Last week’s top-survivor selection, the Philadelphia Eagles, made us sweat despite laying over a touchdown. Nevertheless, Jalen Hurts and company pulled through and defeated the Cleveland Browns 20-16. Yet another big favorite that made the game anything but relaxing. Let’s see if circumstances change this week with three matchups that feature favorites of -7 or more. Let’s dive into the top recommendations for your NFL survivor pool picks for Week 7.
NFL Survivor Pool Picks Week 7: Bills, Rams or Commanders?
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Bills -9 vs Titans | NFL Survivor Week 7
The Buffalo Bills made headlines on Tuesday after they acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper from the Browns. Cooper will beef up a weakened Bills receiving corps that features Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman and Mack Hollins. Buffalo finally has their number one threat to replace Stefon Diggs.
Even if they didn’t snag Cooper, they’d still be in a very favorable position this upcoming weekend. The Tennessee Titans have performed disgustingly in just about every game. The main reason for that can be attributed to their starting quarterback Will Levis. Levis sits 31st in EPA/Play among quarterbacks, with only Deshaun Watson ranking lower. In terms of success rate, Levis is 30th; Bo Nix is 31st and Watson is 32nd. The Titans offense ranks 30th in offensive success rate and 28th in EPA/Play.
After dropping two games in a row, Buffalo secured a much needed victory Monday night against the Jets. They’ll be sure to carry this momentum back home against one of the league’s worst teams. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Levis can do enough to keep this game close versus a Bills defense that ranks 9th in dropback EPA and 8th in success rate.
The Bills do struggles against the run, surrendering 5.3 yards per carry, which is dead last in the NFL. However, Tony Pollard can only do so much throughout the course of a game, and it certainly won’t be enough to keep up with Josh Allen and his crew.
This is the safest option on the board for Week 7, the only hesitation is wanting to save the Bills for later in the year. They have favorable matchups in Week 9 vs the Dolphins and in Week 16 vs the Patriots.
Rams -7 vs. Raiders | NFL Survivor Pool Picks Week 7
Some good news finally appears to be trending the Los Angeles Rams’ direction. It was reported that wide receiver Cooper Kupp could possibly return to action this week.
Conversely, the Las Vegas Raiders were also the victim of a loss to their receiving corps when it was announced that Davante Adams was traded to the New York Jets. Granted, Adams had been sitting out the past couple of games, but it’s a testament to the state of the franchise.
Last week, Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce made the decision to start Aidan O’Connell over Gardner Minshew. The Raiders lost 32-13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with O’Connell completing 67.5% of his passes for 227 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
It won’t get any easier when they travel to LA to face a Rams team that’s desperate for a win and coming off their bye week.
I believe the Rams win this game and that this is a strong survivor selection. However, the Rams still present a huge liability on the defensive front, where they rank 31st in EPA/Play and 30th in success rate. This feels like the type of game where you’re going to have to sweat it out for all four quarters and hope Matthew Stafford can limit the costly turnovers in the late stages. As fun as that sounds, I’ll steer in another direction.
Commanders -7.5 vs. Panthers | NFL Survivor Week 7
That alternative direction leads us to Washington, where the Commanders will host the Carolina Panthers.
After exceeding expectations and enduring a four-game win streak, the Commanders came back to reality last Sunday agains the Baltimore Ravens, when they lost 30-23. Still, it was a strong effort from Washington and showed that they can hang with the big boys.
On the other side, despite quarterback Andy Dalton producing progress on the Panthers’ offensive front, they are still a bottom-tier team with plenty of gaps – especially on the defensive side of the ball. Defensively, Carolina is 30th in EPA/Play and 27th in success rate allowed. Plus, they’re very banged up on that side of the ball.
Washington enters Week 7 as the number one offense in terms of EPA per play, which is large in part due to rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who also ranks 1st in EPA per play and completion percentage over expectation among QBs.
This appears to be the safest week to use the Commanders as our survivor pick – so let’s go ahead and do that.
Best NFL Week 7 Survivor Pick: Washington Commanders
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