Patriots stun Bengals with surprising 16-10 win, knocking out over 43% of surviving pool participants

We’re just through the first wave of games in the opening week of the NFL season, but the first big upset of the year has already eliminated nearly half of all participants from the Survivor Pool.

The New England Patriots surprised Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon at Paycor Stadium in Ohio, claiming a 16-10 victory. The Bengals were overwhelming favorites going into the game on BetMGM.

But the Patriots’ victory eliminated 43.59% of participants in the Yahoo Sports Survivor Pools.

The Patriots jumped out to a 10-0 lead at halftime, thanks to a 3-yard touchdown run by Rhamondre Stevenson to start the second quarter. They extended their lead to 13-0 in the second half after Joey Slye hit a 35-yard field goal, which followed a 32-yarder he hit just before halftime.

The Bengals found the end zone late in the third quarter when running back Zach Moss drove in a 5-yard touchdown run to cap a nine-play, 90-yard drive. But Cincinnati’s push came too late. The Patriots held off the Bengals to pick up the six-point win and a huge survivor pool upset.

Joe Burrow went 21 of 29 for 164 yards in the loss to 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 after holding out this fall — had 62 receiving yards on six catches. The Bengals are 1-10 through the first two weeks of the season under head coach Zac Taylor. They’ll face 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 from longtime coach Bill Belichick this season.

The Bengals were by far the most popular pick in survivor pools this week, and were one of three teams that had more than 10% of users choosing them. The New Orleans Saints had just over 10.5% of the vote this week, but they had no trouble crushing the Carolina Panthers in Louisiana. The Buffalo Bills were the second most popular pick and shocked users, but they defeated the Arizona Cardinals 34-28 after falling into an early 17-3 hole. Had the Cardinals won, an additional 13% of users would have been turned off.