Taking a look at the best Week 2 NFL Survivor Pool Picks, including the San Francisco 49ers.
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 2 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. The lock is also the official pick for NFL Survivor Pools, meaning we will not reuse a “lock.” My value pick details a mid-tier team that has a good matchup. And finally, my high-risk, high-reward pick details a bad team that has a good matchup. It may be worth it to look at the NFL betting odds for these games and place some bets as well.
Teams Used for Lock of the Week:
- Cincinnati Bengals
Week 2 NFL Survivor Pool Picks
Lock of the Week | Best Pick for NFL Survivor Pool Picks Week 2
San Francisco 49ers vs New Orleans Saints
The San Francisco 49ers come into their week two matchup against the New Orleans Saints as 4.5-point favorites. Even without George Kittle, it seems like the number should be higher, given how different the caliber of these teams is. San Francisco should be able to run the ball well in this game, as the Arizona Cardinals ran for 146 yards against the Saints last week. With a seemingly healthy Christian McCaffrey, this feels like a game where you have to take the 49ers, because you don’t know how much longer you are going to get him.
As for the Saints’ offense, there is nothing that scares you away from taking the 49ers. The Saints’ best player last week was Juwan Johnson, and while he could put up a similar performance this week, if he is the leading guy for the Saints, you are feeling very comfortable as a 49ers fan. The Saints just don’t have enough firepower to keep up with the 49ers in this one.
Lock of the Week: San Francisco 49ers
Value Pick of the Week | Week 2 NFL Survivor Pool Picks
Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers
I gave you the Arizona Cardinals as my Value Pick last week, and they came through with a victory over the New Orleans Saints. They are slotted in again as my value pick with their matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Just like last week, this game comes down to who the better team is, and that is, of course, the Cardinals.
Again, this is the definition of a value pick game in my eyes. While the Cardinals are not the greatest team in the NFL, they do one thing really well, and that is run the football. I would expect that to be at the forefront of their attack this week, as the Panthers gave up 143 rushing yards to Travis Etienne last week. Using a strong run-blocking offensive line and two-headed duo at running back, the run game should work in the Cardinals’ favor in this one. Once that run game gets exposed, Kyler Murray should be able to do what he does best and get to the edge to get his own run game going as well.
Add into the equation that Trey McBride is one of the better tight ends in the NFL and that Marvin Harrison finally looks like he is a part of this offense, and the Cardinals should roll to a 2-0 start after this one.
Value Pick of the Week: Arizona Cardinals
High Risk, High Reward Pick of the Week | Week 2 NFL Survivor Pool Picks
New England Patriots vs Miami Dolphins
Even though the Patriots lost last week against a solid Las Vegas Raiders team, I am taking them to win against the Miami Dolphins this week. This pick solely rests on how bad the Dolphins looked last timeout. In their game last week, the defense made Daniel Jones look like he was Steve Young. In my mind, Drake Maye is already a better quarterback than Jones, so I am wondering what Maye is going to look like against this defense.
Tua Tagovailoa looked horrible last week, as he couldn’t complete passes and coughed up the ball seemingly more times than not (not actually, but it felt that way). I would assume that some of Mike Vrabel’s coaching philosophy coincides with what he learned playing for Bill Belichick. If that is the case, I would guess that Vrabel tries to take away Miami’s number one option in this game. The only player who looked somewhat okay last week for Miami was De’Von Achane.
If Achane is stopped and Miami can’t run the ball, which they won’t be able to, Vrabel can bring all of the pressure and stunts he wants, leading to a possible repeat of last week for the Dolphins.
High Risk, High Reward Pick: New England Patriots
Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok for more great FlurrySports content.
