NFL Picks: Week 4

Albeit a little bit late, I did tweet my pick (@WilliamBotchway) for the Thursday Night Game. Rest assured that I was occupied prior to the tweet and had not checked the score for the game, even though I knew it had started. Here it is:
Browns (+11.5) over RAVENS.
Finally! I have won an early week game! 1-3 on early week games, 1-0 this week and  23-23-3* on the year.  Of course that should be 24-22-3 because I had the Packers winning, but that's neither here nor there.

"UPSET ALERT" next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not only cover. Also, home team in CAPS.

Weekly Awards 9/26/12

Best Player in Baseball- Stop it. It's not Miguel Cabrera. It's Mike Trout.
Right Tackle of the Week- Let's just say that it is not Bryan Bulaga, his Packers let up 8 sacks in the first half on Monday night. At least they overcame it to win the game! Oh...wait.
Jets Touchdown of the Week- Laron Landry taking it to the house of a terrible throw by Tannehill.
Time to Jump off the Bandwagon- The Detroit Lions could easily be 0-3 because they nearly cost themselves by letting the Rams hang around for a while in Week 1. Their defense looks terrible. The good thing however...
Game of the Week- Lions/Titans was great. That has to be the first walk-off chain measurement in NFL history.
Time to Jump on the Bandwagon- Minnesota Vikings. They look like they can be this year's spoiler-ish team with a lot of talent, but too many gaping holes to make a playoff run. Christian Ponder doesn't just look like an NFL QB, he looks really good so far. They've already exceeded my prediction of 1-15.
Replacement Ref of the Week- Lance Easley made the worst call in recent history. It was him!
Hey, You've Done It!- Why am I all of a sudden impressed by Brandon Weeden? Gah, make it stop!
King of the Bottom of the Hill- Ryan Tannehill is still bad. No surprise here.
Worst Team in the NFL- New Orleans Saints. Their defense is beyond atrocious, and their offense isn't exactly in sync. Long season out in N'awlins. But hey, at least they upgrade from the interim interim coach to the interim coach in Week 7!
Coach of the Week- If Sean Payton was with the team, they would not have blown such a large lead against KC. Unbelievable.
Best Team in the NFL- The Houston Texans have been taking care of business so far this season. They will roll through their division and go deep into the playoffs.
Fantasy Pickup of the Week- Andre Brown and Mikel Leshoure.
My Fantasy Team Player of the Week- Thank you Andre Brown.
Amar'e Stoudemire/Javale McGee Stupid Act of the Week- No, Miguel Cabrera should not win AL MVP and anyone who says that he should is completely wrong.
Birthday of the Day- The Sedin twins.
The G.O.A.T. Looks a Bit Off!- Okay, I'm officially worried about my boy Peyton Manning.
Mike Trout Award- Just give him the MVP already!

NFL Picks: Week 3

I tweeted my pick for the Thursday Night Football game. My twitter is @WilliamBotchway and here is my pick:
PANTHERS (+3) over Giants.
Of course now I'm 0-3 on early week games and 14-16-3 on the season. Also, I have Cam Newton in one of my fantasy leagues. But thankfully, in my most important league, I have....ANDRE BROWN!

"UPSET ALERT" next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not only cover. Also, home team in CAPS.

Weekly Awards 9/19/12

Best Player in Baseball- Mike Trout
Right Tackle of the Week- Cordy Glenn was very impressive for the Bills on Sunday. The Bills have yet to allow a sack to Fitzpatrick, and part of the reason is because Glenn can move really well.
Jets Touchdown of the Week- Well they only scored one TD.....
Time to Jump off the Bandwagon- The Kansas City Chiefs looked terrible in Week 1, but the excuse (that I believed) was that they were missing key players on their defense. Well they played in Week 2, and they still were destroyed by the Bills. Inexcusable performance by a team that I thought will win their division.
Time to Jump on the Bandwagon- If you read my Arizona Cardinals preview in August, I mentioned a lot of good defensive players, and they have as a unit exceeded my expectations. They play very physically and are dominant enough to mask their offensive shortcomings, such as the fact that Kevin Kolb was played in both games this season. Patrick Peterson is amazing. He's one of the best defensive players in the league.
Replacement Ref of the Week- That idiot who cost the Ravens the game by calling a pass interference penalty on Jacoby Jones for no reason. Shoutout to the phantom pass interference on Ike Taylor.
Hey, You've Done It!- Brandon Weeden threw for 300 yards. Really? Speaking of...
King of the Bottom of the Hill- Weeden no longer deserves this crown. Last week I mentioned that Ryan Tannehill was making a push, but after last week's performances, Tannehill is taking this award home for the week. Congrats Ryan.
Worst Team in the NFL- You win some, you lose some. Tannehill gets the previous award, but he and his team lost their stranglehold on the worst team in the league because they won. Well, who gets it? It was between the Raiders and the Chiefs, and I'm going with the Oakland Raiders. KC has talent on their roster, but this looks like a classic Raiders season. Everything goes wrong; they get screwed by their long snapper, then they are "forced to wear black uniforms in the Miami heat."
Coach of the Week- Sean Payton is still gone, the Saints and their interim interim coach are still bad.
Cortland Finnegan Victim of the Week- He always knows how to anger someone to no end, and thanks to these replacement officials, he takes some extra unnecessary shots at WRs and doesn't get properly penalized. Josh Morgan cost his team the game by throwing the ball at Finnegan, but credit to the Great Instigator.
My Fantasy Team Player of the Week- Eli Manning had 510 yards. His picks lowered his final total, but he still got me 26. Great job there. (I still lost.)
Amar'e Stoudemire/Javale McGee Stupid Act of the Week- Two winners, the NFL and Brian Strapolo. The NFL made a gigantic mistake with the replacement referees. Their background checks were not very thorough, and they had a full-blown Saints fan assigned to a game between the Panthers and the Saints. The man had pictures of himself in Saints gear plastered all over his Facebook page. It took Chris Mortensen to tell the league at 11 AM before they pulled him and replaced him with an alternate official that was travelling with the crew. Bad job by Goodell and the league, but even worse by Strapolo. How stupid can one be to have Saints gear on their public Facebook page when he has to be an objective authority figure on national television. That's literally inviting the NFL to remove him from the game. Not smart.
Birthday of the Day- The guy who should come in second in the NL Cy Young voting, Gio Gonzalez. Unfortunately he will win because of "wins."
The G.O.A.T is Still Back!- Peyton Manning looked terrible in the first quarter on Monday. That's okay because he still found a way to bring his team back within striking distance. Don't overreact, he's fine, he just had a bad game.
Mike Trout Award- This is the new name of the AL MVP Award.

**NOTE** I have been attempting to write this since Tuesday, sorry for the delay, but you know, schoolwork.

Three Things to Remember about the Jets and Steelers

While watching yesterday's game, I felt the ultimate moment of "I told you so" toward my fellow Jets fans. Talk about overreactions, apparently the Jets are an amazing offensive team. Yeah, right. I'm going to quote the great William Botchway:

"Don't worry, we still suck. Over the course of the season, Stephen Hill will continue to look like Victor Cruz did on Wednesday. Austin Howard will struggle blocking. Shonn Greene will remember that he's Shonn Greene and start to suck again. Also, Sparano has already made some stupid Tebow/Sanchez decisions, he'll continue to screw with Sanchez's rhythm in the middle of drives. Though the defense and special teams really is this good. Expect an average of 13 points for the rest of the year."

Jets Offense is not Good

I wrote that on facebook right in the middle of the Jets making Bills fans circle the wagons.  Why is it that most Jets fans ignored the deficiencies of the offense?

Yesterday, two of these problems reared their ugly heads yesterday as the Jets were dismantled. The receivers forgot to do their jobs, and the running game was anemic. Mark Sanchez actually played a very good game despite his statistics. The only problem was that Santonio Holmes and Stephen Hill were getting mauled (the contact was very legal and I applaud the Pittsburgh corners for their play) downfield and could not get open to save their lives. The old Sanchez would have attempted to force the ball into very tight coverage and get picked off. He now sees how stupid that is and checks down to a shorter route hoping that something will happen. Nothing happened.

Shonn Greene is not good. He got hurt early in the game with a head injury, at which point I thought it would be an improvement. Bilal Powell and Joe McKnight did nothing to fill in for Greene until he finally returned in the 2nd half. He came back and continued to do nothing.

Why is it that so many fans were blinded  by one game and forgot all about the horrible shortcomings of most of the offense.

Dick LeBeau is a Genius

I don't know how I seem to forget this all the time, but Dick LeBeau is a defensive mastermind. I keep calling Pittsburgh's defense old and slow, and while I'm somewhat joking, I do mean it. Does it matter? Apparently not; LeBeau has an amazing scheme and it doesn't really matter who plays for him, his defense is good. It obviously helps when he has elite defensive talent. 

Ben Roethlisberger is Elite

Big mistake by me here, but it's easy to forget how good he is. Unless of course he's playing against the team that you root for. It's extremely frustrating to watch your team attempt to stop him. So many free runners at him thanks to his terrible offensive line, but nobody can tackle him. He escapes hits so well, and when he does get whacked, he's so big that he just absorbs it and shrugs off lineman left and right. The touchdown that he threw to Mike Wallace was one of the most astounding things I've seen in a while. He was down. The Jets were closing in on him and he avoided a few hits and launched a bomb to Wallace that made Antonio Cromartie look like a complete bum. He always gets forgotten in the conversation of the best QBs, but this skill of his makes him so good. 

NFL Picks: Week 2

As you already know, I'm tweeting my pick for the Thursday Night Football Games for this year. My twitter is @WilliamBotchway and here is my pick:
Bears (+5.5) over PACKERS.
I'm now 0-2 on early week games, and 7-10 on the season. I would like to thank the Chicago offensive line for doing this to me. I hate you too.

"UPSET ALERT" next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not only cover. Also, home team in CAPS.

Weekly Awards 9/12/12

Best Player in Baseball- Mike Trout, don't argue
Right Tackle of the Week- Austin Howard! I finally realized the fundamental problem with Mario Williams's style of play. He doesn't exactly get pressure on the quarterback, he gets sacks when there are open holes. Lining up against Austin Howard on Sunday, there were no open holes. Of course this led the $100 Million Man to complain about the Replacement Refs, but of course he's wrong.
Jets Touchdown of the Week- I'll have to give to give this one to Antonio Cromartie channeling his inner Neon Deion and taking this to the house.
Worst Long Snapper in the History of the World- Travis Goethel
Time to Jump off the Bandwagon- Buffalo Bills. They looked beyond inept. Inept I say. I finally remembered why everyone thought that Ryan Fitzpatrick was so bad. He's so stubborn! He stares down a receiver, allows the corner to lie in wait and it's an interception. There's a reason why he led the NFL in picks last year. Why did I buy the "cracked ribs" excuse?
Time to Jump on the Bandwagon- I was one of those "49ers will take a step back" people. Boy, is their defense physical. It's dominating and they will definitely go deep into the playoffs.
Hey, You've Done It!- Two things happened on Sunday that I never thought would happen.

1. Blaine Gabbert looked like an NFL quarterback
2. Christian Ponder looked like an NFL quarterback

They are no longer in the cellar. However....
King of the Bottom of the Hill- Brandon Weeden has arrived on the scene and taken the league by storm. By that I mean he's ready to continue handing interceptions away. The 28-year-old rookie is really bad. If the joke that is Cleveland realized that Colt McCoy has the amazing combination of being both younger and better than Weeden, they would be 1-0 and the city of Philadelphia would be rioting and attempting to murder Andy Reid. Not like they don't call for his head every week...Credit to Ryan Tannehill for attempting to get this award, but don't worry, he'll be involved later in this post.
Worst Team in the NFL- Remember when I said that Ryan Tannehill would be involved? Yeah, he's the leader of the worst team in the league. I said that the Bills looked inept, but the difference is that they have legitimate talent on their roster. What do the Dolphins have? Jake Long, Karlos Dansby, and would it be wrong if I said that Reggie Bush was their third best player? In fact, I should edit out the word inept in reference to the Bills, because that word was created for a team like this. Good Luck Miami! (Don't worry Jets fans, they'll still hand us the obligatory loss against the Fins in New Jersey. Can't have a Jets season without it).
Coach of the Week- Sean Payton. Without him, the Saints are nothing. Talented, but nothing. Speaking of that Saints-Redskins game...
RGIII Award- He deserves his own award after that amazing performance. As a pure QB, he looks better than Cam Newton.
My Fantasy Team Player of the Week- Let's just give him player of the year. The man. The myth. The legend. JULIO! Jones!!!!! (Your first introduction to my unhealthy obsession with JULIO!).
Amar'e Stoudemire/Javale McGee Stupid Act of the Week- Do I even need to say it? (That's my way of getting out of giving this to anyone because I can't think of a winner).
Tennis Player of the Week- Finally Andy Murray. Finally. It took you 2 extra sets that you should not have lost, but you finally got your major. Congrats, the man has worked hard.
Fix Your Bullpen- *Sigh* Let's Go Mets, whatever, I'm done with them until April.
Birthday of the Day- Andrew Luck! First NFL game on Sunday, birthday on Wednesday, good week for him.
G.O.A.T is Back!- Speaking of Andrew Luck, I can't finish this without mentioning my boy, Peyton Manning. He looked like he was back to being Peyton Manning. That sound you hear: Chiefs fans, Raiders fans, Travis Goethel, Chargers fans, Norv Turner, and Eli Manning all crying at once.
Mike Trout Award- Don't think I've been too caught up in the NFL to care about yet another unhealthy obsession of mine, Michael Nelson Trout. I didn't even bother to verify whether or not that is his full name, I'm confident that I have that memorized.

In terms of my NFL Picks for Week 1, I finished a whopping 7-9. Thanks to good ole Mike Vick, Matt Stafford, and Phil Rivers. They don't deserve to have their full first names.

NFL Picks: Week 1

Here it is. Football has arrived, and you know what that means; weekly picks. This is the first year that I'll be actually picking against the spread. I'm using the average of the six lines that appear on espn.com. Before we begin, I must mention that for the early week games (Wednesday for this week, Thursday from Week 2 on), I will tweet my pick, so go follow me @WilliamBotchway. Unfortunately I didn't get to do that because the powers that be at Twitter decided to throw me in Twitter Jail five minutes before the game so I was blocked from doing anything. Well here is what would have been my pick:
GIANTS (-4) over Cowboys.
As you can see, that failed, so my record is already at a sterling 0-1. I'll improve on that, don't worry. How exactly? Let's see this week's picks:

"UPSET ALERT" next to games in which I think the underdog will win outright, not only cover. Also, home team in CAPS.

32 in 32: Putting It All Together

Preview Extravaganza

Read the introduction here

Read the Giants preview here

FOOTBALL TONIGHT! WATCH IT!

After 32 days of late night and early morning blogging, tons of research, racking my brains to remember what I thought about certain things, and a lot of deliberation, I have finished. Now what? I put all the records together, give you the standings, the playoffs, and even the awards. Y'all ready for this? Here you go, starting with the divisional standings:

32 in 32: New York Giants

New York Giants

Read the introduction here
Read the Patriots preview here
Full on preview extravaganza full with awards and playoff predictions tomorrow.

2011 Record: 9-7

Key Acquisitions: Martellus Bennett, Jayron Hosley, Rueben Randle, Keith Rivers, Shaun Rogers, David Wilson
Key Departures: Jake Ballard, Jonathan Goff, Deon Grant, Brandon Jacobs, Mario Manningham, Kareem  McKenzie, Aaron Ross, Dave Tollefson

Here it is! The final team preview, and of course it ends with your Super Bowl Champions, the New York Football Giants. I had very low expectations for this team last year, not because of the talent, but because of health. Now I think it's their new skill; deal with a bunch of injuries and lose to bad teams, while beating the really good teams and getting healthy right at the end of the season to make a run through the playoffs that they really shouldn't by beating the Packers at Lambeau, the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and two other teams that are better than them. I picked against them in every playoff game last year (thanks a lot Atlanta) even though they're still a great team. The offense should actually be better this season because both the running backs and the receiver positions have improved. The defense has some questions. While they do have the best defensive line in the NFL (more specifically, the best group of three defensive ends), the back seven could be a problem. They got over it last year, and they'll find a way this year. As I just mentioned, they are notorious for playing down to their opponents, which is really frustrating to watch as a football fan, but awesome as a Jets fan (I actually like the Giants myself, except Giants fans annoy me). They have a bunch of good teams on their schedule, which of course means that they'll be fine. I have them winning the division, but just you wait, Giants fans will be firing Tom Coughlin after every loss, and there will be mutiny if they lose two in a row. I honestly don't get the constant obsession with hating on Coughlin because he's one of the best coaches in the game. But it's New York so being overreactionary and looking for something to hate is normal.

Offense
Eli(te) Manning is great. I've always been a fan, but he finally proved himself to the masses last year. Now he's not as good as his big brother (because that would mean that Eli is the best ever, and trust me, Eli is not the best ever), but he's great and well on his way to the Hall of Fame. He's a leader and knows how to get the most out of his offensive players, which is great because he has major weapons on this offense.

I don't know if Ahmad Bradshaw can really carry the load as the top running back. He has struggled with injuries at times in his career, and he was the leading rusher in the worst running attack in the league last year. I think he's in for a bounce back season, but David Wilson is right on his tail. Wilson basically has the same running style as Bradshaw, except he might even be better. He might not be, we'll have to see. What I am sure of however, is that Wilson is much better than Brandon Jacobs, so the running game will be much more of a factor this year. That's right Giants fans. That means a whole lot of points.

Victor Cruz had great chemistry with Manning last year, but don't expect him to repeat his performance or to get better. He's a legit receiver, worthy of being a #1 in this league, but it's impossible to have that many big plays in back to back seasons. He'll get tackled once in a while. The scary part is that Hakeem Nicks is probably better than Cruz, even though he disappointed last year. By disappoint, I mean that he reeled in 76 balls for 1,192 yards. He didn't exactly seem at full strength. He has had some injury troubles in the past, so hopefully that doesn't thwart his development. Mario Manningham made a great play in the Super Bowl. Alright, he wasn't that good otherwise, and Rueben Randle is much better. He has a load of talent. Ramses Barden is healthy! That sound you hear is Eli Manning rejoicing. Barden is a stud and his height makes it pretty easy for him to make catches. He could be a massive factor in the red zone. Manning will throw it up, and hopefully Barden will get it. The Giants have tried to incorporate Domenik Hixon into their offense for two years. They got rewarded with two ACL tears. It would help if he could stay on the field. Jerrel Jernigan was a non-factor last year, but was considered a good prospect out of college.

Martellus Bennett was a failure with the Cowboys, and he won't be much better in New York. They don't need him though.

The offensive line does not look very good. David Diehl was constantly allowing pressure on Manning last year. Kevin Boothe also struggled, and Will Beatty is almost never healthy. Chris Snee is the only sure thing on this line. He has always been great and should be healthy this year, a good sign for Manning.

Defense
The best defensive line in the NFL. They led the league in sacks last year, despite injuries to two of their best defensive ends, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. Tuck had only 5 sacks in his 12 regular season games, but constantly got pressure on the QB, even with his lingering injury. Umenyiora had 9 sacks in 9 games, and an additional 3.5 in the playoffs. If he is healthy for 16 games, he'll do a whole lot of damage. I haven't gotten to Jason Pierre-Paul yet. He has the most raw talent out of these pass rushers, and showed that off last year, getting 16.5 sacks. He still has a lot of untapped potential,so there's no telling what he can do. I still think it's too early to bring him up in the conversation as the best defensive player in the league, because his first season was pretty bad, but if he puts together yet another great season, he's earned it. Chris Canty and Linval Joseph are both strong individuals in the middle but Canty won't be available for the first six games due to injury. Rocky Bernard is pretty good too, so he'll do a nice job filling in. Joseph and Canty stop the run very well and are able to get to the quarterback. Marvin Austin missed all of his rookie season with an injury, and with his talent, the Giants could end up with an embarrassment of riches at both the defensive end and defensive tackle positions.

The Giants traded for extremely talented linebacker Keith Rivers, but he's always injured, which means he's a perfect fit for the Giants. When he plays, he does everything well. Michael Boley will actually start over him on the weak side, but Rivers should get a good amount of playing time. Chase Blackburn should start in the middle, and he's alright. Both he and Boley struggle at times. Mathias Kiwanuka certainly has found his spot at the linebacker position. He's really good.

Here comes the weakness of this team, the secondary. Terrell Thomas got injured yet again, missing his second straight season with an ACL injury. His career is going to be affected greatly by his fragile ligaments. Corey Webster is not nearly as good as Giants fans like to give him credit for, but he was really good in the playoffs last year. He can get a good amount of interceptions, but he's not a shutdown corner at all. Prince Amukamara was obviously affected by injuries last year and looked really bad. Unfortunately, he's not playing in the season opener, which means that Miles Austin and Dez Bryant will take turns trying to exploit Michael Coe or Justin Tryon. Speaking of exploiting, Antrel Rolle was a disaster. It seemed every big pass play given up by the Giants was in his direction, yet he wasn't there to stop anything. He's really bad in coverage. Kenny Phillips however, was the opposite of a disaster. He's a really good safety who will only get better.

Special Teams
Lawrence Tynes was mediocre last year, but that's because he was recovering from multiple injuries (what else did you expect? He's a Giant, they always find a way to get hurt!). Steve Weatherford was a great punter last year, but he's probably in Coughlin's doughouse after his actions earlier this month. Jerrel Jernigan was alright on returns last year, and he should be getting better.

11-5, 1st in NFC East

**NOTE** Go ahead Giants fans, tell me that I have too much Jets bias and that Antrel Rolle, Corey Webster, and David Diehl are amazing. You're wrong.