Week 7 was… something. A lot of upsets and upset Survivor pool players, with the 49ers dropping a get-right game to the Vikings and the Bills losing to a weaker Patriots team. Anything can happen in the NFL, which is the beauty of the sport but also a curse. Let’s hope Week 8 goes better!

We will help you get to the promised land one week at a time with our picks, but in case you’re not familiar with Survivor pools, here’s a quick rundown:

Pick a team that wins in each NFL week. Typically, you choose a team just once, so each selection is incredibly important. Some survivor pools have double-elimination so that you can slip up and still be in the running. Make sure you’re checking out our weekly matchup previews and our Survivor League Strategy in the Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide as guides toward picking the best winners for each week and developing a strategy.

Let’s dive right in with Week 8’s picks!

2023 Survival Pool Picks Record

Week 7: 2-3 (.400)

Overall: 26-9 (.742)

 

NFL Week 8 DraftKings Odds, Implied Totals, Spreads, and Over/Under

*All lines current as of 11:00 PM ET, 10/25/23, courtesy of Vegas Insider*

NFL Week 8 Survivor Picks

Baltimore Ravens

Joshua Dobbs has backslid after a hot start, and now the Cardinals have started the window for Kyler Murray to return from IR. That will not be this week, so that’s a great thing for the Ravens, who are on the road but are clearly the better team as 8.5-point favorites.

Lamar Jackson and company have been rolling on offense and will continue their hot run against the Cardinals, who sport one of the lowest implied point totals (18) of the Week 8 slate. I trust this offense for Baltimore to put the game out of reach and make this one comfortable.

Miami Dolphins

Miami does what they do: crush the easy teams. They put up 70 points on the Broncos, then two weeks later, beat the Giants and Panthers handily as they put up 31 and 42 points, respectively. Their Week 8 opponent is the Patriots at home, where they’ve won all three games so far, and historically, New England has had issues with Miami playing at Hard Rock Stadium.

With Miami as 8.5-point favorites at home against a Patriots team with an implied point total of just 18.5, they should be able to cruise as the Dolphins are also averaging 29 points per home contest. While the Patriots have looked slightly more competent, they don’t have the team speed or offensive firepower to hang with Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and company. Not in this economy.

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers could just go full-blown Chargers  That is definitely in the realm of possibilities.

But the Chargers are too good on offense with all of their pieces at home against a bad Bears defense and an offense starting Tyson Bagent. Bagent, he of a 2.0-yard aDOT, may have to sling some passes farther than six feet in front of him if he wants to go toe-to-toe with this high-powered Chargers offense. The Bolts are 8.5-point home favorites against Chicago, who allows the fifth-most points in the NFL.

This spot is so good that even the Chargers can’t spoil this. One would think.

Other NFL Week 8 Survivor Pool Options

Detroit Lions

The Lions return home to lick their wounds after a 38-6 drubbing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. Opposing them in Week 8 is the Las Vegas Raiders — a sight for sore eyes. They’re asking one of Brian Hoyer, Aidan O’Connell, or a hampered Jimmy Garoppolo to go into Detroit and put up enough points to counter the offensive prowess of the Lions.

The Lions are eight-point favorites at home against the Raiders, and the Raiders just cannot keep up with the Lions or stop them, frankly. I trust Dan Campbell to get his team ready for this game vs. trusting Josh McDaniels to put on his coaching hat and lead the Raiders to a road upset on national TV.

Houston Texans

Both the Texans and their opponent — the worst team in football (if you ask Kevin Tompkins and the NFL standings), the Carolina Panthers — are both coming off of their Week 7 byes. Carolina has been downright abysmal this season on both ends of the ball, and the 0-6 Panthers have a new play-caller as head coach Frank Reich has already ceded those duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. Whether it’s “scapegoatism” at its finest for a Panthers team looking to turn it around with a new play-caller, the fact that they’re likely to be overmatched by a plucky Texans team favored by a field goal seems wild. But that is where we are in 2023, where the Texans are three-point road favorites.

Houston has some impressive wins against Jacksonville and Pittsburgh under its belt, so the #2 overall pick, C.J. Stroud, should have a much easier time picking apart the Panthers than his counterpart, #1 overall pick Bryce Young.