Week 8 Preview: Jets at Bengals, The First of Many Eh, This Team is Fine Articles

Photo from newsday.com

OUT 
Jets: WR Santonio Holmes (hamstring)

Bengals: CB Leon Hall (Achilles), DT Devon Still (elbow)

DOUBTFUL 
Jets: None.

Bengals: None.

QUESTIONABLE
Jets: C Nick Mangold (ribs), WR Greg Salas (knee)

Bengals: RB Rex Burkhead (calf)

PROBABLE
Jets: 13 guys listed, my limit is 10. 13 happens to be greater than 10. So, I'm not typing all those names out when their gam status was never really in doubt.

Bengals: DE Wallace Gilbert (knee), WR Marvin Jones (shoulder), LB Rey Maualuga (hamstring), CB Terence Newman (ankle)

NFL Picks: Week 8

The Rams called Brett Favre this week, and after he turned them down, the decided to go with Kellen Clemens on Monday night. 2008 Jets throwback! I'm sure Brett Ratliff (5) is be better than Clemens. Photo from nj.com

What an annoying week for me. I lost the my Buccaneers pick by 1 point, and I lost my Ravens pick by half a point. And if that weren't enough, Jay Cutler got injured in the first quarter, and Josh McCown actually played well, giving me hope that I would get my pick right. Then of course, Roy Helu scored a touchdown with 45 seconds left to win the game and hand me a loss. So thanks for the false hope Josh, if you had played terribly that would have been my excuse. Also, I started Cutler over King Kaepernick on my fantasy team, and I still won with my -1 points from the QB spot.

Speaking of last second losses, Brandon Weeden had the ball with 1st and Goal on the Packers 7 yard line, down by 18. The line just so happened to be 11, so if he was able to punch it in, then I would have mercifully escaped with a push. So what does Weeden do? Turnover on downs of course! And so ends the Brandon Weeden era, because he was officially benched this week. I will not miss him.

My inconsistent Jets decided to show up last week. Which I should have expected, because they have alternated good and bad games all year. It's so hard to anticipate what they are going to do in any particular game.

Boy was Josh Freeman awful. That was Gabbert + Weeden level bad. Yeah, he played like the disgusting combination of those two useless quarterbacks. Blaindon Gabben? That's how bad Josh Freeman was. And I'm still not breaking up with him. I can't take the pain that comes with the 0.37% chance that he returns to form and becomes good again.

Onto this week, where I can take solace in the fact that I got my Thursday night pick correct.

My Pick for Tonight's Game: Panthers (-6) over BUCCANEERS. I don't feel great about it, but I feel good enough.
— William Botchway (@WilliamBotchway) October 25, 2013

Well I felt pretty damn good about it pretty much as soon as the game started. The Panthers are good because their defense is so great. Specifically, it is their front seven being so good, and therefore having the ability to mask the weaknesses present in the secondary. It's working, and the Panthers have a shot at the playoffs this year.

So I'm 6-2 on Thursday night games, and 55-52-2 on the season. I have no idea how I'm still over .500 with the awful streak I've been on lately. Let's do this!

UPSET ALERT next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not just cover. Home team in CAPS. 

NFL Picks: Week 7

Heeeeeee's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK. Photo from cbssports.com

Thad Lewis looked good last week. And of course, he got hurt. So what did the Bills do just in case? They signed Matt Flynn! Yeah, that Matt Flynn. Jeff Tuel is off in a corner somewhere deep in the depths of Buffalo's training facility because he knows that they hate him so much. Anyway, it is because Lewis was much better than anyone expected, that I lost my pick of the Bengals, which looked really easy when I made it.

The Jets...wow was that a bad loss.

The Broncos played an awful game (by their standards)...and they still won by 16. Unfortunately, they were supposed to win by at least 26 for me to get a push, but we can't have that now can we? I'm officially never falling for a line that big again. Until of course clearly the best team in the league, with an unstoppable offense that is hanging up 44.2 points per game (including this "letdown") is facing the worst team in the league, with a gruesome defense..at home! Forget 26, how did they not win by 126?

The inconsistent Chargers struck again, beating the Colts for seemingly no reason on Monday night. Good job San Diego, thanks for being absolutely impossible to predict.

As for this week, I'm off to a good start after making this pick on twitter (@WilliamBotchway) on Thursday night:

Seahawks (-4) over CARDINALS. 

And boy was I worried about that one. The Cards have been decent so far, and playing at home gave me some pause at to who to pick. Not to long after I made the pick, the line went up to 5 or 5.5 depending on where you looked. I very well could have been sucked into taking the Cardinals had I seen that. Either way, I'm now 5-2 on Thursday night games, and after a mediocre Week 6 record (I went 7-8), I'm sitting at 50-43-2 on the year. I consider that to be pretty impressive after two bad weeks in a row.

UPSET ALERT next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not just cover. Home team in CAPS

Week 7 Preview: Patriots at Jets, The Fifth of Many Bitter, Rambling Jets Articles

Rob Gronkowski's return creates a matchup problem for the Jets. Photo from profootballrosters.com

OUT
Patriots: WR Danny Amendola (concussion. Get well soon! -Anxious Fantasy Owner Who Thought You Were A Steal In The Fifth Round Of A PPR League), DT Tommy Kelly (knee), RB Leon Washington (ankle)

Jets: WR Santonio Holmes (foot/hamstring), WR Greg Salas (knee)

DOUBTFUL
Patriots: CB Aqib Talib (hip)

Jets: None

QUESTIONABLE
Patriots: RB Brandon Bolden (knee), OL Marcus Cannon (shoulder), OL Dan Connolly (concussion), WR Julian Edelman (thigh), TE Rob Gronkowski (back/forearm), TE Michael Hoomanawanui (knee. Oh my God, I spelled it correctly...from memory!), WR Matthew Slater (wrist), DB Tavon Wilson (hamstring)

Jets: None

PROBABLE
Patriots: CB Kyle Arrington (groin), DB Devin McCourty (shoulder), DL Rob Ninkovich (groin), OT Nate Solder (back)

Jets: More frustration. Eleven guys are listed, I'm setting the limit at ten. Rex is trying to Out-Belichick Belichick. CB Dee Milliner (hamstring) is back.

Knicks Bench Mob

J.R. Smith is just one of many important players on New York's bench. Photo from siphotos.tumblr.com

There are so many key components for every quality basketball team. There's the star player. The go-to guy who will always be relied upon to get a key bucket late in a game, and should be able to do everything else on the court. Then there are the various role players who can each do different things that help the team. There's the facilitator, who creates open looks for everyone else. There's the scorer who provides a quick spark off the bench and maybe he can even take over for a while. The lockdown defender is supposed to stick on the opposing team's best scorer and shut him down. The defensive big man should be able to clog up the paint, alter shots, and grab boards. There are so many pieces that go into the creation of a quality basketball team, and the Knicks have all of them.

NFL Picks: Week 6

After the news of the past few days, I expect a pissed off Peterson to have a great game. Photo from sports-kings.com

Thank you to the Detroit Lions for deciding to wait until after I posted my picks to decide that Calvin Johnson wouldn't be able to play. I really appreciate that. I also really appreciate the fact that the Lions are completely worthless without him.

I'm seriously wondering if the Jaguars should remain an NFL team. They failed to cover a 12.5 point spread against Sam Bradford and the Rams. May I remind you that these are the same Rams who were dominated for the first half in Week 2 (before a comeback that didn't really have a chance) by the otherwise winless Atlanta Falcons. These are also the same Rams who were blasted by the Cowboys and 49ers in the next two weeks. Just demote them to the CFL, or the SEC. Shouldn't they just forfeit every game (especially this week, we'll get to that) so that their fans don't have to watch them and TV stations don't need to apologize for broadcasting them...in Florida.

But of course, my favorite part of last week is that one of the few games I got right involved my Jets. I don't know how they did it, but they won. They beat the Falcons in Atlanta thanks to a beautiful drive by Geno Smith at the end of the game.

Unfortunately, Julio Jones is on my fantasy team...

Now onto this week...and well I ended my four game streak of winning Thursday night picks after ending my nine week stretch of having a .500+ record. This isn't fun. Here was my pick, which I made on twitter as usual (@WilliamBotchway):

BEARS (-8) over Giants. 

In fact, read the whole tweet.

I was wrong not only on the game, but in saying that the Bears are good. They have a lot of holes that were shown off on Thursday. And while they still won because they were facing a bad football team, but they have an inconsistent defense that can only do well if they are causing turnovers. And they were causing turnovers here, but they still failed to cover this spread.

So now I'm 0-1 on the week and 41-35-2 on the season after a bad 5-9 week that looked even more abysmal at around 7:30 PM last week when it was sitting at  3-8. Thank you to the 49ers and Jets for saving me.

UPSET ALERT next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not just cover. Home team in CAPS 

Week 6 Preview: Steelers at Jets, The First of Not Very Many Glowing, Giddy Jets Articles

Photo from northjersey.com

OUT
Steelers: WR Markus Wheaton (finger)

Jets: WR Santonio Holmes (foot/hamstring), CB Dee Milliner (hamstring)

DOUBTFUL
Steelers: None

Jets: None

QUESTIONABLE
Steelers: None

Jets: OL Oday Aboushi (knee), CB Antonio Cromartie (questionable)

PROBABLE
Steelers: QB Ben Roethlisberger (right finger)

Jets: Everyone on this team is probable. Just stop it Rex.

Week 5 Preview: Jets at Falcons, The Fourth of Many Bitter, Rambling Jets Articles

Conerback Darrin Walls will be a key in tonight's game, going up against either Julio Jones or Roddy White for four quarters. Photo from jetnation.com

OUT
Jets: OL Oday Aboushi (knee), WR Santonio Holmes (foot/hamstring), CB Dee Milliner (hamstring)

Falcons: T Sam Baker (knee), LB Akeem Dent (ankle), RB Steven Jackson (hamstring)

DOUBTFUL
Jets: None

Falcons: None

QUESTIONABLE
Jets: WR Clyde Gates (knee), TE Kellen Winslow (knee)

Falcons: TE Chase Coffman (knee), WR Julio Jones (knee), CB Asante Samuel (thigh), WR Roddy White (ankle), LB Paul Worrilow (knee)

PROBABLE
Jets: Another game, another unneccesary amount of Jets listed as probable. The only two that you care about, WR Stephen Hill (concussion), and QB Geno Smith (ankle)

Falcons: DT Jonathan Babineaux (foot), WR Drew Davis (ankle)

NFL Picks: Week 5

Russell Wilson and the Seahawks will feel as cool as Wilson in this sweater after today's game. Photo from gq.com

I started off pretty well last week, with the Seahawks coming back from a 20-3 deficit and beating the Texans in overtime on the road to make me happy, and cause all those who picked the Texans to curl up into a ball and cry. I ended up with a 9-6 record, which is pretty good, and keeps my streak of weeks without a sub-.500 finish at nine straight dating back to Week 16 of last year, including the playoffs, and excluding the Super Bowl.

So far, I'm continuing my run of success with a weird win on Thursday night. First of all, I made my pick a bit late, after the game had already started, but I had yet to check the score. I tweeted it, as per usual, (@WilliamBotchway):

BROWNS (-3.5) over Bills. 

I immediately checked what was going on and found...the Bills were up 7-0. I still had confidence in Brian Hoyer and the Browns being able to come back. Then I realized why Jordan Cameron was doing absolutely nothing in my fantasy lineup...oh no...:

So bad they didn't bother to correct the mistake. Little did Upper Deck know that this card would be a future gem for all the wrong reasons. Photo form upperdeckblog.com/

Hoyer tore his ACL, and he's out for the year, which means that Weeden has appeared to make my fantasy team's two hidden gems (Cameron and Josh Gordon) into nothing again. I was quite worried about my pick, but then EJ Manuel got hurt and...oh no...:

Photo from phillyburbs.com

Jeff Tuel brought his 4-22 college record into the game and got outplayed by Brandon Weeden. Those are the saddest five words ever written. Thanks to Tuel being bad, I snuck away from that game with a victory. Shoutout to Kiko Alonso for being ridiculously impressive in each of his first five games. 

Thank God I decided not to watch this abomination of quarterbacking. 

Let's move on. 

Quickly. 

I'm now 4-1 on Thursday night games, and 37-25-2 on the season. Let's continue the run!

UPSET ALERT next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not just cover. Hoem team in CAPS.

MLB Postseason Preview 2013

Partying like it's 2011. Photo from nytimes.com

The regular season has come to a close, and it's time for an exciting month of winners, losers, heroes and zeroes. Admittedly, my seven weeks in Ghana caused me to be largely out of the loop of this baseball season, but I think I've caught up pretty well. There have been some surprises this year, such as the Royals being in contention and the Nationals falling apart. The Pirates are in the playoffs, as are the Indians. Unsurprisingly, the Yankees missed the playoffs. There were PED suspensions galore, and somehow, despite getting the largest suspension, Alex Rodriguez managed to play through the end of the season.

Mike Trout had a better year than his MVP season in 2012. Miguel Cabrera had a better season than his MVP* season in 2012. It will be interesting to see how the voting shakes out. I don't expect Trout to win, but he has a chance.

As for the playoffs, here's what will go down, courtesy of me: