NFL Week 2 – Survivor Pool Pick (2012)

In week 1 of our survivor pool picks, we selected the Houston Texans over Miami Dolphins. Other popular choices made were Chicago Bears over Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions over St. Louis Rams.

In week 2, there are three games that the majority of people are taking: (1) New England Patriots over Arizona Cardinals, (2) New York Giants over Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and (3) Cincinnati Bengals over Cleveland Browns.

I’m torn between the Patriots and Bengals. The Patriots is the safest play here and the only game that should be an absolute lock. In preseason survivor pool picks where I planned out every game for the remainder of the year, I had the New York Giants this week with the intent to save the Patriots pick for later in the season, specifically in week 10 over the Bills (or week 6 over the Seahawks).

It may seam foolish to save the Patriots until week 10 when you simply want to move on to the next week in the safest way possible while others take gambles on taking weaker teams just to save their stronger teams for later.

I don’t want to take the Giants over the Bucs for a few reasons. First, Eli Manning and the Giants ended my survivor pool hopes (and about 75% of others) in week 5 last year when they were upset by the Seahawks as 7+ point favorites at home. Second, the Giants just did not look good last week against the Cowboys. The Giants have some secondary issues to be concerned with. Their weakness is at the cornerback position. If Josh Freeman shows up on the road, he can do some damage with Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams. Tampa Bay also moved the ball well against the Panthers with Doug Martin. The Bucs defense held the Panthers running attack to 10 yards. I think the Bucs will be the most improved team from last season. I’m picking the Bucs +7.5, so I’m expecting this to be a tight game and one that I have on upset alert.

If I don’t take the Patriots this week, I’m going with the Cincinnati Bengals. I watched the Browns game last week as I’m an Eagles fan. Brandon Weeden was pitiful. He was missing his receivers all day. The Browns defense also gave him 5 turnovers, many in Eagles territory, and the Browns couldn’t convert turnovers into points.

Both the Patriots and the Bengals are the picks to make this week so what would you rather do? Play it safe and take the Patriots or take the Bengals to save the Patriots for later? I’m going to play it safe and going with the Patriots.

Week 2 Survivor Pool Pick: New England Patriots

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