Week 4 Preview: Jets at Titans, First of Many Slightly More Bitter, Rambling Articles

Photo from si.com

OUT
Jets: OL Oday Aboushi (knee), RB Chris Ivory (hamstring), CB Dee Milliner (hamstring)

Titans: RB Shonn Greene (knee), DT Sammie Lee Hill (ankle)

DOUBTFUL
Jets: None

Titans: None

QUESTIONABLE
Jets: None

Titans: LB Patrick Bailey (hamstring), WR Kenny Britt (neck/ribs), TE Delanie Walker (toe), CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson (hamstring)

PROBABLE
Jets: It looks like this is going to be a recurring theme as the Jets listed 11 players as probable. I'll just give you the highlights and not waste your time, DT Kenrick Ellis (back). The rest are people who you probably haven't been concerned about this week. Even Geno Smith is on the injury report. Give it up for Rex "Belichick" Ryan.

Titans: LB Moises Fokou (neck), LB Zaviar Gooden (ankle), OT David Stewart (calf)

NFL Picks: Week 4

*Sniff* Photo from thepewterplank.com

I'm not too happy with the people in this world who bet. When I made my pick for the Monday night game, the line was Broncos -16. By kickoff, the line had crept up to Broncos-16.5. So, naturally, I picked the Raiders to cover the 16 point spread, and they lost by...16. So I really could have used that extra half point. Thanks a lot.

Coming off of a blazing Week 3, and on Thursday night, I continued by run of success . As always, I tweeted my pick (@WilliamBotchway):

49ers (-3) over RAMS.

As you may already know, the Niners got back on track after an awful showing against the Colts by walloping the Rams 35-11. And it wasn't even that close. The Niners are fine, but the Rams look like they're in trouble.

Anyway, I'm now 3-1 on Thursday night games, and 28-19-2 on the year after a great 11-4-1 Week 3. Hopefully my good luck continues.

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

Week 3 Preview: Bills at Jets, First of Many Not as Bitter, Rambling Jets Articles

Photo from jetnation.com

I did not do a preview for last week's game because I had way too much work, and it would have been impossible for me to write it on a Thursday.

Sue me.

OUT
Bills: CB Ron Brooks (foot), CB Stephon Gilmore (wrist), WR Marquise Goodwin (hand), K Dustin Hopkins (groin), G Doug Legursky (knee)

Jets: T Oday Aboushi (knee)

DOUBTFUL
Bills: None

Jets: None

QUESTIONABLE
Bills: S Jairus Byrd (foot)

Jets: None

PROBABLE
Bills: None

Jets: Once again, the Jets listed a ridiculous amount of people as probable, and I'm not going to bother myself and all of you with all of those names. Here are the important ones: DE Quinton Coples (ankle), DT Kenrick Ellis (back), DT Sheldon Richardson (shoulder), DE Muhammad Wilkerson (ankle)

NFL Picks: Week 3

Photo from sbnation.com

The Rams almost pulled off one of the most miraculous backdoor covers in history. Down 24-3 at halftime, they ended up losing 31-24 in a game in which the spread was 6 points. 

That was balanced out by the fact that the Ravens, who struggled mightily all day, and were down 6-0 at halftime, somehow covered the 7 point spread that they had no business covering. They played horribly, but then again, they were facing Brandon Weeden. 

As for this week, I'm already off to a roaring start after I tweeted by Thursday Night pick (@WilliamBotchway) just before the game:

Chiefs (+3.5) over EAGLES. 

For the third straight week, I found myself backing the Chiefs, as well as taking the Thursday night underdog for the third straight week. I'm now 2-1 in both cases. This puts me at 17-15-1 on the year. I'm treading water...

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

My Letter to Matt Harvey

Photo from usatoday.com

So this week, Mets star pitcher Matt Harvey decided that he would not have Tommy John surgery and instead try a six to eight week throwing program before revisiting this possibility.

Read the story on espn.com, I'll wait.

No, seriously, I don't want to waste too much time re-telling the story.

Okay, you're done?

Welcome back.

Let's get on with it.

NFL Picks: Week 2

That is in fact, Josh Freeman attempting to re-create the cover of "Thriller." Photo from espn.com

I'm still quite angry that the Texans failed to cover the spread. I missed that one by half a point. Well, you win some, you lose some.

Speaking of losing some, the Jets opening this week in Foxborough and despite their loss, secured me a victory with my pick. I made my pick on twitter (@WilliamBotchway) before the game:

Jets (+13) over PATRIOTS. 

That one was pretty easy for me. As soon as Danny Amendola was ruled out of the game, I still felt that the Pats would win, but my Jets, despite having a completely inept offense, should cover the spread. I don't know what the spread was on Monday before Vereen and Amendola were listed as out, but I would have hoped that there was a lot of action on the Jets.

Anyway, that puts me at 1-1 on Thursday games and 9-7-1 on the year.

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

Obnoxiously Early Breakdown of Geno Smith

Photo from http://isportsweb.com

We're two games into the New York Jets season, and therefore, we're two games into the career of Geno Smith. Drafted 39th overall and the 7th pick in the second round of this year's draft, the Jets drafted him to be their franchise quarterback. Maybe not immediately, but a few years down the road. At the very least, they wanted to get him some in-game reps throughout the year and see what they have.

He was "competing" for the starting job in training camp, but was officially handed the role when Mark Sanchez got hurt. Personally, I think that in reality, Smith would have gotten the starting role even if Sanchez were healthy. 

After two games, I believe that he certainly is an interesting talent. 

He can move pretty well in the pocket, and he's been great at picking his spots in terms of scrambling for positive yardage when the coverage doesn't allow him to make a play downfield. 

He also has shown pretty nice poise in the pocket. In the preseason game against the Giants, he collapsed under pressure and sometimes he panicked. 

As for throwing, he needs work, but at his best, he can make very strong and accurate throws. However, that isn't the norm for him. Especially on Thursday night against the Patriots, Smith was overthrowing receivers, underthrowing receivers, and occasionally it looked like he was attempting to target the defender. He missed quite a few throws that should have been easy. He played bad. 

So why do I think he's so interesting? Because, he's only a rookie. While a lot "rookie mistakes" become simply mistakes, I still think that he can improve greatly and be much more consistent. That's the key word, consistency. That has always been the biggest issue with rookies in the NFL. They show flashes of brilliance, then follow it up with an "I don't belong here" play. Geno has been doing that. 

I think that he has the potential to be among to the top ten quarterbacks in the league in a few years, which will be good enough to lead a team to glory given that the surrounding parts are good. 

Throughout this season, he will continue to make better decisions, and gradually, his accuracy will improve. 

It will take some time, but this project is probably going to work out well for the Jets.

I think they're onto something. 

NFL Picks: Week 1

Photo from sportsgrid.com

It's that time of year again folks! Time for me to incorrectly predict some football games! I'm already off to a roaring start, because on Thursday Night, as I did last year with all Thursday Night games, I tweeted my pick. (Follow me, @WilliamBotchway, for that and much more.) I picked:
Ravens (+7.5) over BRONCOS. 
Oh you think that was enough? In 140 characters, I not only found a way to call out the oddsmakers for the line being so large in favor of the Broncos. It doesn't stop there, I followed it up with this. Not even the worst of my problems, as Julius Thomas put up 28 points on my fantasy bench.

Not a banner night for me.

But hey, after a pretty bad 125-133-4* record, compounded by the fact that I apparently can't count, seeing as I have 6 more games on my record than there are in an NFL regular season, it can't get that much worse, right? Remember, the Week 3 Fail Mary cost me a game and I'm only going to let go of that grudge now. Mostly because there's no reason for me to ever bring up my 2012 record again.

Onwards and upwards!

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

Week 1 Preview: Buccaneers at Jets, The Third of Many Bitter, Rambling Jets Articles

Image from espn.com

OUT
Buccaneers: TE Tom Crabtree (ankle), G Carl Nicks (foot)

Jets: DE/OLB Quinton Coples (ankle), QB Mark Sanchez (right shoulder)

DOUBTFUL
Buccaneers: CB Rashaan Melvin (hamstring)

Jets: None

QUESTIONABLE
Buccaneers: RB Mike James (eye), RB Erik Lorig (calf)

Jets: DT Kenrick Ellis (back), WR Santonio Holmes (foot)

PROBABLE
Buccaneers: T Demar Dotson (back), CB Darrelle Revis (knee)

Jets: No, the Jets listen 17 players as probable. I'm not going to listen them. That's completely ridiculous. Just know, everyone other than the above Jets are definitely active today. I'm already angry at them...

Spreading Them Wings Even Further

I mentioned back in April that I am now a writer for the popular website New York Knicks Memes. Well since I've returned from Ghana, I have accepted roles as a contributor to New York Sports Hub, and as an editor/senior writer at SportsDorks, which was founded by my boy Charlie Fogg. Check out all the other content on both websites, there are a lot of great writers contributing there.

All this means is that pretty much everything I post here will be seen elsewhere. I shan't abandon you all. This will become a little more of an index of my work than my only project.

Anyway, thank you for the support, thank you to Charlie (from SportsDorks) and Ankit Mehra (from New York Sports Hub) for the new positions, and I look forward to big things in the future.