Average Joe Contest
A survey of what the public likes for a given NFL week is always going to be a hot topic. Many out there subscribe to the “Fade the Public” mantra, while others don’t see a problem with being on a popular side. We’re able to get a subset of that aforementioned “public” with the Edge Boost/VSiN Average Joe Contest.
If you aren’t signed up yet, that’s fine because you can sign up at any point during the season and make college football or NFL picks based on your handicapping research and analysis. While it may be tough for you to win the overall prize, there are weekly and quarterly prizes. Check out all of the Average Joe Contest Rules and then sign up.
If you have an existing account with Edge Boost, you can transform the $500 weekly prize into a $1,000 prize. The weekly prize is deposited into an Edge Boost account, so it makes sense to have one to begin with so you can get that boosted prize. Sign up with the promo code VSiN.
NFL Picks Week 4
It is always fascinating to see which teams are en vogue and which teams contestants don’t want to touch with a 10-foot pole. Each week, we publish the Average Joe Contest Betting Splits so that you can see which teams are popular and which teams are not.
Here are the three most popular sides of the week:
Packers (92%) vs. Cowboys
Lay it and play it is the mantra here, as the Packers look to erase the memories of last week’s collapse in Cleveland. Of the 784 contestants who put in a pick on this game, 723 of them lined up on the Green Bay side. It should be a spirited atmosphere at Jerry World with the return of Micah Parsons. The 6.5 number was probably a selling point for a lot of folks here, as we use Circa numbers for this contest and at least one of the very public sportsbooks out there already had Green Bay posted at -7.
Vikings (87%) vs. Steelers
Minnesota’s trip across the pond to Dublin has them laying just 2.5 points and 87% of the contestants who put in a pick on that game lined up with Carson Wentz over Aaron Rodgers. What we’ve most recently seen is always going to stand out in our minds and what we saw was the Vikings bludgeoning the Bengals with Wentz at the helm. I guess people aren’t as impressed with Pittsburgh’s road win over New England and it is true that the box score tells a different story.
Rams (84%) vs. Colts
Speaking of devastating losses, most of us will never forget what happened to Rams +3.5 and Eagles -3.5 in Week 3, as a series of fortunate or unfortunate events led to a Philly cover. But, Average Joe Contest players are seemingly expecting some regression to the mean for Daniel Jones and the Colts as they head to the left coast. Many are probably considering how Indy should have lost to Denver and their two “impressive” wins are Miami and Tennessee.
Here are the three most popular totals of the week:
Jaguars/49ers Under (91%)
Our contest total was 47 for this one and 133 of the 146 brave souls who took this total pushed the submit button on the Under. It is an interesting position given that the status of Brock Purdy remained up in the air and Nick Bosa is out for the season with a torn ACL. However, 49ers games have landed on 30, 47, and 31 and they’ve seemed to dictate the tempo and game state of all three of those tilts.
Bears/Raiders Over (91%)
With 134 picks out of 148, we round up to 91% here, so the aforementioned Under takes the cake this week as the most popular total. But, we also have a disparate split here, as points are seemingly expected at Allegiant Stadium. The Bears did get their offense going in a big way against the Cowboys and we are seeing a lot of contestants line up against the Cowboys this week, so maybe there’s a bit of a correlation there. Also, the Raiders gave up 41 points to a team led by Marcus Mariota and that won’t garner a whole lot of support for your defense.
Chargers/Giants Under (84%)
The debut of Jaxson Dart has been a big story around the NFL this week, but it seems as though contestants are not expecting the first-round pick out of Ole Miss to light it up against the Fightin’ Jim Harbaughs. Perhaps an early kick for the favored Chargers is pushing people towards a slow start in the Meadowlands.
See all of the pick counts, including college football, on the Average Joe Contest Betting Splits page.
