Sing it ladies: I’m a survivor (what), I’m gonna make it (what), I will survive (what), Keep on survivin’ (what), Week 11 Survivor Pick
Going into week 10, the closest margin of victory that any of the teams I picked for the survivor pool was 8 when the Chargers beat the Raiders 24-16 in week 8. However, that would not be the case in week 10. Last week was a close one and for the first time this year I feel like I am actually a survivor in my survivor pool. But before we get into that, I’d like to apologize to my girlfriend for being an emotional rollercoaster during the Dolphins game. We were driving home from out of town and I was getting updates from my phone and receiving nervous texts from my friends and after the Dolphins blew a 19-6 lead, I became quite fussy and made the drive.. how do I put this nicely? Unpleasant. =) Sounds like a normal Sunday for me, but for her she got a taste of why as she later put “I now understand why you like to watch football with your friends” lol. All kidding aside, PHEW! I thought the Dolphins (and my survivor pool hopes) were toast after they gave up the go ahead FG with a little over a minute to go. I was thinking, how fitting that the 1-win Bucs, on the road, with a rookie QB, and a kicker who I had never heard of before last week made three, yes that’s right, three 50 yard field goals, were going to upset the 10 point favorite Dolphins. I didn’t think the Dolphins had much of a chance to drive the ball down for a winning score. But thankfully, I was wrong, and my new best friends; Chad Henne, Devone Bess, and Dan Carpenter ensured that my survivor pool would stay in tact and that I could move on to greener pastures and some safer plays. In addition to the the Dolphins close call, the other two teams I was considering last week- the Broncos and Jets, both lost. This is my first year playing in a survivor pool but in any game of chance, you need a little bit of luck to succeed and I was definitely lucky in week 10.
On to week 11…
So far I’ve used the following teams…
- Saints
- Vikings
- Ravens
- Texans
- Eagles
- Packers
- Colts
- Chargers
- Falcons
- Dolphins
This week I’ll be going with this guy’s favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was considering the Bengals and Cardinals, but my goal is to pick the team that is the safest play or better put, the team that I can say “well if this team loses to this crappy team, then I deserve to get knocked out of my survivor pool.” And this week, that team is the Steelers. Now some of you might be saying, ‘wait a second John, why wouldn’t you pick the Bengals to beat the lowly Raiders who are now going to be starting Bruce Gradkowski?’ and I say ‘elementary dear Watson’. I do think the Bengals will win, but I don’t like taking teams that are on the road and have to travel cross-country like the Broncos at Washington last week. Another reason I don’t like them this week is because the signing of Larry Johnson and the injury to Cedric Benson may be a distraction to the team. I also think the Bengals will have a hard time getting excited about playing the Raiders after coming off such a big win at Pittsburgh last week. Additionally, a back-to-back road trip can be brutal no matter how good you are. I know what you’re thinking, ‘yea, but the Raiders suck and these guys are professionals, I’m not buying it’. That’s a valid argument and I know the Raiders would have to pull one out of their ass to win but an unexpected Raiders win is possible, just ask anyone who took the Eagles in their survivor pool in week 6. All of that tells me to proceed with caution, so I will, and go with the Steelers while saving the Bengals for a future week.
The Cards is another good play this week, but I still think the Steelers is a bit safer. The Chiefs sucky offense got even suckier this week with the suspension of Dwayne Bowe, so I’ll take my chances that the defending Super Bowl champs can win at Arrowhead.
If I make it out of week 11, here are my options going forward…
- Week 12- Cowboys, Bengals
- Week 13- Bears, Panthers, Broncos, Bengals
- Week 14- Patriots, Jets, Titans
- Week 15- Patriots, Cardinals, Broncos, Seahawks, Giants
- Week 16- Bengals, Patriots, Cardinals, 49ers
- Week 17- Bears, 49ers, Broncos
Hopefully the Steelers can get it done and I can move 1 week closer to surviving! Goooooooo Steelers! Here’s all the teams left in my survivor pool.
