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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Playoffs
by Matt Severance - 1/2/2014

This will be my final survivor pool column of the 2013 NFL season. Hopefully it brought you some success. And I say good riddance, Jim Schwartz, because I'm still peeved that it was the Detroit Lions who cost me in Week 12 -- other than that it's been a successful season, and perhaps you disregarded my advice that week.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 17
by Matt Severance - 12/26/2013

Another NFL regular season is about to go in the books, and if you are still going in your Survivor Pool, I'm impressed. Not if you took my advice, of course, but that most competitions usually end long before Week 17. Because some leagues include the playoffs as potential tiebreakers if there are still multiple participants after Week 17, I will go at least one week deep into the postseason. I'm always on the lookout for different "themes" for these columns each season, so if you believe there's a better way to write this, don't hesitate to drop Doc's a line (unless of course your suggestion is to get rid of me).
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 16
by Matt Severance - 12/19/2013

It's unlikely that by Week 15 of the NFL season you still had a choice of picking a division leader in your Survivor Pool. That turned out to be a great thing in a week that saw a handful of big upsets. These division leaders lost: Denver (home to San Diego), New England (at Miami), Cincinnati (at Pittsburgh), New Orleans (at St. Louis), Philadelphia (at Minnesota) and Detroit (vs. Baltimore). The two that made it through unscathed were Seattle (routed the Giants) and Indianapolis (blew out Houston).
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 15
by Matt Severance - 12/11/2013

In my opinion, the opening round of the NCAA Tournament is the most exciting thing in sports. And by opening round I mean the first Thursday and Friday of the Big Dance when there are multiple games going at once and often big upsets and fantastic finishes. I'm not talking about what the NCAA now calls the opening round, that silly First Four in Dayton.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 14
by Matt Severance - 12/5/2013

Have you noticed there seems to have been a ton of big come-from-behind victories in the NFL this season? Last week, for example, you were probably feeling good if you picked Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders (pretty sure you didn't take them), Kansas City Chiefs or Washington Redskins. Each of those teams led their games by 14 points only to lose to Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and the Giants, respectively.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 13
by Matt Severance - 11/27/2013

Well, that's a first. My two top recommendations in Week 12 both lost -- so hopefully it was one of those weeks you didn't listen to me. Frankly, on the emails I do get, it does seem many don't usually follow my top recommendation but do listen when I think something is a trap game.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 12
by Matt Severance - 11/20/2013

It has been a typically topsy-turvy NFL season where parity abounds, just as Roger Goodell likes it. For example, already seven teams have matched or surpassed their win totals of last year: Detroit, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Arizona, New Orleans, Carolina and Oakland. The first six are going to blow past last year's number and likely make the playoffs, while the Raiders are ... well, the Raiders. But it would be hard for Oakland to fire coach Dennis Allen if it improves by a few wins off last year's 4-12 record, and that looks doable.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 11
by Matt Severance - 11/13/2013

Quite a few surprising results in Week 10 of the NFL season that may well have your survivor pool down to a handful of contestants. The two biggest upsets were the winless Jaguars shocking the Titans in Nashville and the Rams totally punking the Colts in Indianapolis. On a lesser scale, the Panthers upset the Niners in San Francisco and the winless Buccaneers beat the Miami Incognitos.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 11
by Trevor Whenham - 11/11/2013

Well, it finally happened. After nine weeks of survivor pool action that had been as straightforward and relatively free of potholes as any year I have ever seen, Week 10 brought absolute carnage to most pools. In terms of games that were available to most players, there were two clear choices, and neither went well at all.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 10
by Matt Severance - 11/6/2013

The Packers were sizable favorites to beat visiting Chicago for the seventh straight time, and Aaron Rodgers had driven Green Bay down the field on the Pack's first offensive possession. However, then Rodgers was sacked by the Bears' Shea McClellin (about time the former first-rounder did something) and landed hard on his left shoulder. Rodgers wouldn't return, and the Packers lost because Seneca Wallace is lousy.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 10
by Trevor Whenham - 11/4/2013

This is the week when it all could blow apart. It is a very tough week. Or at least it will be if you have already used the Titans. If Tennessee is still available, though, then you are done here. Coming off a confidence-building road win, Tennessee hosts the hapless Jaguars. This is as easy as it possibly gets this late in a Survivor Pool.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 9
by Matt Severance - 10/30/2013

The NFL loves it some parity, but the problem with that is it seems every week is filled with mediocre teams facing off or bad ones taking on playoff teams. There are rarely two good teams playing because there are only a handful of them. In Week 8, for example, the three prime-time games were Carolina-Tampa Bay, Green Bay-Minnesota and Seattle-St. Louis. The Bucs, Vikings and Rams are three of the worst teams in the league, although St. Louis gave Seattle everything it could handle on Monday night thanks to a tremendous front seven on defense. Too bad the Rams can't score.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 9
by Trevor Whenham - 10/28/2013

We made it through another week of survivor pools, and as seems fitting in this bizarre season, we yet again saw a week where very few people were sent packing. In fact, I am alive in three different pools, and not a single person was eliminated in any of them. That shouldn't happen at this point in the season.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 8
by Matt Severance - 10/23/2013

I'm glad my No. 1 choice last week, the Green Bay Packers, were able to beat Cleveland, because three of my next four most confident picks lost: New England in overtime to the Jets (a major letdown road game off the Pats' big win over the Saints, which I should have seen coming), Miami at home to Buffalo (it's really not a good year to be a pro football fan in the Sunshine State) and Denver at Indianapolis (Peyton Manning was clearly a bit drained for all the emotion).
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 8
by Trevor Whenham - 10/22/2013

The strange, strange survivor pool season moves on to the next week. For the second straight week it was very tough to get eliminated from a pool because all of the most obvious picks came through as expected. In the pools I play, only a few people were eliminated, and they made poor choices in each case. Sooner or later we are going to see an eliminator week - a series of games that leave a path of carnage behind them. Will this be that week? I'm guessing not, but that's why they play the games.
Read more about NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 8.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 7
by Matt Severance - 10/16/2013

Unless you were silly enough to take the Houston Texans at home against St. Louis as your top pick in Week 6 survivor pool action, you are alive to see a Week 7. That was the only game considered a big upset, and I'm not even sure now that it was. Matt Schaub's confidence is clearly shot -- he left the game hurt, and then T.J. Yates continued a Schaub tradition by throwing a pick-six -- and I think the Houston players have tuned out Coach Gary Kubiak. He won't be back next year. Hey Houston, Lane Kiffin is available. I swear that guy only gets hired because his wife is smokin' hot.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 7
by Trevor Whenham - 10/14/2013

Last week in two different survivor pools I am in, I saw something happen that I really don't remember happening this late in the season before - every single person survived. It's not like they all picked the Broncos, either. There were five different teams picked in the two pools. In general, there are a lot more teams standing at this point in the season than we would normally expect.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 6
by Matt Severance - 10/9/2013

What is the old saying?: Be careful what you wish for? Alas, in last week's Survivor Pool column I "wished" there had been a big upset this season that would shake up all those Survivor Pools. Probably the biggest had been Indianapolis winning as a double-digit dog at San Francisco, but that doesn't look like much of an upset any longer with how good the Colts are.
Read more about NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 6.

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 6
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2013

I am probably cursing myself here, but at this point I would have to say that this has been a significantly easier year for survivor pools than we have seen in the recent past. Most weeks there has been a reasonably straightforward pick or three to choose from, and the upsets haven't typically happened among these games. I'm not just basing this on my opinion, either - there are definitely more people still alive in my pools than some years.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 5
by Matt Severance - 10/2/2013

What's the biggest upset of the year? The Titans winning at Pittsburgh in Week 1? Now we know how awful the Steelers really are. How about Cleveland winning at Minnesota in Week 3? Or Indianapolis surprising the 49ers in San Francisco? I don't think those qualify as huge upsets. I don't think this will be the week where we see another large upset, either.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 5
by Trevor Whenham - 10/1/2013

This season has so far been reasonably easy for survivor pool players. There have been clear choices, and much of the time you haven't had to sweat the outcome of your pick. That changes this week. In fact, this week is absolutely brutal. There isn't a single game that I am truly and deeply in love with - and that isn't because of teams I have already picked. I can't suggest picking against the Jaguars, which has been a great idea so far this year, because the Rams are an absolute mess.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 4
by Matt Severance - 9/25/2013

Last week's Browns-Vikings matchup in Minnesota is why NFL games aren't played out on paper or in computer simulations. It looked like a dog matchup, and the Browns were touchdown underdogs. They had just raised the white flag on the season in trading running back Trent Richardson. In baseball you will see teams quit when a star is traded, but the NFL is a different animal with players' careers so short -- and no guaranteed contracts -- that guys are going to go all out no matter what.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 4
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2013

There is good news and bad news when it comes to survivor pools this week. The good news is that we just came off quite possibly the easiest weekend in the history of these pools. Both Seattle and Denver seemed poised to crush the life out of outclassed opponents, and they did just that. It was highly unlikely that you had already picked both of those teams, so it was tough not to survive and move on. The bad news is that things are not quite so straightforward this week.
Read more about NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 4.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 3
by Matt Severance - 9/18/2013

As close as the games have been in the NFL through the first two weeks of the 2013-14 season, there really haven't been any earth-shattering upsets yet to shake up your Survivor Pools despite some close calls. Did you know that 22 games already have been decided by seven points or fewer? That's by far the most through the first two weeks in NFL history (previous high 19 in 2010). There have been 11 games decided by a field goal or less, tied for the most through the first two weeks. Finally, there have been 14 fourth-quarter comebacks so far, tied for the most through Week 2 of any season.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 3
by Trevor Whenham - 9/17/2013

Most times, Survivor Pools are tough. You have to really strategize and very carefully consider what pick is the right one for your circumstance. This is not one of those weeks. Unless you have already used up the Seahawks and Broncos in your pool - and you have made at least one poor pick despite the wins if you have used both - then you are left with a very easy pick. If you have used neither team then the only tough choice is deciding which all-but-certain win you prefer.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 2
by Matt Severance - 9/11/2013

What a crazy Week 1 in the NFL with 12 games decided by seven points or less, tied for the most in NFL history and a record for an opening week. And if you don't think the NFL is getting more pass-heavy than ever, there's this: Three players rushed for 100 yards, and one was a quarterback (Oakland's Terrelle Pryor). Nineteen players (!) threw for at least 250 yards, six for at least 350 and three with at least 400. There was a record 8,143 net passing yards. Also, 19 receivers had 100 yards. The days of going running back-heavy in a fantasy draft are clearly over.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 2
by Trevor Whenham - 9/10/2013

Another week of Survivor Pool action is upon us. Chances are that most people are still alive if they didn't get too fancy, though Tampa Bay's indescribably bad performance against the Jets could have been costly for some. As is so often the case in the NFL, things were not always comfortably easy for the best picks - New England and Indianapolis tried their hardest to win games they should have won easily.
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NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 1
by Matt Severance - 9/3/2013

When the new Major League Baseball season kicks off each spring, every team might say that it truly believes it can make the playoffs. However, in reality there are probably 8-10 each year that know there's almost no chance. Ditto the NBA, especially this coming season when teams are "Riggin' for Wiggins" or tanking to draft super-hyped Kansas recruit Andrew Wiggins with the top pick in the 2014 draft.
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NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 1
by Trevor Whenham - 9/2/2013

Fantasy football and office pools are great. Outside of betting on the point spread, though, there is no challenge better than a survivor pool. It's a great combination of skill and strategy, and the thrill is heightened because there is absolutely no margin for error. It is a great handicapping puzzle.
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Survivor Pool Advice for the 2013-14 NFL Season
by Matt Severance - 8/21/2013

It seems like forever ago but only yesterday that the lights went out early in the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans, doesn't it? While I've been jonesing for football ever since, it's still shocking that the season kicks off two weeks from Thursday with the Super Bowl Champion Ravens visiting Denver in a rematch of their terrific divisional-round game from last season.
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