It’s Week 6 of the 2023 NFL season, and the Commanders ran into the DJ Moore/Justin Fields buzzsaw last Thursday night. The Buffalo Bills also ran into a buzzsaw of their own doing by going to London on Friday instead of the middle of the week like most teams. They didn’t play like themselves and lost to the Jaguars 25-20. Hopefully, you’re still alive in your Survivor pools after that minor hiccup for Week 6’s slate! This week, we’ve got a lot of heavy favorites, teams showing us who they really are, and injuries knocking teams down a couple of pegs to give us some more options to use. 

We will help you get to the promised land one week at a time with our picks, but in case you’re not familiar with Survivor pools, here’s a quick rundown:

Pick a team that wins in each NFL week. Typically, you choose a team just once, so each selection is incredibly important. Some survivor pools have double-elimination so that you can slip up and still be in the running. Make sure you’re checking out our weekly matchup previews and our Survivor League Strategy in the Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide as guides toward picking the best winners for each week and developing a strategy.

Let’s dive right in with Week 6’s picks!

 

2023 Survival Pool Picks Record

Week 5: 3-2 (.600)

Overall: 19-6 (.760)

NFL Week 6 DraftKings Odds, Implied Totals, Spreads, and Over/Under

*All lines current as of 9:00 PM ET, 10/11/23, courtesy of Vegas Insider*

NFL Week 6 Survivor Picks

Miami Dolphins

Somehow, the Miami Dolphins aren’t the heaviest favorites on the Week 6 slate; that honor goes to the battle of upstate NY and almost NY, but technically New Jersey on Sunday Night Football with Bills vs. Giants. The Dolphins are favored by almost two full touchdowns against a Carolina Panthers team that has been offensively lacking and defensively challenged so far in 2023. 

Even without De’Von Achane for a minimum of four weeks, the Dolphins have tons of firepower to get out ahead and stay ahead of Carolina, where Bryce Young has been unable to keep up with opposing offenses this season with PFF’s lowest passing grade and the second-lowest aDOT (6.6) in the NFL. A team that can score almost at will versus a team that has been unable to push the ball downfield? Sign me up. Miami is going to be a pretty chalky play, along with the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.

Los Angeles Rams

The Cardinals being not that bad so far in 2023 qualifies as a success story, and honestly, I’ll buy into it. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs took this team into games it had no business being competitive in and even sprung an upset victory against the Dallas Cowboys. In Week 5, the Cardinals played their worst game of the season as the Cardinals lost to Ja'Marr Chase and Evan McPherson 21-20. This is a 53-man game, so the ACTUAL final score was 34-20, but Chase did most of the damage. Now, the Cardinals get to cover both Cooper Kupp AND Puka Nacua?

The Rams are a touchdown favorite at home against the Cardinals, who just lost one of their biggest weapons in running back James Conner. With a slate full of heavy favorites, this seems like a nice pick here with the Rams at home to go against some of the field. There isn’t a really safe matchup to use the Rams against until Week 17 against the New York Giants, so I like this game here to push your elite options ahead for another week.

Las Vegas Raiders

This pick is not solely made to portray confidence in the Raiders, but as a damning indictment of just how BAD the New England Patriots have been. Does Mac Jones get benched for the third straight week? The team has scored all of THREE points in the last two weeks against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.

With the Raiders at home for the second-straight week and riding a big win in the “Davante Adams Bowl”, the Patriots stumble across two time zones to Las Vegas as a team that somehow isn’t the lowest implied point total of this slate. Given that the team has scored three and zero points in respective games, maybe they’ll find a way to score -3 against the Raiders?

I’m done railing on the Patriots (Sorry not sorry, Jon Impemba and Andrew Cooper), but with the Raiders’ weapons and the Patriots lacking on the other side, I can’t imagine Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe, Steve Grogan, Todd Zolak, Doug Flutie, or any other quarterback from bygone eras saving this offense right now to form a functional unit.

Other NFL Week 6 Survivor Pool Options

Buffalo Bills

This game is a possible layup with the chalk. The Bills flew back from London with a tough 25-20 loss and didn’t play like themselves against Jacksonville. Buffalo is favored by 14 points against a Giants team that has looked very pedestrian this season. They also may not have Daniel Jones with a neck injury. Saquon Barkley is still limited in practice, Darren Waller hit the injury list with a hamstring strain, and their already beat-up offensive line may not have several pieces come Sunday night. And the Bills are at home at Highmark Stadium? This is the very definition of a “get right” game. If you need a chalky win and you haven’t used the Bills yet, this is a solid play to get you to Week 7.

Cincinnati Bengals

We went out on a limb in the Week 5 Survivor Pool article with the Bengals hoping that the glimmer of hope they showed against the Tennessee Titans would build some momentum against last week’s opponent, the Arizona Cardinals. That happened and then some, and we’ll roll them once again at home against the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle is one of the worst teams against the pass and could potentially get Tee Higgins back to pair with Ja'Marr Chase and Joe Burrow. Even if they don’t, do they need Higgins?

A West Coast team in Seattle coming east for a 1:00 PM ET game is a tough adjustment for a team to make, but the bet here is that even against a functional offense and team in the Seattle Seahawks, the Bengals are continuing to fire up the engine that has been one of the best in the AFC and NFL over the past couple of seasons. If you didn’t go with the Bengals last week against Arizona, this is the last realistic chance to use them in your Survivor pool and push the elite teams to the next week.