We’re only through the early wave of games in the opening week of the NFL season, but the first big upset of the year has already knocked out nearly half of all survivor pool entrants.
The New England Patriots stunned Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon at Paycor Stadium Ohio to claim a 16-10 win. The Bengals were overwhelming favorites entering the game on BetMGM.
But with the Patriots’ win, 43.59% of entries in Yahoo Sports survivor pools were eliminated.
The Patriots jumped out to a 10-0 lead at halftime, thanks to a 3-yard touchdown run from Rhamondre Stevenson to start the second quarter. They pushed their lead to 13-0 in the second half after Joey Slye drilled a 35-yard field goal, which followed a 32-yarder that he hit just before halftime.
The Bengals found the end zone late in the third quarter as running back Zach Moss pushed in a 5-yard touchdown run to cap a nine-play, 90-yard drive. But Cincinnati’s push came too late. The Patriots fended off the Bengals to grab the six-point win and the massive survivor pool upset.
Joe Burrow went 21-of-29 for 164 yards in the loss for Cincinnati. Moss had 44 rushing yards and the touchdown on nine carries, and Ja’Marr Chase — who suited up despite not having his new deal in place following his hold-in this fall — had 62 receiving yards on six catches. The Bengals are 1-10 in the first two weeks of the season under head coach Zac Taylor. They’ll take on the Kansas City Chiefs next week in Missouri.
Stevenson had 120 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 carries for the Patriots. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett went 15-of-24 for 121 yards in what was the first win for head coach Jerod Mayo, who took over for longtime coach Bill Belichick this season.
Week v. NE
The Bengals were by far the most popular pick in survivor pools this week, and were one of just three teams that had more than 10% of users picking them. The New Orleans Saints had just more than 10.5% of the vote this week, but they had no issue pummeling the Carolina Panthers in Louisiana. The Buffalo Bills were the second-most popular pick and gave users a scare, but they edged out a tight 34-28 win over the Arizona Cardinals after falling into a 17-3 hole early. Had the Cardinals won, another 13% of users would have been eliminated.