Our stretch pick last week went down the tubes as the Giants flopped at home against the Lions, but saving the Ravens to use this week paid off as they won by 10 against an awful Panthers team. Hopefully you had either them or our second option saved up as the 49ers walloped the Cardinals in Mexico City. But now that we're 11 weeks into the season, the chances of navigating the pitfalls so far while being able to save some of the best teams in the league are vanishingly small, so you're probably going to have to make some uncomfortable calls every week. However, if you did create a plan and mostly stuck to it, there's a locked-in option you still have available to use this week.

Each week, I break down several options you should consider and lay out the other spots where you might end up wanting to use each team later in the season, along with your other options on those weeks. That format should allow you to tailor the advice specifically to the size of your survivor pool remaining as well as the teams you've already burned. There are a few clear options to use this week, but one I'm not considering despite the spread in that game is the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys are coming off maybe the most dominant win by any team this season, beating an 8-1 Vikings team on the road 40-3. The Giants were also dominated by a questionable Lions team on their home field, so this is clearly one team at its highest stock against another at its lowest stock. The Cowboys are likely going to secure the win here, especially after the Giants continued to be dealt injury after injury on their home turf, but don't underestimate a well-coached team finding a way to go in and ugly up this game while trying to steal another low-scoring victory. The Giants had been elite at protecting the ball all year heading into the Lions game, with Daniel Jones throwing just two picks. Then they turned it over three times. If they revert to ball protection, it makes it tougher for the Cowboys to rack up points. I'm not saying that will necessarily happen given how undermanned the Giants are, but I'm not ruling it out.

Why listen to me? Well, I'm 445-378-24 on against-the-spreads picks over the last five years and even better with my top five picks each week, going 329-250-21 (56.8%) over the last seven years in the Westgate SuperContest. While this doesn't involve picking against the spread, I do believe by applying the strategies I've developed to have long-term success on those picks to survivor pools, we'll be in the best position to outlast the competition.

What are the best options to use in survivor pools in Week 12? And which teams should be saved to use later in the season? ... Join SportsLine right now to see NFL Survivor Pool strategy from the expert who's 445-378-24 on ATS picks from 2017-21, returning $2,542 to $100 players!