The double-week in Circa Survivor and other NFL survivor pools that force competitors to pick a game on the Thanksgiving/Black Friday slate separate from the rest of Week 13 ended up being a dud this week, with all four favorites winning on the holiday slate and no survivors risking their entries with underdog picks. But that almost wasn't the case, with the heavily favored Lions and Chiefs having to fight to get the win in the latest stages of their games. Had both lost, only eight of the 54 survivors from Week 12 would've made it to the rest of Week 13 in Circa Survivor. Instead, all 54 advanced through the usually tricky holiday slate.

In Week 13 proper, only two remaining entries were eliminated as favorites mostly took care of business again, with the two to fall backing the Bengals, who lost a shootout to the Steelers. We'll break the spread of entries on that card down further below, as there was an interesting split at the top that featured two easy wins and two sweats.

When looking at your options for Week 14, 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. Taking my cue from what happened last Sunday, I would avoid taking the Bengals against the Cowboys.

Cincinnati is one of the bigger favorites this week, and the Bengals should be available to a majority of survivors considering their record. But can we really trust a defense that was completely embarrassed coming out of a bye last week? The Steelers rolled up 520 yards and gained 7.9 yards per play in Cincinnati, getting into Bengals territory on every single drive following an opening-drive pick-six near midfield. There's no way you can trust a defense coming off a game like that against anyone, even a Dallas offense that managed just 4.7 yards per play against the Giants. Even with the Cowboys playing out the string, they could give similar effort to their Thanksgiving win over the Giants considering this game is in primetime, and if the Dallas defense can win its matchups up front and get pressure on Joe Burrow, the Bengals have a better chance of losing this game than most favorites of around six points you'll see.

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 Christmas slate. Let's dig in.

What are the best options to use in survivor pools in Week 14? 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!