NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Picks: Packers Bounce Back, Fade Dak-less Cowboys in This Week’s Predictions

It wouldn’t be the BetSided Survivor Pool without some casualties in Week 1 of the 2022 season. 

Peter Dewey and Donnavan Smoot are out after taking the Indianapolis Colts, who tied the Houston Texans in Week 1. Frank Reich still can’t seem to figure things out in Week 1. 

However, four of our editors got their pick correct and advanced to Week 2. Let’s recap their picks from last week and jump into the selections for the upcoming slate in the NFL: 

NFL Week 1 Survivor Pool Pick Results

• Joe Summers: Baltimore Ravens (W)
• Iain MacMillan: Philadelphia Eagles (W)
• Ben Heisler: Baltimore Ravens (W)
• Reed Wallach: Baltimore Ravens (W)
• Peter Dewey: Indianapolis Colts (T)
• Donnavan Smoot: Indianapolis Colts (T)

NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Picks

Los Angeles Rams

If you're going to take the Los Angeles Rams in survivor this season, now is the time to do it against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2. 

Not only do they have one of the tougher schedules in the NFL, but based on what we saw from Matt Stafford's elbow issue in Week 1 against the Bills, it's best to use them now before it's too late. If his elbow issue gets worse as the season progresses, the Rams are going to be unplayable from a survivor standpoint. 

Let's get the easy win here, and move on to Week 3. – Iain MacMillan

Cincinnati Bengals

After Jerry and Stephen Jones gutted the Dallas Cowboys' offense in the offseason for seemingly no good reason, Dak Prescott's unfortunate injury effectively ends Dallas' 2022 campaign before most of us can finish a cup of coffee. 

Joe Burrow struggled against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Mike McCarthy is no Mike Tomlin and I don't see Cooper Rush picking up the slack.

Cincy's Week 1 loss required five turnovers from Burrow, a blocked extra point and a missed chip-shot field goal. I don't see that kind of disaster day coming again, especially against a demoralized Cowboys team. – Joe Summers

Green Bay Packers

I'm not going to overreact to the Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, who are shaping up to be a NFC playoff team, and I'll ride with the Pack on Sunday. The Chicago Bears got some favorable weather conditions that negated the talent advantage of the San Francisco 49ers and the Packers should show the world just how helpless Chicago is.

Aaron Rodgers is 22-5 lifetime against the Bears, and I expect him to make it 23-5. – Reed Wallach

Denver Broncos

I narrowed down my finalists for Week 2 to three home teams that all lost badly in Week 1: the Rams (vs. Falcons), 49ers (vs. Seattle Seahawks), and the Denver Broncos (vs. Texans).

Ultimately, I landed on Denver for a few different reasons, but the primary one being that this should be their easiest matchup of the season (other than Week 7 vs. the Jets).

Everything that could have gone wrong for the Broncos did on Monday, and they were still in position to win the game up until Nathaniel Hackett forgot he had three timeouts and the highest-paid player in the sport under center. The last team to have two goal line turnovers was the Kansas City Chiefs back in 1987.

Following their Monday Night meltdown in Seattle, I sense that their urgency to right the ship at home in one of the most difficult places for visitors to play. I also expect both L.A. and San Francisco to be much more popular this week, given recency bias from what fans saw out of Denver just the other day. – Ben Heisler