NFL Survivor Group Week 3 picks, tips and strategy: Expert who blacked out Bengals and Ravens makes top playoff pick

It’s been a historically rough start to the season for anyone making NFL playoff picks, with the biggest favorites on the board losing the first two weeks. This has reduced the number of fans making NFL playoff picks, so the need to survive all 18 weeks might not be necessary in smaller brackets. There are four teams favored by at least 6.5 points in NFL Week 3 odds, including Tampa Bay (-6.5) vs. Denver. The Buccaneers have picked up wins over Washington and Detroit to open the season, but this could be a disappointing spot after their upset win over the Lions.

Denver has been within a point of each of its first two losses, including a 13-6 setback to Pittsburgh last week. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix has gained valuable experience, so should you avoid the Buccaneers with your NFL Week 3 survivor pick strategy? Before finalizing any NFL Week 3 survivor picks, You need to see which team proven expert RJ White is backing.

White has been SportsLine’s No. 1 NFL expert against the spread for the past seven years, with a 643-543-34 record against the spread that puts him ahead of more than 46 points on those picks at SportsLine since 2017. He’s also posted a 56.7% success rate on his Vegas contest picks over the past nine seasons and has two in-the-money finishes, including finishing 18th out of 2,748 entrants in 2017.

His advice can be used to squash the Survivor Pool format, which calls for picking a team to win each week but never using the same team twice. In Week 1, White correctly recommended avoiding the Bengals, who lost to the Patriots as 8.5-point favorites. Instead, White picked the Saints, who beat the Panthers by 37 points in the most lopsided game of the week. Then in Week 2, he avoided the Ravens, who lost to the Raiders as 8.5-point favorites, and instead backed the Texans, who beat the Bears.

Anyone who followed his advice avoided two of the NFL's biggest upsets of the season and advanced to Week 3.

Now, White has turned his attention to the final Week 3. NFL Odds and secured his Survivor pick for Week 3. You can only see who White is backing this week at SportsLine.

Best predictions for the NFL's Week 3 survivor group

In Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season, White will avoid the Bengals (-7.5, 47), even though they are the heavy favorites for the week. The Bengals lost five of their last nine games last season, all three preseason games this year and their first two games of the regular season. They have been completely unreliable and ruined many of the survivors when they lost to New England as 8.5-point favorites in Week 1.

Cincinnati had a better showing last week in a narrow loss to Kansas City, but its rushing attack averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. The Commanders are coming off a 21-18 win over the Giants, in which rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 226 yards while rushing for 44 yards. They'll continue to improve as Daniels gets more settled, which is one reason White is staying away from Cincinnati in the survivor groups this week. See which team to choose here.

How to make predictions for the NFL's Week 3 survivor group

Instead, White is backing a team whose opponent “can't move the ball.” The time to pick this team is now, and You can only watch the play on SportsLine.

Which team is a must-have in your NFL Week 3 Survivor Pool? Visit SportsLine now to see which team takes you to victory in Week 3, all from the expert who avoided the Bengals in Week 1 and the Ravens in Week 2 and has a nearly 50-point edge in ATS picks..