Week 13: Time to Roar.

Survivor time.

This week pitted Heat and I against each other as to who to pick. I let Heat talk me out of Cincy last week into Indianapolis, and as I went through the write-up, I began to see that it was indeed the right choice. Sure, Cincinnati blew Oakland out. That happens. But sometimes Oakland hangs tough. They just didn't. That's why Cincy was also a good choice.

But with Indy, while I harbored no intentions that Luck and Co. would blow Buffalo out of the building, I was pretty sure that they'd win that game 9 times out of 10. Combined with 27% of people picking Cincy and less than 8% taking Indy, that's the type of week that shakes up survivor leagues. Same reason why I thought our call of Steelers over Chiefs wasn't the best for that week. EVERYBODY was riding a Steelers team that seems to generally refuse to blow bad teams out.

This week I championed a similar approach. I did not trust Dallas one bit, even at home over Philly. Hell, just two weeks ago Dallas almost handed us the league when they squeaked by Cleveland in OT. And Cleveland is not good. They are awful. If you saw them play Pittsburgh last week, you wouldn't have been too impressed. That's why I don't want to touch that game out in Oakland (Browns are now a 1.5 point favorite @ OAK)...I have no idea what to expect from two sorry-ass teams. Also wasn't too keen on trusting Carolina as KC has been somewhat feisty as of late.

So that left us to pick from Heat's choice of Baltimore over Pittsburgh and my choice of Detroit over Indianapolis. If you would have offered me a bet on Wednesday as to Ben Roethlisberger playing this weekend...I would have said he will play and I'd have taken it. Now he's out. And Pittsburgh's chances are now basically nil. Heat acquiesced to me this week because I'm so high on Detroit. The only thing I fear about Detroit is their dysfunctionality. The Titus Young-iness of their team. That Schartzy behavior. They should slaughter Indy. Like by 14. They are also a team that is only being selected by 1.4% of Yahoo users this week...which is huge, especially since people are all over the map with their selections. Most have used Dallas and can't use them this week, which explains the range of selections (obviously, if you have used Baltimore already, which many have, you'd throw down on Dallas if you were just playing by the book).

But I gotta stick to my guns. While I think the by-the-book (and clearly the best this week) selection here is Baltimore, I don't think you win playing by the book. The Steelers NEED this game. Baltimore is one of the worst 9-2 teams I've seen. I guess I'm clinging to that...there's like a 3% chance Pittsburgh and Batch somehow pull this out (maybe Tomlin is secretly planning to start Hoyer....please please pleeeeease). Heat and I play differently, as he's a little bit more conservative than I am while I typically like to stick to my guns and make selections like this. It's boom or bust. Last year in my other league I won in week 6. This year I was done in week 3. Feast or famine.

So it comes down to Detroit being a 1:00 game (I hate waiting for a late survivor game), the fact that I think they are a very safe pick if they even kind of show up, and the fact that no one is ridin' them Lions this week. When I break it down, it sounds very good to me. I would not trust either the rest of the way out, so there's no saving teams here.

I just hate how I strong-armed Heat into it this week and how I sabotage the entire season if my team Detroits it this week. But let's get it. LET'S ROAR, LIONS!