NFL Survivor Pool Picks

NFL Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 7
by T.O. Whenham - 10/16/2012

Last week in survivor pool action all you could really hope for is that you hadn’t picked the Falcons yet. Atlanta seemed like a very easy pick against Oakland. While they made things much, much harder than they should have, they ultimately won. If you couldn’t pick Atlanta, though, then things likely didn’t go very well for you. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Arizona, Minnesota, Cincinnati, New England — all reasonably popular picks that found ways to lose.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 6
by Matt Severance - 10/10/2012

My top two choices in Week 5 were the Giants over the Browns – although I recommended possibly shifting off them if Hakeem Nicks sat (and he did) – and the 49ers over the Bills. Neither team had much trouble in its win, and San Francisco became the first club in NFL history to put up 300 yards passing and rushing in its blowout of Buffalo. Mark it down now: Chan Gailey will be the first head coach fired.

Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 6
by T.O. Whenham - 10/9/2012

What did we learn last week in survivor pools? Don’t trust the Packers, and the Saints aren’t as bad as their record. Beyond that it wasn’t a particularly challenging week — at least not compared to weeks that have come before it. This is a particularly interesting week. Most weeks we see three or four games with spreads of more than a touchdown, so we have a wide range of games to choose from that are often relatively low risk.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 5
by Matt Severance - 10/3/2012

You could call the Vikings winning at Detroit a slight upset in Week 4 of the NFL season. Maybe also St. Louis at home over Seattle, Washington winning at Tampa Bay and Chicago stomping Dallas in Big D. But none of those really were that surprising, and, in fact, it was a pretty chalk week in pro football for the first time this year. Thus, no big surprises likely were seen in your survivor pool competitions, although Atlanta, Green Bay and Arizona all easily could have lost at home against underdogs.

Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 5
by T.O. Whenham - 10/3/2012

It was too late for a lot of people, but last week we finally had a week in the NFL that made sense from a survivor pool perspective. Baltimore, Houston, Atlanta, and Green Bay were the four most obvious picks, and they all came through with a win — albeit just barely in the case of the Packers.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 4
by Matt Severance - 9/26/2012

Crickets. That is the sound emanating from survivor pools all around the country with many already having been emptied through just three weeks of the NFL season. There have been mammoth upsets each week so far, and Week 3 was no different. I recommended Dallas over Tampa Bay (Cowboys were somewhat lucky to win) and Chicago over St. Louis, both correct, but my top choice was New Orleans at home over Kansas City.

Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 4
by T.O. Whenham - 9/26/2012

Carnage. There is no other word to describe last week in the NFL — at least from a survivor pool perspective. The two most popular picks by far were New Orleans and San Francisco. The Saints showed just how deep their troubles run when they threw away a sure win against the Chiefs. The Niners, meanwhile, were inexplicably absent in Minnesota. Perhaps they were suffering a letdown after two nice wins against elite opponents to open the season.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 3
by Matt Severance - 9/19/2012

I would like to say I changed my mind between the posting of this column and the start of Sunday’s Week 2 NFL games. I would like to say I saw a big injury and that caused me to dump my top Week 2 survivor pool pick, the New England Patriots at home over Arizona. I would like to tell you that.

Survivor Pools Strategy Advice and Predictions: Week 3
by T.O. Whenham - 9/19/2012

Well, that sucked. In my biggest survivor pool more than 50 percent of the entrants went out thanks to the Patriots, and I was one of them. It was the perfect proof of just how hard these seemingly simple pools can be. My initial reaction to the setback was to second guess the pick. With a little distance, though, the competitive juices quit flowing quite so fast, and I realized that you can’t have any regrets.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 2
by Matt Severance - 9/12/2012

By know everyone knows what happened. I also mentioned to say far away from the Eagles at the Browns, and Philadelphia frankly should have lost that game if not for Cleveland rookie QB Brandon Weeden’s historically bad debut. I wasn’t sold on San Diego at Oakland, and the Bolts could have been beaten if the Raiders hadn’t lost their long snapper to injury (if you saw the game, you know what I mean).

NFL Survivor Pool Strategy, Advice and Tips for Week 2
by T.O. Whenham - 9/11/2012

It was a pretty straightforward opening weekend for those who play and love NFL Survivor Pools — unless you bought in to the Saints, of course. It seems like almost everyone went for the safe choice of the Texans, though, and that one was over almost as soon as it started.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 1
by Matt Severance - 9/5/2012

The opening week of a survivor pool is always a dangerous one because you just don’t know which teams predicted to be playoff contenders will fall off in a given year and which expected non-contenders will have breakout seasons. For example, many thought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be a playoff club in 2011. Josh Freeman was a rising star quarterback and the Bucs had gone 10-6 the season before.

NFL Survivor Pool Strategy, Advice and Tips for Week 1
by T.O. Whenham - 9/3/2012

The beginning of the NFL season means the start of survivor pool season. That’s a very good thing in my eyes. I love survivor pools because they are a good test of your football insight, and because the stakes are high — one mistake and you are out. They are also a great place to find value if you can find pools with relatively few seasoned bettors in them. The public often approaches these pools unwisely, so if you take the time to play them properly you can have a nice edge. Fun AND profitable — the perfect combination.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: 2012 Prologue
by Matt Severance - 8/31/2012

Each season I do these Survivor Pool picks for Doc’s, I try to come up with a different “theme.” Some hit and probably more miss. Last year was pretty simple: games worth considering, too even to bother, or too close to call.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Divisional Round Weekend
by Matt Severance - 1/11/2012

With this being the final playoff weekend with four games, this will also be the final NFL survivor pool picks column for the 2011 NFL season. Thanks again to all who have e-mailed/written in. Definitely would like to hear from those of you who win: I accept dollars, yen, pesos, euros, krones, francs, you name it, in terms of gratitude!! (just kidding).

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Wild-Card Weekend
by Matt Severance - 1/4/2012

Hey there readers, I want to say thanks for the many responses I got from you – mostly only those of you still alive and not angry at me for you getting knocked out of your survivor pool! – and, thus, I will do a survivor story for the first two weekends of the NFL playoffs when there are four games each weekend.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 17
by Matt Severance - 12/27/2011

It’s hard to believe another NFL regular season has come and (is about to be) gone – and by now your survivor pool no doubt has been decided. Perhaps you have chosen to split the money with anyone else still left standing or maybe you will take it into the playoffs and reset to claim a winner (if we receive enough requests, I can do a playoff NFL survivor pool picks story next week). Either way, I hope I have been of some help and will certainly return next season as usual.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 16
by Matt Severance - 12/20/2011

It took 15 weeks, but we finally had the completely unpredictable NFL weekend that had been lacking all season. And one that no doubt shook up your Survivor Pool in a big way. Of course, the big upset was the Chiefs, playing their first game under interim coach Romeo Crennel and with Kyle Orton making his first Kansas City start, ending Green Bay’s unbeaten season.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 15
by Matt Severance - 12/13/2011

You know the regular season NFL schedule is winding down when we get a Saturday game, and that’s the case this week when the Cowboys visit the Buccaneers on the NFL Network. Most survivor pools have been resolved by this point, but I will continue to provide NFL survivor pool picks through Week 17.

NFL Survivor Pool Picks and Advice: Week 14
by Matt Severance - 12/7/2011

I often get emails from those of you reading this column. Some certainly are “you are an idiot” type but many say thanks for my role in providing advice. And often the reader will say he or she more used my “stay far, far away” recommendations as a barometer of what not to choose instead of always going with my top choice for your survivor pool selection that week.