(Image credit Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
Week 16 is officially in the books and hopefully, you have survived and are now looking at who to pick Week 17 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 Dallas Cowboys did last week against the New York Giants then the participant in the survivor pool advances to the next week. But, now you can't choose the Dallas Cowboys anymore for the rest of the season. But if the team that was the participant in the Survivor pool chose the team that lost, as the Arizona Cardinals did against the Detroit Lions, 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 17 of the 2021 NFL season.
Week 17 Top 5 Survivor Options
Overall Record (61-19)
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New York Jets
No question which team is the favorite in Survivor. Always count on Tom Brady to take care of business when he is in Metlife Stadium against the New York Jets. The Buccaneers have the better offense, defense, special teams, and coaching staff.
Right, when I finished writing news came out that Head Coach Bruce Arians has tested positive for Covid-19 and will most likely miss this game. It is a huge loss however I am not changing my ranking as the Jets are still a complete mess.
2. Jacksonville Jaguars at New England Patriots
This is another no-brainer pick as the Jaguars could not beat a terrible New York Jets team that did not have their Head Coach in Robert Saleh and a chunk of their players due to the Covid Outbreak. New England should take care of business and clinch a playoff spot by defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars.
3. San Francisco 49ers vs Houston Texans
The 49ers are in good shape to make the playoffs and another win all but seals them in for participating in the playoffs for this season. They should take care of business as the home team defeating a weak Texans team especially as the 49ers will be the home team in this matchup.
4. Los Angeles Chargers vs Denver Broncos
I don’t know what the Chargers were doing last week as they faced the Texans who stink. But the Chargers luckily face the Denver Broncos who will have to start Drew Lock who stinks. If they don’t win this game then there is a real chance the chargers could miss the playoffs this season. I don’t see that happening and the Chargers take care of business here.
5. Buffalo Bills vs Atlanta Falcons
The Buffalo Bills have awoken from their struggles and have looked like a better team. This time they need to get a win to fully clinch a playoff berth and potentially secure themselves as the AFC East division winners. Atlanta has not performed as they did earlier in the season and are in win-now mode but have to play this game in Buffalo. If you have not used the Bills in survivor this would be another good week.
Trap Survivor Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cleveland Browns
The Browns are a team many have written out off due to the covid outbreak, injuries, and Baker Mayfield’s struggles throughout the season. But they played a close game against the Green Bay Packers and they would have had that game if it was not for the refs missing a pass interference call that would've placed the Browns in field goal range. I am not ruling them completely out yet but the Browns are going to put up a hard fight to keep their playoff hopes alive. Who they got to face well the Pittsburgh Steelers who love playing down to competition. The Steelers are a complete mess as always and are a lot worse than what their record is. I won't be surprised to see Pittsburgh once again play down to competition for this week. Why is Mike Tomlin still the head coach for the Steelers again?
Record 8-7-1 (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, Week 11: SF, Week 12: Dal, Week 13: Min, Week 14: No, Week 15: Cle, Week 16: Cin)
Who I would of went with for my Survivor Pick for Week 16: Chicago Bears vs New York Giants
I can’t choose the 49ers as they were my survivor pick for week 1. The Buccaneers are a no for me as I took them in Week 6. The Buffalo Bills as well were my Week 8 survivor pick so can’t pick them. This pick came down to the New England Patriots or the Los Angeles Chargers. Then I realized that I chose the Patriots for my survivor pick for Week 7. So I got to take the Chargers this week in 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 10: Ravens, Week 11: Browns, Week 12: Bears, Week 13: Rams, Week 14: Packers, Week 15: Cardinals, Week 16: Jaguars)
NFL Survivor Picks Week 17