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In Week 13 of the NFL regular season, favorites ended up going 13-3 straight up. The Philadelphia Eagles (+3 at Ravens), Pittsburgh Steelers. (+3 at Bengals) and Seattle Seahawks. (+1.5 at Jets) were the underdogs to win outright.
The Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings won their 10th games of the season — each at 10-2. They joined the 2 other double-digit wins club — the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs (11-1). The Lions improved to 12-1 with a 34-31 Thursday night home win vs. the Green Bay Packers.
If you still have one or more of those double-digit win teams remaining, congrats.
Just 15 entries — of 10,357 — remain in the USA TODAY NFL Survivor Pool contest, hoping to win the $5,000 prize. Only 1 entry was eliminated last week after picking the Cincinnati Bengals, who lost 44-38 at home to the Steelers.
We made it through in Week 13 with the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. They won a crazy, high-scoring 41-32 game at home against the Cleveland Browns despite QB Jameis Winston throwing for 497 passing yards with 4 TDs … but he had 3 interceptions, 2 of the pick-six variety.
Our second option in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed an overtime field goal to win at the Carolina Panthers. That’s back-to-back weeks that our second option was a bit nerve-wracking, both times picking against the Panthers, who made us sweat before they lost both contests on walk-off field goals.
On the Week 14 slate, the Panthers are easily the largest underdog as they’re getting 13 points when they visit the Eagles Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The next biggest favorites are the Steelers (-6.5 vs. Browns, 1 p.m. ET) and the Bucs (-6.5 vs. Las Vegas Raiders, 1 p.m. ET).
Follow the USA TODAY NFL Survivor Pool.
– All games Sunday and ET unless noted
The pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Who they play: Home vs. Las Vegas Raiders – 1 p.m. (CBS)
Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list of NFL odds. Lines last updated Friday at 7:59 a.m. ET.
- Line: Buccaneers -6.5 / Moneyline (ML): Buccaneers -300 | Raiders +240
The Buccaneers (6-6) enter on a 2-game win streak after losing 4 in a row. The Raiders (2-10) are on an 8-game slide, but one of their 2 wins this season was a 26-23 victory as 8.5-point underdogs at the Baltimore Ravens. So, there is some risk here in picking Tampa Bay..
There is also the fact that the Buccaneers are just a 2-4 at home this season, including losses in the last 3 — to the San Francisco 49ers (23-20 in Week 10), to the Atlanta Falcons (31-26 in Week 8) and to the Ravens (41-31 in Week 7).
The Bucs haven’t won at home since Week 4 against a banged-up Eagles side. Of course, Tampa was missing WR Mike Evans for most of those games due to injury, so QB Baker Mayfield had very few quality targets.
Still, the Raiders don’t have much to play for, while the Bucs are battling for first place in the NFC South — they are tied with the Falcons at 6-6 apiece..
TAMPA BAY IS MY FAVORITE SURVIVOR PLAY OF WEEK 14.
FOOTBALL NEVER STOPS
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No. 2 option: Pittsburgh Steelers
Who they play: Home vs. Cleveland Browns – 1 p.m. (CBS)
- Line: Steelers -6.5 / ML: Steelers -275 | Browns +225
The Steelers (9-3) are looking for a little bit of revenge when the Browns (3-9) visit to Acrisure Stadium Sunday.
It was just 2 weeks ago — in the Week 12 Thursday night game — when the Browns upset the Steelers 24-19 in the snow in Cleveland. The Browns were 3.5-point underdogs, and it’s the Steelers’ only loss in their past 7 games.
It’s hard to beat a division rival twice, especially when it’s not a very good team. The Browns are not very good and they have traditionally struggled in Pittsburgh, too.
Back QB Russell Wilson and Steelers to avenge the Week 12 loss this Sunday.
2024 survivor game log
NO. 1 OPTION
Week 1: LOSS – Patriots 16, Bengals 10
Week 2: LOSS – Falcons 22, Eagles 21
Week 3: LOSS – Panthers 36, Raiders 22
Week 4: WIN – 49ers 30, Patriots 13
Week 5: LOSS – Giants 29, Seahawks 20
Week 6: WIN – Eagles 20, Browns 16
Week 7: WIN – Commanders 40, Panthers 7
Week 8: LOSS – Browns 29, Ravens 24
Week 9: WIN – Chiefs 30, Buccaneers 24 (OT)
Week 10: WIN – Vikings 12, Jaguars 7
Week 11: WIN – Lions 52, Jaguars 6
Week 12: LOSS – Titans 32, Texans 27
Week 13: WIN – Broncos 41, Browns 32
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NO. 2 OPTION
Week 1: WIN – Saints 47, Panthers 10
Week 2: WIN – Chargers 26, Panthers 3
Week 3: LOSS – Giants 21, Browns 15
Week 4: WIN – Cowboys 20, Giants 15
Week 5: WIN – Commanders 34, Browns 13
Week 6: WIN – Falcons 38, Panthers 20
Week 7: WIN – Bills 34, Titans 10
Week 8: WIN – Lions 52, Titans 14
Week 9: WIN – Eagles 28, Jaguars 23
Week 10: WIN – Chargers 27, Titans 17
Week 11: WIN – Texans 34, Cowboys 10
Week 12: WIN – Chiefs 30, Panthers 27
Week 13: WIN – Buccaneers 26, Panthers 23 (OT)
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