Friday, September 16, 2011

NFL Survivor Pool - week 2 pick

For the last couple of seasons, I've sauntered on over to The Chowfather's blog to engage in debate about weekly picks for an NFL Survivor Pool.  This year he has made the decision to not post his picks on his blog.  Why?  I have no idea.  But I'm picking up the slack.

Not familiar with NFL Survivor?  Here's a primer for ya.  Each week you pick one team to win their game.  There are no point spreads involved, the team just needs to walk off the field as a winner when the final whistle blows.  The catch is that once you pick a team you cannot select that team a second time.  One wrong pick and you are eliminated.  Participants continue to pick a team each week until there is one "survivor" left or until there is a small amount of people left in the pool who agree to split the pot.  It's pretty tough but it's a lot of fun.

Last week, both Chowfather and I selected the Arizona Cardinals to beat the Carolina Panthers and boy did we sweat that one out.  A late punt return TD gave the Cardinals the victory.  This week, there are a few enticing games to select.  Here's what I'm looking at:

  • Pittsburgh at home vs Seattle - The Steelers looked awful against the Ravens in week one and got their asses handed to them.  The Seahawks aren't even close to the caliber team that the Ravens are and they'll be traveling across the country to play as the road team in the Steelers home opener.
  • NY Jets at home vs Jacksonville - The Jets came out slow versus Dallas last week but managed to stick around long enough to capitalize on the eventual Dallas meltdown to win the game with a late 50yd field goal.  Jacksonville gave up on QB David Garrard this season and MJD is sure to see his fair share of "gang green" when he's handed the ball in the backfield.  Jets D is solid and should keep the Jags offense on the sidelines most of the game.
  • Detroit at home vs KC - Detroit hosts their first home game of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday.  I gotta admit that I hopped on the Lions bandwagon during preseason early this year so this pick is a bit of a reach.  The basis behind it is that Kansas City looked awful last week, giving Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Bills a career passing day that ended with him tossing 4 TDs.  That's the Bills, on the road at KC, with an OL that is almost non-existent.  I'd like to think that the Lions are an upgrade to the Bills at every position on both sides of the ball and they are at home.  Again, this pick is a reach but worth consideration.

I also have light feelings for the Giants at home versus the Rams on MNF since the Rams are without RB Steven Jackson and WR Danny Amendola and a finger injury could cause issues for QB Sam Bradford.  But I also don't trust the Giants OL to protect Eli Manning who seems to get murdered every game.

All that said, my mantra in NFL Survivor is to focus on the current week and not worry about "saving" a team to use them later in the season.  So, this week my official pick is...

No comments: