If you’re reading this column, that means one of two things: Either you didn’t take the Bengals in Week 1, or your pool allows you to buy back in once. Either way, I’m glad you’re here. Check out our NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Picks.
NFL Week 1 Survivor Pool Picks Recap
Unfortunately, I did recommend the Bengals last week as an option. Chances are, if you took the Bengals it wasn’t because I advised you to, you were going to take them anyway. Regardless, this is an article to help you navigate the NFL slate and I did recommend them, so I apologize. We all know what happened: Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati offense was stagnant, the Bengals couldn’t slow down Rhamondre Stevenson and the Patriots ruined millions of football fans’ survivor pools.
If you did manage to avoid the Bengals and took one of my other selections – the Chargers or the Seahawks – then, congrats. Let’s try to go 3-0 this week.
NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Pick: Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens are an 8.5-point home favorite against the Raiders, who are dreadful. Gardner Minshew is what he is: A solid bridge quarterback that won’t win you games on his own, but he’ll also make your team competitive in most weeks. That said, Las Vegas’ offensive line is brutal. Minshew made some throws early against the Chargers last week, but then things started to collapse in the second. He lost the handle late in the second quarter and the ball went sideways. The Chargers scooped the ball up and wound up kicking a field goal before half. It was a gift.
The Ravens, meanwhile, nearly pulled off the small upset on the road last week in Kansas City. I didn’t think Lamar Jackson and the Ravens were particularly sharp and yet, they were an Isiah Likely toe away from scoring a crucial last-season touchdown. If Likely could have kept his toe in bounds, the Ravens would have likely gone for two with an opportunity to win the game.
The bottom line is that I don’t see the Ravens falling to 0-2 on the season. Not against this Raiders team.
NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Pick: Houston Texans
It’s tough to burn either the Ravens or Texans, but we’ve got to go with the team that gives us our best shot to advance. Again, we’re merely trying to survivor, not necessarily plan for the future. Who would have thought the Packers and Dolphins would lose their starting quarterbacks in Week 1? You can’t plan for injury.
The Texans looked great offensively in Week 1 versus the Colts. C.J. Stroud is a stud and he has weapons all around him in this Houston offense. Joe Mixon and Stefon Diggs were great in their Texans’ debuts and Nico Collins is one of the most underrated receivers in the league. Houston’s defense allowed some big plays, but that will happen against Anthony Richardson. Otherwise, I thought DeMecco Ryans defense was solid as well.
As for the Bears, they should have lost to the Titans but Will Levis was incredibly careless with the football. Chicago’s defense was still gashed a handful of times by Tony Pollard and the Bears also fumbled a kickoff. It was only one game, but Caleb Williams’ pro debut was rough to watch as well. Houston should roll tonight in its primetime and home opener.
NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Pick: Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles defense was horrible against the Packers in Week 1. They allowed Green Bay’s wide receivers to run wide open in their secondary and they were gashed for a few big runs by Josh Jacobs. I don’t know if it was a one week aberration or if the Philly defense will be a problem all season. Either way, I highly recommend burning the Eagles now.
Kirk Cousins is an average quarterback. He parlayed his one season of success in Washington into a massive guaranteed contract with the Vikings. Then, despite suffering a season-ending Achilles injury with Minnesota last season, he was able to parlay Desmond Ridder’s terribleness into another big contract with the Falcons this offseason.
That makes Cousins opportunistic, not good. And he wasn’t good last week versus the Steelers. Perhaps even more bothersome was that the Falcons’ new coordinator Zac Robinson looked like he was running a high school scheme. Atlanta hasn’t won in Philadelphia in decades and I don’t see that changing with “Primetime Kirk” leading them into the Linc on Monday night.
While the Falcons defense could keep things tight for a quarter or too, the Eagles’ offense will figure them out at some point, too.