Survivor Clean Slate Week 10: Falcons Flop, Patriots Drop, Rams Laid an Egg

If you’re part of the large majority that hinged your survival on the Saints or Browns last week, then you’re riding high and still alive in your NFL Survivor contest. In fact, nearly all of the popular Survivor picks from Week 9 helped their believers move on to Week 10.

But not all did, and it leaves some of you on the outside looking in, wishing you could have it all back.

And you can! Well, not exactly. You don’t get to go back into the contest you were in. That’s over. But you can join the Week 10 Splash NFL Survivor Sprint, which boasts a grand prize of $8,000. You have to pick two winners each week to stay in contention, doubling the stakes to make it more of a challenge for you and your competition.

Whether you are in need of some help on how to angle your re-entry into the Survivor world via the Week 10 Splash Sprint or are still hanging on in your contest and could use some tips for this week’s decision, I’m here for you.

In Memoriam

It was a relatively peaceful week in Splash Survivor contests. The Saints and Browns, who combined to receive more than 70 percent of all entries, both achieved victories. But no week of NFL Survivor goes off without a hitch.

The Falcons were the biggest failure of Week 9. The fifth-most popular pick of the week came up just short to the Vikings, 31-28, to fall to 4-5 and eliminate 2.69 percent of Splash Survivor entries. Next, the 1.54 percent of entries that pinned their hopes on the Patriots have been left to rot after New England couldn’t get it done against the Commanders, 20-17. Right behind the Patriots came the Bucs, who fell to the Texans, 39-37, deserting 1.48 percent of all entries in the process. When the Packers handled the Rams, 20-3, it sent 1.00 percent of Splash Survivor entries packing, too.

If you were one of the victims of these outcomes, I offer my deepest condolences. Your competitors do not.

If You Want the Week’s Biggest Favorite…

Week 10’s widest line by a mile can be found in Arlington, Texas.

The Giants are set to go to AT&T Stadium this Sunday to take on the Cowboys, and they are massive underdogs. Early lines have the home team as 16.5-point favorites, a huge step up from the next-largest spread of 6.5 points.

Daniel Jones has a torn ACL. Tyrod Taylor is out for at least the next few weeks. Rookie Tommy DeVito and newly-signed Matt Barkley are the team’s two options at quarterback. The Giants offense was already one of the worst in the NFL, and what little life was left is now bleeding out in a dirt field somewhere.

When these teams met for the first time in Week 1, Dallas blanked its divisional foe, 40-0, in one of the biggest beatings of 2023. With how hamstrung the already-inept New York offense is, success might just be getting on the board this time around. Plus, Dallas is 3-0 at home this season, another sign that points to a triumph for the home side.

It’s the NFL, they’re all professionals, any given Sunday, yadda, yadda, yadda. Maybe the Giants pull off the upset – wouldn’t be the first shocker of the season. But if you have the Cowboys available to you and you want what is presumed to be the most certain contest, then you know what to do.

If You Want the Next-Biggest Favorites…

The Bills are in the midst of eating you know-what after losing three of their last five and struggling to put away teams you’d expect a Super Bowl contender to conquer. Yet, they are a 7.5-point favorite in their home game against the Broncos this Monday.

There is a very clear trend with Buffalo and how it plays: game location. In Orchard Park, the Bills are an unbeaten 4-0, including a comfortable Week 4 handling of the Dolphins. Everywhere else, the team is 1-4 with defeats at the Patriots and Jets. Josh Allen’s stats are strongly skewed between home and away, too, a microcosm of a larger issue within the team.

This one is at Highmark Stadium, where the Bills are averaging 31 points per game this season. Buffalo does have injury concerns, especially on defense. The Broncos have been better lately than in the season’s earliest days, and they had their bye week in Week 9. But if you believe that the Bills’ Jekyll and Hyde act is as convincing as the books believe, then those won’t change your mind of going all in on Buffalo this week; in Western New York, the Bills win.

If You Want a Value Pick…

The Bengals are favored by 6.5 points in their matchup with the Texans this Sunday. ESPN’s FPI gives Cincinnati a 65.5 percent chance to extend its winning streak to five, and with how Burrow and the Bengals have been playing lately, it makes sense to stake your survival on their success. Where this one will be played is worth noting: Cincinnati is 3-1 at Paycor Stadium this season, while Houston is 1-3 when tasked with competing away from home.

The Texans have had their moments in 2023 – C.J. Stroud is inching closer to Rookie of the Year recognition with each passing week – and that may give you some pause. But is the Houston defense, particularly its secondary, prepared to keep this Bengals offensive attack at bay? This is a defense that allowed the Bucs to drop 37 on it last week and is in the top 10 in the NFL for most passing yards allowed per game (238.0).

Odds are, the Bengals will be among the most-picked teams in Survivor this week, though I suspect there will be others that get more attention. The Texans are a darling right now, and that might distract some from getting involved. But I think there might be something here for those willing to risk it.