Heading into Week 7 of the NFL season, we have three viable picks for your survivor pool with the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, or the undefeated Arizona Cardinals.
Week 7 features six teams on bye weeks and only 13 games. The Los Angeles Rams are a -16.5 favorite against the Detroit Lions, but we backed the Rams in the opening week of the season. The Tampa Bay Bucs are also double-digit favorites at -12.5 against the Detroit Lions, but they’re not available for us either because they were our survivor pick from two weeks ago.
| NFL Week 7 Survivor Pool Picks |
| Matchup | Pick | Line |
| Green Bay Packers vs Washington | Packers | -8 |
| New England Patriots vs NY Jets | Pats | -7 |
| Arizona Cardinals vs Houston Texans | Cards | -18 |
During this season, we’ve advanced with the LA Rams (Week 1), Cleveland Browns (Week 2), Denver Broncos (Week 3), Buffalo Bills (Week 4), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Week 5), and Indianapolis Colts (Week 6).
Survivor consensus: Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals (6-0) have yet to lose a game and boast the second-best against the spread record in the league with a 5-1 ATS clip. As the only undefeated team in the league, the Cardinals are the consensus pick for survivor pools in Week 7. They’re facing the Houston Texans, which also provides an ideal spot if you’re going to fade the Texans every week.
If you want to save the Cardinals for a survivor pick in December, then they visit the Detroit Lions in Week 15.
Fade the LOL Jets: Patriots
As far as survivor pool picks go, the New England Patriots (2-4) don’t have much to play for this season, but you can sure as hell know that there’s no way Bill Belichick is going to lose to the Jets, especially at home at Foxboro. You can also bet on Belichick against a rookie quarterback in a spot where he’s 23-6 in his career, including a win against Zach Wilson in Week 2.
We love to fade the LOL Jets year after year, and it’s been a profitable venture because the Jets are 1-4 ATS this season.
If you’re looking for an excuse to not pick the Pats in this spot and cite the extra rest for the Jets (they played a London game two weeks ago with a bye in Week 6), you have a point. Then again, you can give rookie head coach a month to prep for Belichick and the Pats, and he’d still be an underdog.
If you’re looking to save the Patriots for another spot in the future, they could be a worthy pick later in the season against the New York Giants in Week 13 or the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 17.
Exploiting the bad defense: Packers
The Green Bay Packers (5-1) won five straight since their opening week throttling by the New Orleans Saints. The Packers are also tied with the second-best betting record at 5-1 ATS. Washington Football Team (2-4) has the worst defense in the NFL, allowing 31 ppg, which puts the Packers in a favorite situation if you want to exploit horrible defenses with your survivor pool pick.
If you’re looking for a reason to pass on the Packers this week, then this is a classic spot where a team isn’t focused on the team in front of them, and is more concerned about a huge game the next week. The Packers head out to Arizona on a short week in Week 8 to play the undefeated Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. Then again, Aaron Rodgers lives too much in the moment to let his team lose sight of the task at hand.