Ouch. Ouch. And ouch. Well, forget that third ouch, there were really only two ouches for me this week — the Redskins and my picking record.

I really like the Redskins. I don’t like the Cowboys. I hate the fact that the Skinnies lost to a team that had to kick six (yep, six) field goals to beat them. The Boys didn’t reach the end zone, and still walked away with a win. Good thing that game wasn’t part of the picks for last week because I would have had an even worse mark than the 9-7 I pulled out of my pocket.

The people that are winning in this contest are doing a heck of a lot better than I am. This week there were six (there’s that number again) contestants that went 13-3.

Here are their names: Zane Grey of Biscoe, Holly Hill of Pinehurst, Michael Harris of Aberdeen, Pat Nevins of Pinehurst, Jody Britt of Biscoe and Joan Mangrum of Pinebluff.

So it comes down to the tiebreaker game. That was the New York Jets at Oakland, a game that ended with the final score of 34-24 in favor of the Raiders for a total of 58 points.

Now, to tell the truth the six that went 13-3 saw this game as a defensive struggle, at least going by the total numbers of points they picked.

And the winner was — wait, let’s start with who finished third. That would be Britt, with a total of 42 points. Britt gets the $20 third-place check, while the second-place check for $30 goes to Mangrum, who had 43 points for her tiebreaker number.

Now for the winner of the $50 first-place check: Michael Harris, who had a tiebreaker total of 45 points.

I told y’all you would get the overall leaders this week, but things got a little hectic around here and I’ve got to check the numbers again to make sure they are right.

One thing is that there really are a lot of people playing this little game.

Anyway back to the entertainment aspect, my foolish attempts to play prognosticator. I’ve used my lucky coin, my dog and my friend, Lefty Lou, to make the picks the first three weeks. So far the coin has been my best bet.

But this week I’ve got a new strategy. I’m going with the home teams except for three games. Yep, I’m taking Washington to win on the road and the Cowboys to lose at home. Then for some reason, and I’m not really sure why, I’m taking New Orleans to win at Jacksonville.

My picks in order are Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington, New Orleans, Houston, Philadelphia, Arizona, Seattle, San Diego, Oakland, Green Bay, Baltimore, Va. Tech.