Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

It's now 79-42 (65%) on the year.

That leaves it one game behind the Vegas favorites (80-41), which also went 10-5 in Week 8, and six games behind Nate Silver's ELO model (85-36), which went 11-4. All picks are straight up, not against the point spread.

Cortana is a Windows phone virtual assistant that's using an algorithm from Bing Predicts to pick every NFL game this season. The algorithm uses all sorts of statistical variables, in addition to a public perception component that uses Facebook data.

Bing Predicts' World Cup model correctly picked 15 of 16 World Cup knockout stage games. We've yet to see that sort of freakish accuracy when it comes to NFL picks.

Cortana and Vegas agreed on every favorite last week.

Here are Cortana's picks for Week 9 as of Tuesday evening. We'll update them throughout the week if they change (Vegas favorites in parentheses):

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers — Saints win, 53.3% chance (Saints -2.5)


Read more: Microsoft Cortana NFL Picks, Week 9 - Business Insider

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

Cortana must not be all that great, I'm just some dumb hick from south La. and I'm 77-43 in my predicitions this year (not counting the tie, don't know how they factored that one in).

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

So what this is really saying is that there is a 53/47 chance the Saints win. This is the case in all NFL games. There is just a 3% chance it will swing the Saints way. They better find a way to slow the Panthers run down and keep Newton in check. I didn't think they would beat the Packers either, but look what happened there. I still feel like it was the Rogers injury that allowed the Saints to win that game. Rodgers was doing all shotgun plays which allowed the Saints defense to pass protect more while rushing because there were next to no run attempts. That won't be the case tonight. We as saints fans know what Deangelo Williams is capable of. Thank god they don't have Steve Smith anymore. I can't wait to see this one!!!! Geaux Saints!!!

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

No turnovers, limit penalties. Do that and we win. Nothing astonishing, I know...

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

Preparation meets desperation.

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

You do realize they have two undrafted rookies starting on the O-Line because of injuries? LT, LG, and the starting center is down as well I believe...

I was wrong; a tackle and two guards are out

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

basically it is a program that picks the favorite every time

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

Smash: Is this 'Cortana' what you were using for your weekly Black&Gold Pick'em selections? :neutral:. Just curious, you can PM me if you don't want to give away any secrets, ;).

Re: Cortana Picks Saints to Beat Panzies
 

Not even doing Pick'ems this year. Just thought that it was curious that a search engine could actually be just as successful as we football junkies.

We'll see what she has in store for us next week.