Eight splits? Why not
| Week 4 results | ||||
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| 40-23 7-9 |
42-21 9-7 |
40-23 9-7 |
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| Thursday, September 28, 2017 | ||||
| Chicago @ Green Bay | Green Bay | Green Bay | Green Bay | |
| Sunday, October 1, 2017 | ||||
| New Orleans @ Miami (London) | Miami | New Orleans | Miami | |
| Buffalo @ Atlanta | Atlanta | Atlanta | Atlanta | |
| Pittsburgh @ Baltimore | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | |
| Cincinnati @ Cleveland | Cleveland | Cincinnati | Cincinnati | |
| L.A. Rams @ Dallas | Dallas | Dallas | Dallas | |
| Tennessee @ Houston | Tennessee | Houston | Houston | |
| Detroit @ Minnesota | Detroit | Minnesota | Minnesota | |
| Carolina @ New England | New England | New England | New England | |
| Jacksonville @ N.Y. Jets | Jacksonville | Jacksonville | New York Jets | |
| San Francisco @ Arizona | Arizona | San Francisco | Arizona | |
| Philadelphia @ L.A. Chargers | Philadelphia | L.A. Chargers | Philadelphia | |
| N.Y. Giants @ Tampa Bay | New York Giants | Tampa Bay | New York Giants | |
| Oakland @ Denver | Oakland | Denver | Denver | |
| Indianapolis @ Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | |
| Monday, October 2, 2017 | ||||
| Washington @ Kansas City | Kansas City | Kansas City | Washington | |
| © 2017 Gehlke Bros. Football | ||||
Maybe it was something in the water down in Mexico, or perhaps it was the frigid temperatures of Oregon’s Cascade range, or maybe it was just the excitement of doing a live Sunday morning picks call for the first time this season. Whatever it was, the Gehlke Bros turned in a wild week of prognostications that hadn’t been seen in a while — eight splits.
Coming off their respective vacations south and north of the California border and on the heels of a week that saw the Senior Bro pull even in the season Surfy standings, Glenn and Sean got back to business in a big way, splitting all but five of the games that weren’t played under the lights.
The London game between New Orleans and Miami got things going the Junior Bro’s way early, when the Saints piled on for a 20-0 shutout of the Dolphins. Then came the regular morning games that further fueled Sean’s rally. Cincinnati got its first win of the season with a decisive 31-7 victory at winless Cleveland, and it was Houston prevailing 57-14 in an equally lopsided contest against visiting Tennessee. Glenn desperately needed a win and found one in Detroit’s 14-7 victory at Minnesota.
The four afternoon splits were much closer affairs, and for a time it appeared Sean might win them all. Or maybe Glenn would. The back-and-forth nature of such contests in the late quarter kept the suspense going up to the final play as the Buccaneers kicked a last-second field goal to defeat the Giants, 25-23, and the Eagles held off the winless Chargers, 26-24, to keep the Senior Bro’s fleeting hopes afloat for a 4-of-8 weekend. But that was ended when the Raiders, minus an injured Derek Carr, fell to the Broncos, 16-10. It then took a touchdown in overtime for the Cardinals to finally defeat the 49ers in a battle of field goals, 18-15, that saved Glenn’s bad week from becoming a disastrous one.
The eight splits — made more unusual by the fact that none of them involved night games — ties the most ever in a non-coin flip week. It last happened twice in 2015, during the opening weekend and then again in Week 13. Sean ends Week 4 with a 2-game lead in the Surfy standings after his 9-7 performance, which was matched by Ben, who moves into a second place tie in the overall standings. Glenn finished third at 7-9, his first sub-.500 performance since Week 10 last year.
With so many splits, we were all mutually correct only with Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Winners we failed to pick correctly included Buffalo, the L.A. Rams and Carolina, all road winners in a week that saw eight of them.
