SuperContest: Bet the Process is jumping for joy

Las Vegas – A fun part of the SuperContest is watching teams find their stride when it comes to picking games against the spread. We've got two teams that are crushing it right now, as Team Bet The Process and Team Sports Action are on those magical runs.

Everything is unicorns and showponies for these guys right now.

Over the past 15 picks, Bet The Process has gone a ridiculous 12-3 and successfully rebounded from a 3-6-1 start to its current 15-9-1 overall record in the contest.

After the first week, Bet The Process was in 691st place and was all way back in 2004th place after Week 2. However, thanks a 5-0 Week 4 and 4-1 Week 5, they are now all the way up to 198th. The top 50 places earn money, but given the momentum that our No. 1 team is feeling right now, I wouldn't count them out of cashing in this tournament.

For Team Sports Action, our computer algorithm, it was a cold start to the contest. However, as more data has come in on teams, we've seen a big change these last two weeks. Sports Action was near the bottom of the standings just three weeks ago, but lately the picks have started to hit big. This week, Team Sports Action recorded our second 5-0 mark as a company after going 3-2 last week. The 8-2 mark has jumped Sports Action into the top half of the standings through five weeks.

Team Beatrix Kiddo had a rough week (1-4) but will no doubt be back after a great run the last few weeks.

It was an interesting Week 5 for Team Gamenight. My philosophy to bet against backup quarterbacks and go with young head coaches in the NFL was a mixed bag.

On the positive side of things, both backup QBs that played against on Sunday struggled and allowed my picks of the Dolphins +3 and the Ravens +2.5 to hit.

The Dolphins saw an awful performance by QB Matt Cassel in relief of the injuired Marcus Mariota. The Titans couldn't run, throw or move to ball on the road at Miami. It wasn't a pretty game for QB Jay Cutler either, but the Dolphins' defense returned a fumble for a touchdown to get the 16-10 victory.

Speaking of fumble returns for a score, the Ravens did that early in their game at Oakland, and QB Joe Flacco moved his team all over the Raiders. As I predicted during Saturday's column, EJ Manuel was not going to able to score enough, as the Ravens took a 30-17 win home.

Unfortunately, my other philosophy for Week 5 of banking on rookie head coaches to keep the ball rolling in the right direction did not work.

I'm the most angry about the performance of the Rams at home against the Seahawks. That game should have been won by Los Angeles, and they even had a receiver in the end zone drop a pass with less than 10 seconds left that would have given me a push at -1. Seattle went into the Rams' house and pushed around their little brother. Seahawks flexed their dominance and took out a 16-10 victory.

Buffalo losing at Cincy didn't shock me, but I was annoyed that it was by four points and my +3 points failed to cover. Tyrod Taylor played well but too many missed opportunities for the Bills on the road, and QB Andy Dalton played well enough to win his second straight start.

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I went into Monday Night Football 2-0 (2-2 overall) by going against backup quarterbacks. I expected to see Case Keenum under center for Minnesota. Both the Titans and the Raiders didn't have their starter QBs, so I guess I was due for a bit of bad luck in that department. Sam Bradford did start for the Vikings on the road at Chicago after missing three weeks with a bad knee, but it was Keenum, who entered the game after half, who led his team to victory. Bradford is not healthy and might not play much the rest of the season.

Luckily for me, I got the push as the Vikings picked off rookie QB Mitchell Trubisky to set up the game-winning field goal with under 20 seconds to play. I say luckily because the Vikings could have scored a touchdown and given me the L.

Finally, it was a ROUGH week for the consensus picks. Given that two of the five picks came from one game, meaning it was guaranteed to have at least one victory, a 1-4 mark is pretty brutal.

Over 1,000 teams picked the Lions to cover against the Panthers only to see Detroit lose that game outright. The Bengals beat the Bills to score two more picks. Houston got crunched by Kansas City, and the Rams' choke job at home caused the other two L's.

We will discuss this outcome on the Fade or Follow Podcast next weekened here on Sports Action!

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