NFL Survivor Pool Picks

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 13
by Matt Severance - 11/29/2017

A sign you have an athletic director who doesn't have a clue what the hell he's doing: not taking the pulse of your fan base, state officials or boosters before hiring an unpopular head coach. A sign you have an NFL coach who knows exactly what the hell he's doing: a team that consistently wins in the final month of the regular season (including early January when the schedule drips into the next year).

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 12
by Matt Severance - 11/22/2017

Major League Baseball trumpets its parity, and it should because just about anyone can win a World Series these days. The Astros and Cubs, the past two champions, were each wretched just a few years ago. The small-market Royals won it all in 2015. The NBA doesn't bother with claims of parity - it's star-driven league and only the teams with the most stars win titles.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 12
by Trevor Whenham - 11/21/2017

This is going to be the last week of the season that we take a look at survivor pools. And it has gotten to the point where it is very tough for people who are still alive to come up with a pick that works. It wouldn't be that way, of course, if you could pick any team you wanted. But since we can only pick any given team once during the season, we have some real challenges. There are four teams this week that feel like virtual locks - or as close to that as we get in the league these days.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 11
by Matt Severance - 11/15/2017

Maybe I've been going about this Survivor Pool thing all wrong the past two years? I actually know a few people who simply pick against the Cleveland Browns each week, and you can't argue with the results. OK, first off, you can't go against the Factory of Sadness every single week because the Browns obviously play AFC North rivals Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore twice each season. But if you can find another team those three weeks, then you have been golden.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 11
by Trevor Whenham - 11/14/2017

Well, here we are much closer to the end of the NFL survivor pools season than the beginning. We'll see how things shape up this week, but my guess is that next week will be the last week for our predictions for this year. Last week was another pretty straightforward week in a pretty straightforward season. We looked at three teams that were all pickable.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 10
by Matt Severance - 11/8/2017

I'm officially done listening to NFL scouts and the likes of Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay when it comes to the draft. Just about no one liked the Los Angeles Rams trading up to No. 1 overall to take Cal quarterback Jared Goff in 2016. Even fewer were high on the Philadelphia Eagles trading up to No. 2 overall that year to take North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 10
by Trevor Whenham - 11/8/2017

Last week required a quick change in plans. From where I was sitting Houston was the strong and obvious choice for last week. But then the crushing Deshaun Watson injury struck. The team had to overcome two massive hurdles - losing their most important player just when he was really finding his stride and having to deal with the realities of Tom Savage being your quarterback. That is too much to ask of any team, and we obviously couldn't trust Houston anymore - even against a team as deeply flawed as Indianapolis. We had to scramble late. Hopefully this week things turn out in a more straightforward manner - we've had more than enough major injuries already this year

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 9
by Matt Severance - 11/1/2017

I doubt there were many players knocked out of your Survivor Pool competitions in Week 8 because everyone that was supposed to win largely did. OK, the Bucs laid an egg at home vs. Carolina, but Tampa entered that on a three-game skid and with an injured quarterback, so hopefully you knew better than to take that team. The Jets pushed the Falcons in a monsoon but Atlanta escaped. The Browns led the Vikings at the half in London ... but then remembered they were the Browns. That was our last London/9:30 a.m. ET game of the season.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 9
by Trevor Whenham - 10/30/2017

That was a really bizarre week of survivor pools action. I am still alive in three different pools. Heading into last week there were a total of 93 people still alive in those pools. Now? Still 93. Never have I seen a week without any eliminations - at least not until the very end of pools. It wasn't much of a fluke, either. There were several games that were playable, and all of them turned out just as they were supposed to. And what is particularly interesting is that there are three or four games this week that seem just as straightforward, so we could again go through a week with few eliminations.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 8
by Matt Severance - 10/25/2017

Week 7 was unquestionably the least interesting week of the year thus far in the NFL, both with the on-field product and likely in any of your Survivor Pool competitions. If you followed my game-by-game recommendations fully, then you probably won a Confidence Pool or two as well because I only got one of the 15 wrong: Carolina winning in Chicago. Yep, my Bears pulled yet another upset despite essentially using an offensive scheme that Papa Bear George Halas would be proud of.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 8
by Trevor Whenham - 10/24/2017

I don't know about you, but in my survivor pools this week there wasn't a whole lot of people who lost. Kansas City was a surprise loser, but most people had picked them already. Between Tennessee, Seattle and Dallas there were relatively straightforward picks to be had that turned out as expected. So, we are basically where we were last week - getting closer to the end of the pools, but waiting for a game or two that really breaks things open. Nervous times, because if you are still alive in a pool I can guarantee you are thinking you can win it.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 7
by Matt Severance - 10/18/2017

It seems like every week there's at least one double-digit favorite losing. Week 6 was no exception. I would have bet almost anything that Denver would have handled the visiting Giants last Sunday night. Not so much because the Broncos are all that good, but they were off a bye and New York was missing about half its team due to injury, including every receiver you have heard of. So, of course, New York won 23-10. Orleans Darkwa rushed for 117 yards on the NFL's best run defense?!?!?!? Orleans Darkwa sounds like some lower-level Star Wars Jedi. And, yeah, go ahead and pick him up this week, but he's not your fantasy FB savior.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 7
by Trevor Whenham - 10/16/2017

There was probably some movement in your survivor pool last week if you are still alive. Denver was the most popular pick last week in the Yahoo pools, and Atlanta was the third most popular. According to their numbers, nearly half of all remaining players were eliminated - though the percentages in my pools was a little less than that. So now we are really into the nitty gritty of things. It's time to buckle down and to keep making great survivor pool picks. Here's how this week breaks down. Unfortunately, it's a very tough week - perhaps the toughest we have seen so far. That will just make it more satisfying when we are right. There are two games that stand out above the rest, one popular pick I just hate, and one I am not crazy about:

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 6
by Matt Severance - 10/11/2017

Week 4: Idiot for picking Atlanta as my No. 1 Survivor Pool choice. Week 5: Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius for warning my readers NOT to take the Pittsburgh Steelers at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars because they were almost too obvious and thus likely to be the pick of many of your competitors. My reasoning: "The Jags have played way better away from northeast Florida than at home in 2017. Pittsburgh perhaps will be overvalued a bit after last week's win at crappy Baltimore."

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 6
by Trevor Whenham - 10/10/2017

The Philadelphia Eagles did everything we could have hoped last week. They were the clear and obvious pick for survivor pool action in Week 5, and they beat Arizona almost laughably easily. If only it were so easy every week. We are at the time of the season in survivor pools when things really get interesting. For people who are paying attention and understand how these pools work, getting to this point is manageable most years unless something crazy happens. But with each passing week the competition gets tougher, the pool of good teams gets smaller, and our job gets more difficult.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 5
by Matt Severance - 10/4/2017

I am out of my primary Survivor Pool the earliest in six years thanks to the freaking Atlanta Falcons and the fact they can't gain one stinking yard on the Buffalo Bills. In this past Sunday's game at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta took possession of the ball at its own 25 with about three minutes left and after another monster field goal from Stephen Hauschka had given Buffalo a 23-17 lead. I was still feeling pretty confident.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 5
by Trevor Whenham - 10/2/2017

I don't know about your survivor pools, but in mine the Falcons were the cause of quite a massacre. An unbeaten team with Super Bowl-caliber talent at home in a shiny new stadium against an eternally underwhelming team. It's the kind of game that Atlanta should win in their sleep. But of course Buffalo won it to move into sole possession of first place in the AFC East - where everyone the planet obviously knew they would be at this point in the season.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 4
by Matt Severance - 9/27/2017

In Week 3, eight games were decided by six points or fewer, including two overtime contests. All eight of those games were decided in the final two minutes or OT. Just two teams - Atlanta and Kansas City - remain undefeated. Usually, 3-0 teams make the playoffs, but just one team last season to start 3-0 - New England - advanced to the postseason.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 4
by Trevor Whenham - 9/25/2017

Well, that week of NFL Survivor Pools action was far more stressful than it should have been. Green Bay was the clear best pick last week against Cincinnati, yet somehow the Packers didn't rediscover the mojo they lost in Atlanta, and the Bengals looked more competent than they have in most of a year. The Packers needed overtime, and I needed a drink or two to get through that mess. And New England, which was the second-best choice, didn't make winning look any easier than Green Bay did.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 2
by Matt Severance - 9/19/2017

Hello, devoted minions. I owe you an apology and an explanation. First off, I have been doing these Survivor Pool stories for several years here at Doc's, and I believe last week was the first I missed. The reason? Somehow a major hurricane named Irma skirted around the bottom of Florida, took a right turn and slammed into my location. As I write this, I still have no power at my home. (Don't even get me started on what I'd like to do to Florida Power & Light right now.