Last week, we talked about why you couldn't take the Patriots in survivor despite facing what most people think is currently the worst team in the league in the Giants. Nearly 25% of the remaining field in the Circa Survivor did take them, second only to the Titans, and they have now been eliminated, as have the people who took the third-most popular team, the Vikings, in that contest.

By contrast, all three of our main options made it through, even though we restrict that section only to teams widely available in the Circa contest. The Broncos, our top pick, gave those who trusted them despite only being 1.5-point favorites no reason to sweat as they were up 14-0 four minutes into the second quarter and didn't look back. We also had the Titans as a top option, and our last, the Colts, didn't really face much danger over the last three quarters in a win over the Buccaneers. Congrats to anyone who made it through using the Titans or Colts last week, as there won't be clear spots to go with them over the rest of the season.

When looking at your options for Week 13, 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. We'll get into our top options below, but I would avoid using the Falcons against the Jets.

This line may close at Falcons -3, and with barely anyone having used Atlanta to this point, they'll likely make it in the conversation as a potential option against the Jets based on the fact that New York has a near-zero chance of reaching the end zone in any given game, at least on the surface. The total for this game is incredibly low, and that leaves room for a single turnover to be the decisive turning point of a game. The Falcons have a quarterback in Desmond Ridder with a propensity for turning the ball over in key situations, and it's impossible to trust him going on the road against a good defense. I don't think the Jets offense will suddenly show life, but I wonder what happens if Trevor Siemian, a veteran with 30 career starts and a career TD:INT ration of 42:28, gets inserted into a low-scoring game. Even if it's the Tim Boyle Show for three hours, the Jets could eke out a 10-9 sort of win here.

Why listen to me? Well, I was 535-450-30 (+3532) on ATS picks over the last six years and even better with my top five picks each week, going 376-290-24 (56.5%) over the last eight years in the Westgate SuperContest. 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.

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. Let's dig in.

What are the best options to use in survivor pools in Week 13? 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 535-450-30 on ATS picks from 2017-22, returning $3,532 to $100 players!