SportsLine's all-time No. 1 NFL expert, Mike Tierney excels both straight-up and against the spread. Anyone who has followed his picks is up nearly $4,400!

Last year, Tierney went 161-94-1 on straight-up picks, beating the vast majority of experts on NFLPickWatch. A renowned sportswriter who's reported from seven Super Bowls, Tierney is an authority on the Survivor Pool format, which calls for picking one team to win each week but never using the same team twice. 

In Week 1 -- when hundreds of thousands of Survivor players blew their entire season by picking the Colts, Eagles or 49ers -- Tierney rolled with the Ravens over the Browns. The result: Baltimore 38, Cleveland 6. In Week 2, Tierney advanced with the Steelers, who beat the Broncos.

For Week 3, we can tell you Tierney is not going with the 2-0 Cardinals, even though they're hosting the struggling Lions. Detroit has lost 11 straight, but the Lions actually tied Arizona in last year's season-opener and are poised to get top wideout Kenny Golladay back from a hamstring injury. 

Tierney advises saving Arizona, which has soft upcoming matchups with Carolina, the Jets, Dolphins and Giants, for a later week.

There's a much better option, Tierney says, an underrated team whose opponent will be at a major disadvantage, Using that team will set you up for the rest of the season. You NEED to see who he's going with before locking in your NFL survivor picks!

What is the optimal Week 3 survivor pool play? Which pick sets you up for the rest of the season? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Mike Tierney's Week 3 survivor pick, all from the all-time No. 1 expert who crushes the NFL and has won with the Ravens and Steelers the first two weeks!