2011 NFL Survivor Pools: Week 8 Picks and Analysis

It’s Halloween weekend, and I have some ideas as to what some of the NFL’s stars should be this year.

Aaron Rodgers should be Mufasa from The Lion King—before the whole Scar incident—because of his power and dominance.

Tom Brady should be a flamenco dancer and relive his glory days at Carnival. 

Rashard Mendenhall should be a ghost because he’s nowhere to be found this season. 

Reggie Bush should be a fancy dinette set. It’s something you buy and never use again. 

Tony Romo should be Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber, and Jason Garrett should be Harry Dunne. 

Rex Ryan should be Duff Man from The Simpsons, but with snacks around his waist instead of beer.

Rob Gronkowski should be a porn star.

Jay Cutler should be Stephen from Laguna Beach.

As for survivor picks this week, here are the games that I like: 

Titans over the Colts 

The Colts were thoroughly embarrassed on Monday Night Football last week by the Saints 62-7. The Titans were also embarrassed last week by the Texans, only it wasn’t on national television.

This week, Arian Foster will not be rushing and receiving for 100-plus yards, so I’m going to give the edge to Tennessee here. Matt Hasselbeck claims to have no problems practicing with his injured thumb, and he’s bound to bounce back after the dismal performance he put in last week. Until the Colts show any sign of life, there is no reason to not go against them.

Saints over the Rams 

Easy pick of the week here. Sam Bradford will most likely miss this game, and Drew Brees will have a repeat performance of what he did to the Titans last week. Mark Ingram may be held out of this game, but Pierre Thomas is more than capable of carrying the workload and bringing home the W.

Texans over the Jaguars

Let’s recount last week for the Texans: Matt Schaub has a good day throwing for 296 yards and two touchdowns without Andre Johnson on the outside. Arian Foster tears it up on the ground and in the air, rushing and receiving for over 100 yards and three total touchdowns. Backup running back Ben Tate even rushed for over 100 yards. 

Jacksonville’s defense is much better statistically than Tennessee, but I don’t expect them to stop this train.

Giants over the Dolphins 

I feel as though this is a trap game, as the Giants knocked a majority of survivors in Week 5 against Seattle. They are a good team that plays down to their competition and this week is a perfect opportunity for them to do just that. 

I do not think that will happen. The G-Men are coming off a bye week, Justin Tuck may return and Eli is throwing the ball well. Mario Manningham, their No. 2 wide receiver, has only 227 yards this season. That means Eli has confidence in many other options on the outside including Victor Cruz and tight end Jake Ballard. Ballard will score again and the Giants win.

We are now almost halfway through the season, and if you’ve played it safe every week, you’re slowly running out of options. Here are some risk picks should you feel so inclined:

Bengals over the Seahawks 

Andy Dalton is growing in maturity a little every week, and they can now laugh at Carson Palmer’s debut with the Raiders. Seattle is always a tough place to play, but the Bengals can handle it.

Cowboys over the Eagles 

It may be a little too early for a pick like this, especially in a divisional matchup, but here it is. I am not sold on the Eagles, and every single game they take the field, Vick is one big hit from getting knocked out.  

DeMarco Murray, the rookie out of Oklahoma, put on a show last week in the absence of Felix Jones, rushing for 225 yards and a touchdown, and the Eagles average 123.8 rush yards against them. If he can put up another decent game and Romo limits himself to only two interceptions, they can do this.