(Image credit: Ken Blaze /USA Today Sports)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mullick-354076184/
Week 10 is officially in the books and hopefully you have survived and are now looking at who to pick Week 11 of the regular season for your survivor pools.
Again, I would like to remind everyone about What a survivor pool is and its rules. A survivor pool is a weekly contest where people select one team straight up per week to win their game. If a team that a participant in the Survivor pool chooses wins like the Buffalo Bills did last week against the New York Jets then the participant in the survivor pool advances to the next week. But, now you can't choose the Buffalo Bills anymore for the rest of the season. But if the team that the participant in the Survivor pool chose the team that lost like the Baltimore Ravens did against the Miami Dolphins then the participant is eliminated from the pool.
Now that we know the rules in a survivor pool, here are the Top 5 options, A trap Survivor pick, and a survivor pick that I would have gone with if I was not eliminated in survivor (Again, Why is Mike Tomlin still the head coach for the Steelers again?) for week 11 of the 2021 NFL season.
Week 11 Top 5 Survivor Options
Overall Record (37-13)
1. Cleveland Browns vs Detroit Lions
The Browns have been a very inconsistent team this season. In one game they look great and in other games the Browns are terrible. But luckily they are the home team and get to face the Detroit Lions who are an abysmal football team. Jared Goff is awful and he has declined so much that this season is a lot worse than his rookie season. That is saying a lot and goes to show how good of a head coach Sean McVay is. Goff couldn't perform well against a beaten-up Steelers defense and I think Goff will be dominated by the Browns defense. The Browns are the better team and should rebound in this game and beat the Detroit Lions.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New York Giants
Tampa Bay has struggled the last few weeks losing to the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Football Team. Tom Brady has struggled the past few games but this week he is facing the New York Giants who have been solid but I think Tampa Bay should rebound against the New York Giants. Especially as the Buccaneers have an extra day to prepare and should be a bit healthier than they were last week. Antonio Brown and Gronk did not play due to their injuries but I think Gronk should be good to go next week. The Buccaneers will also be the home team in this matchup which will be a huge advantage for them.
3. Tennessee Titans vs Houston Texans
Many wrote off the Tennessee Titans after Derrick Henry Suffered his foot injury. I don’t blame them as Derrick Henry is a transcendent and franchise player. But boy has the Titans been a great team the past few weeks beating the Rams and Saints. This week they face the Houston Texans in a home game and it is clear that the Texans are a lot worse than the Saints and Los Angeles Rams. The only reason why the Titans are not #2 on this list is that this is a divisional game and I have low confidence in divisional games unless it is a complete mismatch. The Titans are the better team and should win but there are weaknesses on the Titans team.
4. Los Angeles Chargers vs Pittsburgh Steelers
I really like the Los Angeles Chargers for this week to rebound. The last few games excluding the matchup against the Eagles they lost games close to the Patriots and Vikings. But for this week they will have an easier opponent in the Pittsburgh Steelers who I still believe are the most overrated team in football. Mason Rudolph was not awful last week but is a small problem for the Steelers that have a bunch of issues. I don’t think it matters who is at QB as Ben Roethlisberger also struggled this season as well and should have been retired years ago. Mason looked better than Ben ever did this season in my opinion. What is a big issue is how exposed this Steelers defense was against a terrible Lions offense with Jared Goff at QB who is terrible he stinks too. The Steelers could not stop the running game (Which should have been their strength right) and their secondary is abysmal with all the injuries that they have to deal with. At least TJ Watt is not out for the season and that is a plus because he is the heart and soul of this defense. I just think the Los Angeles Chargers are the better team and should be this Steelers team no question.
5. Baltimore Ravens at Chicago Bears
I don’t know what to think of the Baltimore Ravens this season. I don't know if they are good or mediocre. I do know one thing and that is that I like Baltimore to rebound in this game. Why well the Ravens have plenty of time to prepare for this game and fix their issues as they last week played a Thursday Night game. They luckily get to face a Bears team that is poorly coached and I will be shocked if Matt Nagy lasts this season as the head coach. If the Ravens don't win this game then there is a real problem with the Baltimore Ravens that they need to fix in order to make the playoffs with how strong this AFC North division is.
Trap Survivor Pick: San Francisco 49ers at Jacksonville Jaguars
Many people are going to take the 49ers after they destroyed the Los Angeles Rams but I would be very careful taking them in survivor this week. Not only because the 49ers have less time to prepare for this matchup against the Jaguars. But the 49ers, a west coast team, will have to travel to the east coast to play a football game. Plus the Jaguars defense has definitely improved than they have during the first half of the season. Trevor Lawrence while he has not been as good as hyped should do a solid job with the beaten-up 49ers secondary.
Record 5-4-1 (Week 1: Jax, Week 2: Cin, Week 3: Dal, Week 4: Ten, Week 5: Bal, Week 6: Pit, Week 7: Cle, Week 8: Atl, Week 9: LV, Week 10: Pit) - Just to give you a heads up the Pittsburgh game last week was a tie and depending on what league you are in Ties either eliminate you or keep you alive for survivor. So I decided to color it yellow.
Who I would of gone with for my Survivor Pick for Week 11: Cleveland Browns vs Detroit Lions
I can’t choose Tampa Bay as they were my pick for Week 6. I can't choose Baltimore as they were my pick for Week 11. For this week I honestly debated taking The Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Chargers, or the Cleveland Browns. My selection came down to future survivor value. I like Tennessee but I am nervous about taking divisional games and the Titans have more survivor value as the Titans got the Jaguars Week 14, 49ers Week 16, Dolphins Week 17, and Houston Week 10. The Chargers have plenty of survivor value as they have the Giants week 14, Texans Week 16, and Broncos Week 17. The Browns have little to no value after this week excluding week 15 against the Raiders and maybe week 18 against the Bengals. So I would have taken the Cleveland Browns this week for Survivor.
Teams Used: (Week 1: 49ers, Week 2: Steelers, Week 3: Panthers, Week 4: Bengals, Week 5: Vikings, Week 6: Buccaneers, Week 7: Patriots, Week 8 Bills, Week 9 Colts, Week 11: Ravens)