Science

NFL Week 7 Predictions: Preview and Winner for Panthers vs. Eagles

Can Philly turn it around?

by T.E. Andrews
John Jones/Icon Sportswire

Have the Eagles righted the ship? After dropping three of their first five games (notching only wins against the lowly Falcons and Colts), Philadelphia found at least a temporary cure for its Super Bowl hangover in the form of last week’s Thursday night game against the tire fire that is the New York Giants.

The Eagles romped in a 34-13 win, but don’t fire up the Meek Mill just yet: the Eagles haven’t beaten anyone good to date this season. With losses to both the Titans and the Vikings, the Eagles have taken Ls in both of their only two games against decent competition to date. Sunday’s game against the Panthers offers yet another benchmark opportunity for the Eagles to see if they are regaining their Super Bowl form, or sliding back in to the middle of the pack.

To predict the result of this Week 7 match-up, Unanimous A.I. used what’s known as swarm intelligence to forecast the week’s slate. Some 36 NFL enthusiasts worked together as a hive mind to make picks. As you can see in the animation below, each participant controlled a little golden magnet and used it to drag the puck toward the answer they thought was the most likely outcome. As the users saw the puck move toward a particular decision, it triggered a psychological response. They readjusted their decision-making, building toward the consensus you see below. It’s an artificial intelligence produced by human brains working together as a swarm.

As you can see, the swarm has low confidence that the Eagles will win at home against the Panthers. But the swarm is confident about its low confidence, with 84 percent the hive-mind selecting that outcome for the game Sunday. The Swarm AI likes the Eagles in a close one. We agree. Fly, Eagles, fly – on the road to victory. Eagles 24, Panthers 20.

The Panthers play at the Eagles at 1 p.m. Eastern Sunday on Fox.

Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as our this article explains. For instance, the swarm picked this year’s Oscar winners with 94 percent accuracy. Here’s Unanimous A.I. founder Louis Rosenberg explaining swarm intelligence at a recent TEDx Talk:

Want to join the hive mind that picks NFL matches every week? Sign up to participate in future predictions.

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