YANNI – Status – Did Not Survive (3 misses)
JJ – Status – Did Not Survive (1 miss)

Teams Used:

YANNI
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers (miss)
Green Bay Packers
Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs (miss)
Dallas Cowboys (miss)
Buffalo Bills
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers

JJ
Philadelphia Eagles
Baltimore Ravens
Dallas Cowboys
Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs (miss)
Washington Redskins
Buffalo Bills
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers

Overview:

The San Francisco 49ers have established themselves as one of the favorites to be playing in late January, yet it didn’t translate to an easy win last Halloween night against the Cardinals. Arizona battled and really played the Niners’ about as well as anyone has this season making San Francisco earn every yard and every point and ultimately a victory. Of course in the land of Survivor Pools all you need is to ultimately get that victory which is exactly what they did to keep those folks who had the leagues last undefeated team as their pick. While we expected a little easier win, we’ll take that win and head towards week 10, which may be the last “easy” survivor week of the season.

Strategy / Odds:

If you’ve been fortunate enough to make it this far in your survivor pool chances are you’re one of about 20% in your pool as an estimated 75% to 80% of players have been booted off the island through week nine. There continues to be some large spreads due to the top and bottom heavy feeders in each conference except chances are you’ve utilized some of these teams already. If you’ve made it this far and have one of the double digit spreads listed below, you probably want to go ahead and grab them. If you’ve already picked them, things are going to get really interesting. Can you trust a team like the Giants in survivor? Or even their counterpart in that game? You’ll be holding your nose if you have to make a pick like that.

Here is a quick glance at the four largest spreads for the week:
(Bovada Sportsbook 11/5/19)

Atlanta Falcons +12.5 at New Orleans Saints
Miami Dolphins +10.5 at Indianapolis Colts
Baltimore Ravens -10 at Cincinnati Bengals
Seattle Seahawks +6 at San Francisco 49ers

The team that seems to make a lot of sense this week is the Indianapolis Colts as they are clear home favorites against the team that managed to secure their first win on Sunday in the Miami Dolphins. Piece of cake, right? The Colts should undoubtedly come away with a home win, hence the heavy spread, but this game might be closer than you think. Ryan Fitzpatrick has played about as well as a QB can under the circumstances he finds himself in and the Dolphins have been really competitive over their past 4 contests. With Baltimore already having been played, Yanni is going to take a big gamble on this one and picking Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Arizona Cardinals. This game is by no means a lock as anything can happen with Jameis Winston, and as Arizona is an undervalued and rising team in the league. This pick is the definition of “gamble” so we’ll see if Winston makes him regret it.

If you haven’t caught onto JJ’s methodology up to this point, we’ll go ahead and tell you he is a disciplined numbers guy. While this is possibly the best spot to play the Colts, he’s not taking any chances on an upset this weekend. He’s instead looking at the divisional tilt between the Falcons and the Saints in New Orleans as Matt Ryan and Drew Brees will lock horns yet again. Although Atlanta is coming off of a bye and will get Ryan back at QB as he’s healed from his ankle injury it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the hapless Falcons could upset a balanced Saints team in their home stadium.

Our Picks: