Survivor Pool Picks Week 6: NFL Survivor Strategies & Safest Pick This Week

The biggest favorite on the board last week lost outright on Thursday night (Cowboys), but our NFL survivor pool picks got our followers through, with our best pick (Bengals) and strategy pick (Patriots) winning by a combined 35 points. 

Survivor pool contestants still alive in their contests cannot target the 0-5 Dolphins this week, as they are one of four teams on a bye. But several attractive options remain, mostly in divisional games, including an Indianapolis Colts team that likely hasn't been used much so far.

Best NFL survivor pool picks: Week 6

See the latest NFL odds and our experts' NFL picks for every game this season.

Safest NFL survivor pick: Rams (87.1%) over Cardinals

Check out all of our NFL analysis and expert predictions for every game in Week 6.

Los Angeles is on a short week after playing Buffalo on Monday night, but that may be the only negative thing to say about the Rams’ chances this week.

The Rams are 3-2 and face a Cardinals team that has lost 17 straight games to teams that entered with a winning record, the longest active streak in the NFL. After being torched for another 45 points in a 45-21 home loss to the Lions, the Cardinals have allowed 30-plus points in four straight games for the first time since Weeks 4-8 in 2011. 

Best NFL survivor pick: Colts (76.5%) over Titans

The Colts head home to face a Titans team that is off to its first 0-5 start since 2009. Tennessee also inspires little confidence in beating an AFC South opponent, as its 11 straight division losses represent the longest active divisional losing streak in the NFL.

Indianapolis can be given a pass for its 34-22 loss to Pittsburgh since it came the week after it played in London. It is also encouraging that the Colts only punted once in Week 5 (even though they still lost by double digits), as I’d expect more of the drives that ended in five Spencer Shrader field goals will be converted to touchdowns against a leaky Titans defense.

NFL survivor strategy pick: Patriots (76.5%) over Jets

For the second straight week, the Patriots are our strategy pick, as they’re now 10-1 in their last 11 home games (including the playoffs). New England is also 6-1 in division games under head coach Mike Vrabel, and it should overcome its injury concerns, given Drake Maye’s impressive early-season turnaround.

Over the first three weeks, Maye averaged 195.0 passing yards per game, threw one touchdown, and had seven turnovers. But over the last two weeks, Maye has averaged 321.5 passing yards per game, with eight total touchdowns and two turnovers. 

Last week, Maye joined Steve Grogan as the only Patriots quarterbacks to throw four touchdown passes and run for another in a game, and New England’s rejuvenated offense should be too much for New York to keep up with.

NFL survivor pick to avoid: Chiefs (78.3%) over Chargers

Andy Reid is a master coming off of bye weeks with an .815 career winning percentage in that split. In addition, Kansas City is 4-0 for the fifth time since Patrick Mahomes became the full-time starting quarterback in 2018, and he is 38-8 in division games. 

Kansas City has scored 30-plus points in three of four games this season. But despite the positives, a Chiefs team facing the 0-5 Chargers, who are in the NFL’s longest active losing streak dating back to last season (eight games), still lost both regular-season meetings last year. Of the seven straight Kansas City wins in this rivalry before that, six were decided by one possession, with four by three or fewer points.

Circa Survivor contest update entering Week 6

Entering Monday, 3,059 of the 5,972 entries that were still alive in the Circa Sports survivor pool entering Week 5 were eliminated, with the Cowboys responsible for 2,554 (83.5%) of those eliminated entries. In all, two of the top six most widely used teams in Week 5 lost outright, leaving fewer than 3,000 entries remaining entering this week.