How to subscribe to newly minted blocks?

Question

I am trying to figure out the most efficient way to poll latest blocks.

I found that there is a newBlockHeaders event that I can subscribe to using web3js.

What is not clear to me is how to track the number of confirmations?

The premise of the question is that I want to find an efficient way to get events for a large number of transactions. My thinking is that I need to:

1. Observe and filter pendingTransactions
2. Observe newBlockHeaders
3. Use getBlock to identify all transactions in the block
4. Once I find pendingTransactions mentioned in getBlock, use getTransactionReceipt to find transaction logs.

The question is thus: Is newBlockHeaders sufficient for my use case or is it possible that transactions included in block might not have receipt / might not go through?