Friends in football,
The Eagles' win and Vikings' loss were two sides of the same coin - evidence for why NFL Survivor is the greatest pool format on Earth.
No matter which outcome(s) you were rooting for, each game had you feeling left for dead... and then feeling impossibly invigorated... and then and then and then.
In the end, those who pulled the Eagles lever woke up today feeling some combo of invincible and terrified. BIG Survivor is down to 48.
Those who went with the Vikings... Commish is sorry. But perhaps take solace in the fact you aren't @Trentoff. (Read the last PICKS email if you don't get this reference.)
If you ARE @Trentoff... I mean... Packers fandom is always waiting for you with big, warm, open arms.
RESULTS SUMMARY
The BIG Survivor (BFIG) results
- Survival record: 48 survive. 91 eliminated
- Worst loss: Vikings (42%) to Bears
- Best Squad: A Vikings win would have set up an EPIC showdown between "IMI" and "Blindfolded Dart Throwers". Instead, it's now the Dart Throwers' title to lose. Their fearless leader @danielcanton620 just needs a few more Ws to all but guarantee a "Best Performing Squad" win
Weekly Pick'em (WeeWoo) results
- Weekly winner: Four brave souls went 15-1 - @Nightrider33, @LAXJAX, @Tela13, and @hortonlc. LAX missed Falcons over Saints, Tela missed Jags over Texans, and the other two missed Pack over Lions
- Best Squad: "Mom Said So" still leads by two over "Panda Warriors" and "Bearded Clams". WeeWoo DEFINITELY has the best in-contention Squad names
- Overall leader: @Windtamer maintains the lead with a 12-4 week
Survivor #2 results
- Survival record: 49 survivors. 55 eliminated
- Best Squad: "Stonemarkers" has a commanding lead, but it's not over yet, as several squads within striking distance have someone still alive
Survivor #3 results
- Survival record: 622 survivors. 689 eliminated
- Best Squad(s): Down to just 12 squads with 3+ survivors
QB One-and-Done results
- Top passer: Trevor Lawrence put up 364 on the Texans (163 picks)
- Weekly average: 266 yards per pick (31 yards above the average QB performance)
- Best Squad: "BLOODGATE" is still on top, but "Blindfolded Dart Throwers" has pulled within 240 yards
- Overall leader: @RM5589 is still on top (304 from Stroud), but look out for @Redslurpy, who is all the way up to third and inconceivably hot (see next item)
- Interval 2 winner: @Redslurpy, we are all witnesses. Slurpy picked the top QB in 4 of 6 weeks (and the #2 and #3 QB in the other weeks), averaging JUST under 400 yards per pick. They won the interval by 174 YARDS. We may never see a more dominant interval performance
Loser Survivor Brought to You by The OddsBreakers results
- Survival record: 19 survivors. 3 eliminated
- Worst win: Packers (14%) beat Lions
- Best Squad: As predicted, "Lake Meaders" has surged into the lead. If @jonstiff can get a few more wins, they're very likely to take the crown
"All 32" One-and-Done results
- W/L record: 3,048-1,912. Weekly standings >>
- Overall leader: NO MORE PERFECTS. And just six people are at 19-1. Commish maintains 3, 4 or even 5 losses could win this thing. Overall standings
- Best Squad: New leader, as "Ickey Woods All Stars" - on the strength of overall leader @modogg - is now on top by 1. They're at 52 wins (out of a possible 60). TONS of squads within striking distance. Best Squad standings >>
Thanksgiving Props
See dedicated section below!
COMMISH COMMENTARY
We're down to 48 in BIG Survivor, which means it's REALLY time to look at the Golden Spreadsheet.
Commish never forgets things like 2017 BFIG, when @footballnovice saved the peak Patriots all the way till Week 17 en route to the Title Belt.
BFIG history is littered with examples like this. Yes, it's possible to "save teams too long", but it's also true that you're not gonna win the whole thing if forced to spend 2, 3, 4+ picks on garbage teams late in the year.
With that in mind, let's look at the teams used by the highest % of our BIG survivors:
- Cowboys: 100% used
- Dolphins: 100%
- Lions: 98% (ONE has them available)
- Niners: 92% (4)
- Chiefs: 90% (5)
- Commanders: 88% (6)
- Bills: 85% (7)
- Titans: 77% (11)
- Jags: 71% (14)
- Titans: 67% (16)
Only the Eagles (58% used) and Ravens (54%) have decent availability among true Super Bowl contenders. And even then, more than half have used them.
The Ravens are on bye this week. And the Eagles... play the Niners. Buckle up, folks.
Let's take a fresh look at our BIG Survivor "leaders"...
Commish defines "leaders" as survivors who have picked teams with the fewest collective wins.
That leaderboard looks like this (with picklines, in order they were picked):
- @jevenson8 (86 wins, or 5.7 wins per picked team): WAS TB KC DEN DET LV SEA LAC NO DAL PIT MIA BUF NYG TEN
- @Salvador56 (88 wins): WAS NO SEA LAC DET LV CLE NYJ IND CHI DAL SF MIA KC TEN
- @Dominicanloco28 (90 wins): WAS NYG DET JAX MIA LAR SEA LAC NO CHI PIT DAL HOU PHI TEN
- @Filthymick (90 wins): WAS NYG MIA SF DET BUF SEA LAC NO CHI DAL JAX HOU KC TEN
Note that @jevenson8 still has the Eagles, Niners, Ravens, and Jags available. Mighty impressive run so far.
On the flip side, @geoff1254's picks have 115 combined wins (7.7 per picked team). Gonna be fun to see who Geoff picks from here, with this pickline so far: BAL BUF KC DAL DET MIA SEA LAC CLE PIT IND SF JAX PHI TEN.
Hats off to our first-ever Thanksgiving Props champ, @Mlucas5, who got 17/20 correct.
17/20 is so good that they won by TWO.
Our best collective picks:
- All 3 "who passes for more yards" props went to the favored guy - Goff (85% of our picks), Purdy (78%), and Dak (77%)
- # 14 Will there be a 50+ yard TD? ["Yes" was picked by 74% of us.]
- # 17 Will there be a defensive or special teams TD? ["Yes" was picked by 71% of us.]
And our worst collective picks:
- # 3 Will the broadcast show a graphic/segment about Lions Thanksgiving game history? ["NO" was picked by just 2.6% of us.]
- # 2 Will Commish cry about the Packers? ["No (Packers win)" was picked by just 3.4% of us.]
- # 10 What will be the length of the shortest TD drive? (SF @ SEA) ["3 minutes or more" was picked by just 24% of us.]
Y'all loved this format and we'll do it again next year. Get in our Super Bowl Props pool if you haven't already!
Yours in football,
The Commish