NFL Week 12 Survivor Pool Picks (Browns, Patriots Highlight Surprising Predictions)
With four early games in Week 12 because of Thanksgiving, everyone is going to want to lock in their Survivor Pool pick early this week.
The BetSided team was spurned by the Washington Commanders' loss to the New York Giants last week, but we're allowing both editors who picked them to buy back in and help pick Survivor winners for the rest of the season.
After all, that's what we want -- to give our loyal readers the best picks we have to keep them alive week to week. If you've made it this far in Survivor, you're among the best of the best.
For more Week 12 picks, check out our NFL betting analyst Iain MacMillan’s best bet for every game on the slate here!
If you want to bet on your team to win, there’s a great welcome offer that you should take advantage of at DraftKings Sportsbook.
New users that sign up with the link below will receive $150 in bonus bets if they deposit and wager $5 on any game!
NFL Week 11 Survivor Pool Picks Results
- Peter Dewey: Washington Commanders (L)
- Vinnie Portell: Detroit Lions (W)
- Iain MacMillan: Houston Texans (W)
- Joe Summers: Washington Commanders (L)
Our goal is to deliver winners for our readers every week to keep them alive in Survivor. Here's where the BetSided team is leaning this week:
NFL Week 12 Survivor Pool Picks
Pittsburgh Steelers
Call me crazy, but I'm taking Pittsburgh on the road this week to beat the Cincinnati Bengals.
With Joe Burrow done for the season, the Bengals are turning things over to Jake Browning for his first career start. Cincy has not been good this season from an advanced metrics perspective, as our NFL expert Iain MacMillan pointed out this week, and I think the team gets exposed with Browning under center.
The Steelers just fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada, so maybe that is the boost the team needs to start scoring the ball. Kenny Pickett has been bad this season, but Browning may be worse. Roll with the Steelers as slight favorites to advance this week in Survivor. -- Peter Dewey
New England Patriots
At this point of the season, you're probably low on teams to use but there's one team I can almost guarantee you haven't used, and that's the New England Patriots.
If there's ever a time to use them, it's this week against the New York Giants. New England already has an elite run defense, so assuming the Pats can shut down the Giants run game, they'll have to rely on Tommy DeVito to win the game for them.
You really think a rookie quarterback is going to beat a Bill Belichick defense off a bye week? Not a chance. Now is the time to use the Patriots. -- Iain MacMillan
Cleveland Browns
If you've not used teams like the Baltimore Ravens or Dallas Cowboys yet, this is a great week for those squads.
If you have, then I like the Browns to snap the Broncos' four-game winning streak.
Cleveland won and covered the spread in each of its last three games thanks to a dominant defense, while I view the Broncos as a paper tiger.
In its last 16 games as favorites, Denver is 2-13-1 against the spread.
The Broncos squeaked by the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings over the previous few weeks, but I think Myles Garrett will make Russell Wilson's life miserable.
Wilson was sacked a dozen times in his last three games and I foresee a six-sack day from the Browns. Roll with Cleveland. -- Joe Summers
You're probably at the point in your Survivor season where your options are running thin, but that's just fine, as we've seen that the best teams aren't necessarily the best picks!
Picking Cleveland certainly takes some guts here, but consider the defense. The Browns have allowed just 18 points per game (6th in NFL), under 100 rush yards per game, and the LEAST amount of passing yards per game (143.7).
The Broncos offense has been much-improved this season, but there's a good chance it struggles mightily this week. -- Vinnie Portell
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.