One of the most difficult Survivor Pool weeks gives way to a presumably easier week 6. The week 5 slate pretty much featured all field-goal spread games, other than a select few, which didn’t all go as planned.
Only 55 percent of remaining participants picked week 5 correctly in the Yahoo Survivor Pool, which only features a little more than 28,000 people remaining.
Even though this week looks a little more palatable, it’s still the NFL, so you never know what’s going to happen.
Here’s the week 6 Survivor Pool picks.
Teams Used: Pittsburgh, Oakland, New England, Atlanta (lost), Detroit (lost)
Best Bet
Denver Broncos
I feel a little bad about piling on the New York Giants, but week 6 isn’t a great time to be on the road against a rested Denver team.
The Giants have now lost three wide receivers to season-long injuries, including supposed Nos. 1 and 2 Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall.
The team is 0-5, and offensively, can’t find any rhythm. But I think we all thought the offense wasn’t going to be great. It’s the defense that has disappointed tremendously. The Giants rank 26th overall in yards allowed, giving up big chunks at a time and not stopping anybody when it matters.
More frightening, especially against Denver’s rushing attack, is the Giants can’t stop the run. New York ranks fourth from the bottom in rushing yards allowed, giving up more than 130 yards per game on the ground.
Denver is once again the top-ranked defense in the NFL and relies on rushing the ball to move the chains. That’s a bad matchup for a team dealing with injuries, can’t move the ball anyway and doesn’t have the defense we expected.
In a week with multiple double-digit favorites, Denver is your best bet.
Sleeper Pick
Baltimore Ravens
Let’s say you’ve already used Denver, New England, Houston, and you’re just not sold on Washington and Atlanta.
Baltimore isn’t a horrible decision.
Chicago has been about as bad as you can imagine on the road this season. In two road games, the Bears have lost by a combined 64-21 score, and I’m not sure if either of those games were that close.
Both teams will pack a defense in this matchup, but the Ravens have to hold top billing in that department. This is the second time this season that Baltimore has faced a rookie quarterback (DeShone Kizer being the other), and the first time didn’t go well for Kizer.
Baltimore is a tough defense to face for a rookie because they’re so opportunistic with turnovers. Baltimore has nine interceptions this season to go along with forcing quarterbacks into a 66 QBR.
Mitchell Trubisky has a bad first road matchup, so I’d back the Ravens as a possible sleeper.
Be Careful
Atlanta Falcons
Maybe I’m still a little salty about that week 4 Survivor Pool blunder. Or maybe I fear the Falcons aren’t who we believe they are.
Atlanta had a magical season last year. The previous three years, they were 8-8, 6-10 and 4-12. Those records happened with the same quarterback Matt Ryan.
Who are the real Falcons? It’s probably somewhere more representative of 8-8, rather than 11-5. Just look at this year. You could make a legitimate case that Atlanta should have entered their week 5 bye at 1-3, rather than 3-1.
And while everyone is dismissing Miami, what did you think would happen with a quarterback who was out of football? It was going to take time for Jay Cutler to be halfway decent, and we’re seeing that play out in front of our eyes.
Miami is actually pretty good at defending the rush, and this team still has plenty of personnel from last year’s playoff team. And Cutler is actually pretty good against Atlanta in his career, netting a 99.4 passer rating, six touchdowns and three interceptions.
Atlanta hasn’t been invincible at home in recent years. Don’t expect them to be in week 6 either.
