Whew. Turns out this whole NFL survivor pool thing is tough, eh? First, the Cardinals, the most popular pick, went down in Week 1. Then in Week 2, it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who lose to Deshaun Watson and the Browns of all teams as the second most popular pick on the weekend. Let’s hope you are still alive, had a revival, or are already hitting the second chance pool. Whatever the case, let’s continue to navigate this tricky game with our weekly sweat of NFL survivor pool picks for Week 3.
As I mentioned the last few weeks, there’s always that one big, popular game that trips up half of the pool and sends everyone packing in the early weeks. Of course, we’ve seen that now in back-to-back weeks. It really does ring true. Be different where you can, but remain smart. Look ahead and plan the weeks in front of you, but don’t let it run you off course before you get to that future.
Some weeks, the chalk will be the play; some weeks it won’t. If a matchup is making you second-guess, trust your gut! Ideally, the things to try to avoid are road teams, international games, and divisional matchups. But this won’t always be possible. Don’t back yourself into a corner where you can’t take the best play for you any given week off of a rule like that.
The Lock: Kansas City Chiefs
Are the Kansas City Chiefs back? It sure has looked like it after a beatdown of the Denver Broncos in Week 1, followed up by a Mahomes special in Week 2. Of course, he led the team to an overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts. Kansas City has looked the part through two weeks. The concerns about a slow start for Mahomes are gone, and they are in the fully trusted column. The Miami Dolphins are definitely not back. They look like they are probably the worst team in all of NFL football. First they were blown out by the Las Vegas Raiders, and then followed it up with a whoopin’ from the San Francisco 49ers. Kansas City is 10.5 point favorites and they’ve earned every bit of it. This one breaks the “no road teams” rule, but again that’s not a hard and fast rule. Let’s just work on surviving to Week 3 here.
The Backup: San Francisco 49ers
If you didn’t use the San Francisco 49ers last week, who were the most popular picks in pools? This is a great week to use them. They also break a rule: the one about no division games. However, what we saw from the Cardinals last week against the Seattle Seahawks doesn’t have me too worried for this game in Santa Clara. San Francisco has had their fair share of injuries as we’ve come to expect from the team every year. But they look like a well-oiled machine that’ll just keep rolling teams over on their way to the playoffs.
The Rams in Australia were no problem at all. San Francisco piled through them with no issues. Week 2, they faced those Dolphins we just talked about. Once again, no problem. The game was never even close. For Arizona, they had the shock and awe of beating the Chargers in Week 1. That win would look a lot better if the Chargers hadn’t turned around and lost to the Raiders. In Week 2, Drew Lock and the Seattle defense were way too much and throttled the Cardinals. San Francisco will have their way with them Sunday.
The Degen Special: Detroit Lions
If you are looking to be different, the Detroit Lions may be the team for you. They’ll host the New York Jets and Geno Smith on Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit. The Lions can be a bit of a scary pick because they just snuck away with a win over the Saints, even though they dominated them early. Last week was brutal as the Buffalo Bills destroyed them on Thursday Night Football. That was a terrible spot for the Lions as Buffalo opened their new stadium. Now, they’ve gotten extra rest having not played since Thursday, and are in a prime spot for a big bounce-back game.
New York easily dispatched the Titans in Week 1. That one raised the eyebrows a little, but it’s still the Titans, right? In Week 2, they took the Green Bay Packers to overtime and almost came out with the upset. I’m attributing that to the Packers actually not being that good either. The Jets are a fine team, but Detroit is the much better team. If you are feeling risky, but different, Lions it is.
Official Week 3 NFL Survivor Play: Kansas City Chiefs
Official Play Teams Used:
Week 1: Jaguars
Week 2: Buccaneers
