NFL Week 13 is a crazy one for survivor pool picks and Fantasy Alarm is ready with the best survivor pool strategy for those who are still in the hunt.

For some of you, it’s a week like any other. No teams are on a bye, and you have a full 16-game slate from which to choose. But for some of you, like those still alive in Circa Survivor or other high-stakes pools, your week gets broken up into two slates – the Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday games and then the regular Sunday/Monday games. 

 

 

 

Hopefully you were able to save a team like the Kansas City Chiefs or the Detroit Lions for the former as the other two games are going to be much tighter, despite the Vegas money lines tilting heavily towards the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. 

We went 3-1 with our survivor pool picks last week as the Chiefs, Dolphins and Packers all came through in style. The Washington Commanders, unfortunately for some, fell victim to a surprisingly coherent Cowboys team. The game was an absolute bust for the first three quarters and then all hell broke loose with the two teams combining for 41 points in the fourth quarter. 

The Commanders looked like they were going to pull off another miracle victory in the waning seconds, but Austin Siebert missed the game-tying extra-point and Dallas took the onside kick to the house for a final touchdown. Brutal way to go down if you were following the best survivor pool strategy as they were a significant home favorite, but that’s the way it’s gone this whole season.

Best NFL Survivor Pool Strategy For 2024 NFL Week 13

If you’re looking for the best survivor pool strategy for this week, again, it comes down to the rules of your specific pool. 

If each week is its own entity, then you can stick with checking the Vegas odds, point spreads and money lines, giving home teams the priority, but if you play in a high-stakes tournament that uses Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday as its own week, it’s probably the same over Christmas as well. That means Chiefs, Ravens, Steelers, Texans, Seahawks and the Bears. Not a great lineup of options but we can worry about that when we get there.

Let’s get to some Thanksgiving favorites for survivor pool picks as well as the rest of Week 13.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Day Survivor Picks

Kansas City Chiefs (-13 Home Favorite; -750 Money Line)

A pretty big no-brainer here and while you’d like to maybe think about saving them for Christmas Day, I’d rather take the “free square” and move onto next week. The Raiders are activating Aidan O’Connell from IR to start this game and that just doesn’t bode well for Las Vegas. The Chiefs defense should have a strong effort. Take it and run. 

Detroit Lions (-9.5 Home Favorite; -500 Money Line)

Regardless of any improvements we’ve seen for Caleb Williams, this game should belong to Detroit. The Bears are a run-funnel defense and even with David Montgomery playing at less than 100-percent, you still have Jahmyr Gibbs with which to contend. Lions should take the early game handily.

Green Bay Packers (-3.5 Home Favorite; -185 Money Line)

Gonna be a cold one for sure and that will favor the Packers. Tua Tagovailoa has yet to play well in the outdoors in November and December and the pass defense of Miami is going to have some trouble containing the variety of weapons at Jordan Love’s disposal. The Packers upcoming schedule is a tough one as well, so now might be a good time to get them. 

 

 

 

NFL Survivor Pool Picks for Week 13

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-6 Road Favorite; -275 Money Line)

The return of Mike Evans and a get-right game against the Giants was all Baker Mayfield and the Bucs needed to get back on-track for the season. Now they get Carolina? Yes, please. The Panthers did well against the Chiefs last week, but they still lost. Even if you think they keep this game competitive, I just don’t see them victorious. 

Buffalo Bills (-7 Home Favorite; -350 Money Line)

There is always some concern that Brock Purdy will be healthy, and Christian McCaffrey will return to form to face a Bills defense that struggles against the run, but we’ve got a couple of days to really figure this out if you’re not locking in one of the Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday games. If Purdy is out, I’m locking in Buffalo coming off a bye. They can sell out to stop CMC and let the secondary handle Brandon Allen.

Houston Texans (-4.5 Road Favorite; -400 Money Line)

Very tough to trust Houston, but even coming off a bye, the Jaguars are not a good team. I actually see this one as a get-right game for C.J. Stroud who should dominate through the air and then let Joe Mixon finish it off on the ground.

 

 

 

Best of luck in Week 13 and I’ll see you for more survivor pool picks and the best survivor pool strategy in Week 14!