My Survivor Pool picks failed me last week, so I’m going to change it up a bit for week 14.
Since we’re late in the season and so many different Survivor picks have been made, I’ll give you my pick, and then go forward with some best bets, good picks and the ones in which I would be careful with.
Here’s the week 14 Survivor Pool picks.
Teams Used: Seattle, Carolina, Miami, Washington, Baltimore (lost), New England, Green Bay, Denver, Minnesota (lost), Arizona, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and San Diego (lost).
My Pick
Detroit Lions
Quietly, the Lions are constructing a defense that can propel them to success in the playoffs.
Detroit was terrible earlier this season as a defensive unit. But as seen last week when I correctly predicted the Lions would take offense to the fact New Orleans was almost a touchdown favorite, the Lions stymied a Saints offense that was shredding the opposition.
They forced New Orleans to become one-dimensional and that has been a common trait in recent weeks. The Lions are creeping closer to becoming a top-10 rushing defense, which is bad news for Jordan Howard and the Chicago Bears.
The Bears need to run the football to have a chance against Detroit. Much like previous weeks, Detroit will stuff the run, forcing the Bears to pass. That’s a bad sign for Chicago fans.
For many people, they haven’t used Detroit anyway, so this is a nice spot to grab the Lions and move on to week 15.
Best Bet
Detroit Lions
Out of every team, I don’t like any game more than the Detroit vs. Chicago matchup. We may see a bit of a letdown from Detroit, but it won’t be enough to pick the Bears.
Oddsmakers are in agreement. Detroit enters week 14 with the highest spread at 8.5 points. I’m not guaranteeing a cover, but the W will end up in Detroit’s victory column.
Good Bets
Minnesota, San Francisco, New England, Indianapolis and Washington
All five of these teams have decent matchups this week. The team out of this group that I actually like the best is the 49ers.
The Jets have given up for the season. That was evident in week 13 against the Colts.
And before the snowy debacle in week 13, San Francisco was playing the best it had played this season. I expect that to pick up in week 14. San Francisco needs to run the football to do well.
The Jets are slowly becoming a bad rush defense. The once stout defensive line has now given up more than 90 yards rushing in four straight games, with three of those games featuring more than 100 yards rushing.
The 49ers are trying to build a team, while the Jets are trying to get this disappointing season over. San Francisco offers a unique pick this week if you’re running out of teams.
Be Careful
Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Cincinnati
All three of these teams scare me this week. The three of them are favorites, but they don’t pack enough of a defense along to guarantee me a victory in a Survivor pool.
The Bengals are tough to avoid, especially against Cleveland, but they don’t stop the run well enough to have me pick them over Detroit this week. Cleveland has to run the football to have success, and the Bengals are a bottom-10 rush defense.
The game also is on the road, so that adds another dynamic. I believe that game could be more high-scoring than many people believe.
For Atlanta, traveling to the West Coast against Los Angeles has me scared against a team that will play defense. And the Falcons refuse to play defense, so that is a recipe for disaster at times when playing on the road.
And for Tampa Bay, it will have a tough matchup at home against a New Orleans team that can score. Tampa Bay will have to outscore them, and that might not be easy against a desperate New Orleans team. The Buccaneers aren’t often a favorite, so we’ll see how well they do in that role.
It isn’t easy.
