For the third straight week of the NFL season, the survivor pool favorite has gone down.
Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos stunned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a dominant 26-7 win at Raymond James Stadium in Florida on Sunday afternoon. The win marked the Broncos’ first of the season and the first of Nix’s career in the league.
But perhaps more importantly, the upset win eliminated almost 30% of Yahoo Sports survivor pool entries.
An incredible 29.99% of entries still alive in Yahoo Sports survivor pools selected the Buccaneers to win on Sunday afternoon in one of the biggest picks of the weekend. They were one of three teams to earn double-digit support this weekend, just barely ahead of the Las Vegas Raiders — who will host the Carolina Panthers in the afternoon window. The Raiders earned just shy of 25% of entries. The Cleveland Browns earned nearly 13% of picks.
It was the third straight week of massive survivor pool eliminations this season. About 43% of users were knocked out in Week 1 after the New England Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals, and then more than 29% of users were eliminated last week when the Raiders beat the Baltimore Ravens.
The Broncos didn’t waste any time on Sunday afternoon. They jumped up to a huge 17-0 lead after Nix and running back Jaleel McLaughlin ran in short touchdowns in the first quarter and then Will Lutz drilled a 43-yard field goal early in the second.
Though Denver didn’t score a touchdown the rest of the way, it completely shut down Baker Mayfield and the Bucs in the second half. They held Tampa Bay scoreless after Mayfield’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin late in the second quarter, and then Lutz kicked two more field goals in the fourth quarter to seal the 19-point win.
Mayfield, who led the Bucs to back-to-back wins to start the season, finished 25-of-33 for 163 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the loss. Bucky Irving added 70 rushing yards on nine carries, and Godwin had 53 yards and a touchdown on six catches.
Nix went 25-of-36 for 216 yards in the win for Denver, and he added 49 yards on eight carries with his touchdown on the ground. Running back Tyler Badie finished with 70 yards on nine carries. Courtland Sutton had 68 receiving yards on seven catches.
While the NFL season isn’t even a month old, survivor pool entries seem to be dropping faster and faster week after week.