YANNI – Status – Alive (0 misses)
JJ – Status – Alive (0 misses)
Teams Used:
YANNI
Baltimore Ravens 
JJ
Philadelphia Eagles 
Overview:
If you’re in a an NFL Survivor pool the worst thing that can happen is an early season exit, particularly in week one. Even though Survivor picks understandably become more difficult as you use up the “good” teams in the league, it can actually be tougher the first week or two of the season as it’s difficult to know for sure which teams are legit and what teams are weak. In our week 1 article we mentioned that Yanni might be taking a little bit more of a gamble taking a team on the road against a streaky veteran quarterback, while JJ was playing it a little safer taking the Eagles at home against a thin Redskins squad. As our annoying old buddy Chris Berman would say, “That’s why they play the games”. Baltimore took it to Miami early and often en route to a snoozer beatdown that was never in doubt. Philadelphia on the other hand came out of the gate slowly and found themselves facing a 17-0 deficit which had a lot of survivor players panicked. It was estimated that 25% of survivor picks in week 1 were on the Eagles so a lot of folks including JJ had to hold their breath a bit until Carson Wentz got things going with a flashback to Desean Jackson.
Strategy / Odds:
Examining the full week 2 full NFL slate this is one of the stranger weekend of matchups in recent years. There are definitely a few potential blowouts on the card so in terms of survivor options you can’t say that the cupboard is bare. If you’re like Yanni and used the Ravens in week 1, all of a sudden the options are a lot slimmer though. It’s tough to recall a week where there are so many games that have a spread set around 3 points or less. That should make for a good weekend of football, however that can make survivor picks really stressful.
Here is a quick glance at the four largest spreads for the week:
(Bovada Sportsbook 9/11/19)
New England Patriots – 19 at Miami Dolphins
Arizona Cardinals +13.5 at Baltimore Ravens
Kansas City Chiefs -9 at Oakland Raiders
Jacksonville Jaguars +9 at Houston Texans
JJ didn’t hesitate to grab the Ravens at home against the Arizona Cardinals. Hard to blame him as the Ravens looked dominant even though it was against the lowly Dolphins. It’s hard to know if they’ll be able to put another blowout win together, but it’s pretty safe to assume he’ll be able to stay alive with a Baltimore straight up win against Arizona on their home turf.
Yanni narrowed his choice down to the easiest Survivor pick in recent memory with New England taking on the hapless Dolphins. But after some debate decided to pull a different strategy and is going with the Carolina Panthers to win at home against Tampa Bay on Thursday night. It’s always risky picking a divisional game, particularly with a team that isn’t elite (we don’t value Carolina in that echelon). History has told us however, that home teams have a clear advantage on the short week Thursday night games. This one could be a nail-biter and is anything but a sure thing, but Yanni’s going to take a gamble leaving a sure thing in New England on the board in hopes of living to fight another day.
Our Picks:
