Week 9 brought another big favorite going down in the Saints, who lost a close game to the Panthers. The result eliminated a lot of people in NFL survivor pools, including in Circa Survivor where the Saints were the second-most popular pick. We did not have the Saints in our main options for the week, saying that Derek Carr was a wild card in his first game back from a long-term injury and that picking against the Panthers every week wasn't a viable strategy as they were bound to upset someone.

This week figures to have one very popular option, and optimal strategy for some may be to avoid it and hope a loss eliminates a large portion of whatever field remains. We'll get to that in a bit, but first I'll highlight the big favorite I believe it makes the most sense to avoid.

When looking at your options for Week 10, it's important to project out the rest of the schedule (hence the point of this weekly column). It's also important to know the format of your pool, as Circa Survivor adds two standalone slates for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even though they're facing a backup QB, I would avoid taking the Eagles against the Cowboys.

For starters, it's a divisional road game, and the Saints just showed why you should be weary of teams in those spots. These teams see each other twice a year, and that familiarity could breed a lower scoring game than expected on both sides where a few key random events decide the outcome. The Cowboys may get Micah Parsons back for this game as well, and the Cowboys pass rush could all of a sudden be a determining factor in this game if he plays. The Eagles are also not guaranteed to have A.J. Brown, who is day-to-day with a knee injury and may be held out in what the line is saying is an easy week for the Eagles. We saw earlier this year that the offense is much less dangerous if he's not on the field. Throw in Brandon Aubrey blasting 60-yard field goals and you can see a situation where the Cowboys sneak out a 19-17 type of win even if Cooper Rush isn't doing much to help the offense.

Why listen to me? I went 636-534-34 (+4899) on ATS picks from 2017-23 and did even better with my top five picks each week, going 428-327-25 (56.7%) from 2015-23 in the Las Vegas ATS contests. While this doesn't involve picking against the spread, I do believe by applying the strategies I've developed to have long-term success on those picks to survivor pools, we'll be in the best position to outlast the competition this season.  

Below, you'll find my top options for this week as well as a tiered set of options for every week over the rest of the season, including breakouts for the Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas slates. Let's dig in.

What are the best options to use in survivor pools in Week 10? And which teams should be saved to use later in the season? ... Join SportsLine right now to see NFL Survivor Pool strategy from the expert who's 636-534-34 on ATS picks from 2017 to 2023, returning almost 50 units!