NFL Week 5 Predictions: Which FanSided NFL Expert knows the least?

The NFL season is more topsy-turvy than we could have hoped for, but some “experts” are better at picking games than others.

It’s that time of the week, when all of the talking head experts make their picks for this weekend’s slate of NFL games. If the first four weeks have taught us anything, it’s none of us know what the hell is going on.

The cream of the FanSided crop that has risen to the surface. It’s Patrick Schmidt’s world, and the rest of us are just trying to live in it. Joel Wagler and Jack Jorgensen are hanging the closest, but this is a one-horse race at the quarter-pole of the season.

Full disclosure:  Schmidt turned his picks in last, so he was allowed a nice good look at what everyone else picked. You don’t make it to the top of the FanSided Staff Picks by playing nice, though.

He has issued a statement on the controversy, professing his innocence.

"“I’d just like the record to reflect that I am not looking at other people’s picks before making my own.”"

We’ll see.

This is like The League now, where most of us are less concerned with catching Schmidt and just hoping we don’t end up in last place with the Sacko Trophy. The most interesting subplot isn’t who is the smartest picker, but which one of us needs to rethink our lives.

Right now, Mark Carman is in the driver’s seat for that. He’s gone rogue with his picks, which could be a strategy crazy enough to work. I, for one, am ashamed that somehow the soccer expert (Walerius) knows more about both styles of football than I do. Verderame is still below almost all of us, though, and he’s paid to be the actual expert. So at the very least we have that going of us.

Here’s how things stack up in our office standings as we enter Week 5:

Records

Patrick Schmidt: 44-19
Joel Wagler: 41-22
Jack Jorgensen: 41-22
Kayla Knierim: 41-22
Mike Dyce: 40-23
Cody Williams: 40-23
Phil Watson: 40-23
Jake Walerius: 39-24
Michael Collins: 39-24
Patrick Allen: 37-26
Josh Hill: 36-27
Matt Verderame: 35-28
Mark Carman: 32-31

And the picks are in:

See what I mean about Carm? The man is rolling deep in the weeds by picking the Texans and Seahawks. Give him credit for being the only one in the office crazy enough to go that hard for broke in an effort to crawl out of the basement.

Next: Best NFL player from each state

Find out how right or wrong we were by watching the games with us on Twitter and Facebook. Check back next week to see if anyone was able to catch Schmidt, and whether or not Carm’s kooky strategy ends up being a stroke of genius.

(It probably won’t be, but God Bless him).