Welcome to Week 5 of your NFL survivor pool. If you were one of the lucky few who survived the previous week, congratulations are in order! Just to recap, every game that I had in my picks last week won by a large margin:
Pick #1: Denver Broncos over Philadelphia Eagles (52-20)
Pick #2: Indianapolis Colts over Jacksonville Jaguars (37-3)
Pick #3: New Orleans Saints over Miami Dolphins (38-17)
Sleeper Pick: Kansas City Chiefs over New York Giants (31-17)
I went with the Denver Broncos in my survivor pool and was handsomely rewarded with a blowout win against the Eagles which keeps me alive for Week 5. Unfortunately, every week won’t be as easy to pick as Week 4, and the sledding certainly becomes tougher this week as there are no sure things among the games to choose from. That being said, here are my top 3 picks and sleeper pick for Week 5.
Top 3 Locks for Week 5
If you are in a survivor pool that doesn’t allow you to pick the same team twice, then Denver may not be an option this week. If you are one of the few who haven’t, then this week against the Dallas Cowboys is a good spot. The Cowboys are playing at home and coming off a tough loss to the San Diego Chargers so there is plenty of incentive for them to play well, but I just don’t see them being able to take down Peyton Manning and the high-octane Broncos offense. There are simply too many weapons for the shaky Dallas D to shut down.
The Falcons are coming off an embarrassing Monday Night loss to the Patriots at home and will be looking to show people that they are much better than their 1-3 record suggests against the 2-2 New York Jets. The Jets and rookie QB Geno Smith were horrible on the road against the Titans in week 4 and will be facing a Falcons team that is in a must-win situation playing in front of their home crowd. If you are still alive in your survivor pool then there is a good chance you haven’t picked the Falcons yet. Pick them here and move on to week 6 safely.
This isn’t the best week to pick against the winless Jaguars, but if you have picked most of the elite teams already then you could do much worse than picking the 1-3 Rams at home. The Rams are coming off a humiliating Thursday Night loss to the 49ers which exposed their shaky QB situation and lack of offensive weapons. On the plus side, the Rams have had an extra long week to prepare and are due for a bounce back game in week 5. As long as Blaine Gabbert is under center, this could be a long and winless season for the Jags.
Sleeper Pick
San Diego Chargers over Oakland Raiders
The 2-2 Chargers are coming off a surprising victory at home against the Cowboys in week 4, and will look to continue their stellar play on the road against the 1-3 Oakland Raiders. Terrelle Pryor is coming back from a concussion that kept him out of the lineup in week 4, so expect the Raiders to be much better in the QB department. Philip Rivers is playing at a near-MVP level when you consider the injuries to his top wide receivers to start the season. With the emergence of RB Danny Woodhead, I expect a lot of dump off passes to the diminutive back that will add up to large chunks against and the win against an inconsistent Raider D.
That’s all my picks for Week 5. Stay tuned next week so that you can be the last man standing while watching your competition drop like flies as the season goes along. Feel free to ask me questions about your survivor pool picks on Twitter @MikeMital.
