My hot streak in the Survivor Pool was derailed once again by the New York Giants. I’ve picked against the Giants twice in my Survivor Pool picks, and they just happen to have two wins on the entire season.
I should get some kind of royalty check for that.
Week 12 is full of plenty of huge spreads and mismatches. Most of you have probably picked New England, Pittsburgh and Kansas City, so I’ll avoid those games, even though I think those are winners.
Here’s my week 12 Survivor Pool picks.
Best Bet
Philadelphia Eagles
Surprisingly, I haven’t picked the Eagles yet this season. It’s likely some of you have already, but if you haven’t, the Eagles are solid this week against the Bears.
It’s not just Philadelphia’s offense that has me liking this matchup, though. The defense has been ridiculous in recent weeks. The Eagles are allowing 3.7 yards per play in the last three games, dominating the opposition in the pass game by allowing 4.2 yards per pass.
To give a little perspective on that, Jacksonville’s defense, which has been nasty all year against the pass, gives up 5 yards per pass play. So this is maybe not the best place to start a rookie quarterback without any major weapons around him.
Offensively, Philadelphia shouldn’t have any trouble, as the Bears defense has faded a bit down the stretch, giving up more yards per play in rushing and passing in the last three games.
Don’t worry about a hangover for the Eagles. They’re good and the Bears aren’t. Use the Eagles this week.
Sleeper Pick
Baltimore Ravens
Don’t completely sleep on the Ravens as a possible playoff contender. I know the offense is worthless at times, but the defense is elite. And when you have something elite on your team, you should compete with almost anyone.
Baltimore is allowing 3.9 yards per play on defense in the last three games. This feels like a different team than the one that lost at home to Chicago in mid-October, and the defense is leading the charge.
Houston, on the other hand, can’t pass, and has seen its offense become stagnant (much like Green Bay, who lost 23-0 last week to Baltimore). And the usually reliable Texans defense has seen its yards per play average go from 5.7 to 6.1 allowed in the last three weeks.
The Ravens defense is legitimate and is hitting its stride. The Texans won’t be able to do anything on offense, so don’t expect Houston to get too far into double-digits.
Be Careful
Cincinnati Bengals
Here’s that drug again that I can’t avoid. Eventually, the Browns are going to win a game, right?
And while the Bengals won last week, they did it in pretty unimpressive fashion against a dying Broncos team. Sure, the Browns can’t win, but they’ve given it the good old college try in recent weeks, playing close games against playoff teams Detroit and Jacksonville.
On paper, if you just looked at the numbers, you wouldn’t be able to differentiate either one of these teams. Both offenses are useless and the defenses aren’t bad. This will be a common pick this week because it’s anti-Browns, but there are other avenues that feature much bigger mismatches.
