-Mark Maske, The Washington Post: 173-83
6-Tom Sorensen, The Charlotte Observer: 176-80
5-Cris Collinsworth, HBO: 178-78
4-Merrill Hoge, ESPN 179-77
3-Sean Salisbury, ESPN 180-76
2-SportzAssassin, Sportz Assassin.com: 182-74 [I added it into his mix].
1-Jeff Zillgitt: 183-73

Yes....a very good year indeed....and a tip of the cap to Mr Zillgitt.

Oh, and Mr. Zillgitt has Tampa, New England, New York and Pittsburgh winning this weekend.