Taking a look at the best Week 17 NFL Survivor Pool Picks, including the Jacksonville Jaguars.
We’re down to the final few weeks of the season, and we have a few good teams left to use in our survival pool! If you are unaware of what NFL Survivor picks are, the basic concept is you make NFL picks throughout the season, but you can only pick a team once. Once you lose, you’re knocked out, so choose your Week 17 NFL Survivor Pool picks wisely.
If you are new to reading my survivor articles, what I do is outline my “lock of the week,” my “value of the week,” and my “high-risk, high-reward pick of the week.”
The “lock” details what team I think has the best chance of winning their matchup. This will most likely be a good team that plays a bad team.
Week 17 NFL Survivor Pool Picks
Lock of the Week | Best Pick for NFL Survivor Pools Week 17
Jacksonville Jaguars vs Indianapolis Colts
The Jacksonville Jaguars open as 6.5-point favorites over the Indianapolis Colts as we had into Week 17. That number makes sense considering that these two teams are moving in two different directions. For starters, Trevor Lawrence is playing the best football of his career right now, as the Jaguars are riding a six-game win streak and haven’t lost since early November. Led by Liam Coen, the Jags offense has scored 25 or more points in eight straight games. With the Jaguars looking to lock up the AFC South, they should be playing at full force this week. Seeing what San Francisco did with Christian McCaffrey last week against the Colts, Jacksonville will be able to find success using Travis Etienne in both the run and pass game, which will in turn open up the rest of the field for Jakobi Meyers and Brenton Strange to work intermediate to deep routes.
As far the Colts offense, Jonathan Taylor has not been what he started the season as. Since Week 10, Taylor has recorded more than 85 yards just once and has only scored two touchdowns. With Daniel Jones hurt, Philip Rivers has played alright in his absence, but the explosiveness that we saw with Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman early in the season is gone, given Rivers’ weak arm. Stopping Taylor is the key to the Jaguars winning this game and looking throughout their six-game win streak, stopping the run game has worked. Just a few weeks ago, Jacksonville was able to hold Taylor to just a 3.5-yard average on runs.
Lock of the Week: Jacksonville Jaguars
Value Pick of the Week | Week 17 NFL Survivor Pool Picks
Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cleveland Browns
In a big divisional matchup for the Steelers, Pittsburgh opens the week as three-point favorites. It is not necessarily a must-win game for the Steelers, but winning this game locks up the AFC North. Looking at what we saw last week with Pittsburgh, it certainly looks like they are one of the better teams in the AFC, after upsetting the Detroit Lions on the Lions’ home turf. In that game, the run game was strong, as both Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell were the bigger X-Factors in the matchup. The Browns run-defense has been one of the better units in the NFL, but as of late it has struggled. James Cook just went for 117 and two touchdowns last week, while Chicago combined for 142 rushing yards two weeks ago. Even without DK Metcalf, I am not worried about the Steelers’ offense, as Aaron Rodgers is playing really good football right now.
When looking at the Browns offense, there is nothing that really jumps out and scares you. Shedeur Sanders is playing good ball, but without Quinshon Judkins, there does not seem to be a reliable run game to help settle Sanders in. Pittsburgh also gets TJ Watt back this week, which means that Sanders will be under pressure for the majority of the game with Watt, Cam Heyward and Alex Highsmith. In as close to must-win game as there is, give me the better team in this one to take down the Browns and win the AFC North.
Value Pick of the Week: Pittsburgh Steelers
High Risk, High Reward Pick of the Week | Week 17 NFL Survivor Pool Picks
New Orleans Saints vs Tennessee Titans
As the race for the number one pick heats up, all of a sudden the New Orleans Saints look like one of the better bad teams in the NFL. They open Week 17 as 2.5-point favorites over a bad Titans team. As we march to the end of the regular season, the Saints are currently riding a three-game win streak. Even without a consistent run game, a lot of that success has to chalked up to how good Tyler Shough has played down the stretch. He has two straight games of throwing for more than 270 passing yards. With the Saints hopes of him being the next franchise guy, he has been playing well in much needed time for development.
While Cam Ward has looked better as of late, that has come against teams like the Chiefs and the Browns – not exactly the greatest teams left. While I would not say that the Saints are great by any means, the defense has been playing really well. New Orleans has held opponents to 20 or less in each of the last three weeks. Without a consistent run game in Tennessee, Cam Ward is going to have to go out and make the big plays for the Titans to win this game. Considering that has been the mindset for the Titans all season long, it is really hard to believe that he is going to single-handily win a game this season.
High Risk, High Reward Pick of the Week: New Orleans Saints
Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok for more great FlurrySports content.
