The Eagles Endorsement Gone Wrong: NFL Survivor Week 6 Carnage

Heading into Sunday, the Jets had never outlasted the Eagles in 12 tries dating back to 1973. With Philadelphia rocking a 5-0 record and elite units on both sides of the ball while the Jets boast one of the worst passing attacks in the league, not many believed in New York to keep Philly from improving to 13-0 all-time and 6-0 on the season. We were among them.

Splash picked the Eagles as our Week 6 Lock of the Week, guaranteeing entrants in our Week 6 NFL Survivor Revival contest that picked Philadelphia their money back if it failed. We hit on our first five Locks of the Week this season, but like 8.45 percent of all Week 6 Splash NFL Survivor entries, this was the one that did us in.

The Jets just narrowly did enough to earn their third triumph of 2023, flexing their defensive might for the country to witness. After going down 14-3 in the second quarter, New York stood tall defensively, refusing the Eagles another point the rest of the way. Philadelphia’s drives in the second half concluded with a punt, a punt, an interception, a missed field goal, another interception, and a turnover on downs. That’s six straight stops, and although the defense didn’t directly score what ultimately became the game-winning touchdown, returning an interception to only eight yards away from paydirt did the offense quite a favor. It was a resounding statement from the Jets against what has otherwise been a prolific offense this season.

We did not expect that Jalen Hurts would throw three interceptions while Zach Wilson avoided turning the ball over even once. We did not expect that the Jets would hold the Eagles to 80 yards on the ground, their smallest total of the season and the first time since Week 1 that a defense held them to below 100 rushing yards as a team. We did not expect that Jake Elliott would miss his first field goal inside of 40 yards since Dec. 18, 2022 – that was 10 months and 12 regular season and playoff games ago.

If Elliott connects on his 37-yard field goal attempt in the last four minutes of the contest to give the Eagles a one-point advantage, you might not be reading this article. But he didn’t make it, and that’s the reality we’ve been assigned. Time to take our lumps.

We are mere mortals, equipped with educated guesses to make our evaluations. Until one of us is hired as an NFL official or finally achieves our dream of becoming a shutdown corner for the Cincinnati Bengals (watch out, 2024 NFL Combine), we will continue to have zero direct or indirect impact on how these things turn out. We’re just like you: some dudes and lady dudes who watch football from whichever angles TV producers deem best. Sometimes we get it wrong. The Eagles’ demise drops us to 5-1 on our Lock of the Week picks this season.

This result took more than Splash by surprise. As mentioned, the Jets tore up more than 8 percent of Survivor entries with their upset. Philadelphia was the fifth-most popular choice of the week, and its undoing did the most damage of any in Week 6 for Splash Survivor players. Plus, 56 percent of Splash pickers thought the Eagles would cover the 6.5-point spread. Kudos to the 44 percent who knew better, but how many of them believed New York would get the W, too?

For as much devastation as the Jets distributed to Splash Survivor players this week, they weren’t the only punch landed. The 49ers had 2.47 percent of the Splash Survivor population in their corner, and they repaid that loyalty by losing their first game of the season: 19-17 to the Deshaun Watson-less Browns. While that was only enough to place San Francisco sixth in the Splash Survivor popularity rankings, the general consensus was that the Niners would cruise in Cleveland; 88 percent of pickers sided with the 49ers to cover the 4.5-point spread for the matchup, the most lopsided pick against the spread among Splash users so far this season.

Those who put their faith in the Saints felt the pain, too. New Orleans surrendered, 20-13, to the Texans in Houston on Sunday, dashing the dreams of 1.27 percent of Week 6 Survivor entries. The Saints had three chances with the ball in the fourth quarter facing a seven-point deficit and failed to find a point on any of them, falling to 3-3 on the season. Somewhere, the combined 1 percent of players who went for the Falcons, Bears, Broncos, Patriots, or Seahawks are wallowing in the same despair.

How about the 0.03 percent of entries that staked their survival on the Jets, though? Or the 0.04 percent that went all in on the Browns? They have been rewarded handsomely for their willingness to go against the crowd, surviving and advancing to Week 7 in their contests as many of their competitors say goodbye. If only the Giants could have beaten the Bills and eliminated another 24.30 percent of entries for you.

For those of you who picked the Eagles in the Week 6 Survivor Revival contest, you will have your cash back from one of your entries this week. For the rest of you who picked the Eagles on our recommendation, we’re sorry, but if you listened to us throughout the season, we steered you right until now. We’re still proud of our 5-1 track record.

We’re proud enough to name another Lock of the Week as we look ahead to Week 7: the Buffalo Bills, who will head to Foxboro on Sunday to battle the one-win Patriots. If we burned you with the Eagles last week, let us make it up to you with the Bills this week. All you have to do is take the Bills in the Week 7 Survivor Revival contest, and we’ll put our money where our mouth is if we must.