NFL 2016: Playoffs: Wildcard

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* The firings continue. The Washington Slurs are letting go of Joe Berry and the entire rest of the defensive staff. The Saints have fired multiple assistants, including Joe Vitt of oh-yeah-that-other-assistant-coach-suspended-for-bounties fame.

* Raiders QB Connor Cook is expected to make his first career start in this week's wildcard game against the Texans, making him the first QB in NFL history to make their first start in the playoffs. (Minnesota's Joe Webb had made a couple of starts in 2010 before his fateful 2012 wildcard start).

* Randy Gregory's 1 year suspension is likely the beginning of the end for him. Or perhaps the middle of the end.

* The 49ers are interviewing Seattle offensive line coach Tom Cable for their head coach position. Because when I think of success, I think of Seattle's offensive line. Not to mention Cable's first run as head coach, with the Raiders. Granted, Cable actually is an excellent offensive line coach and should not be held responsible for the dregs that Seattle's front office saddles him with, but I don't know that I've seen anything to suggest he is head coaching material. And I'm really not in a hurry to sign up for another regime headed by a Seattle assistant coach.

* The 49ers are reportedly the only team to request an interview with Cable.

* A.J. Hawk has announced his retirement. He played in only one game this year before being released by Atlanta in October.

* A reporter asked Jets owner Woody Johnson to comment on an unnamed coach saying that Christian Hackenberg "can't hit the ocean". Johnson's response: "Depends on which ocean". (It amazes to me to this day that the team spent a 2nd round pick on him, and that so many draftniks didn't seem to notice that he couldn't throw it anywhere near a receiver)

* Ryan Tannehill is officially OUT for Sunday's game.

* The Eagles have denied the Jets permission to interview their QB coach John DeFilippo for the Jets' offensive coordinator vacancy.

* Matt Ryan was 2nd in the NFL in deep accuracy, per PFF's $1500-paywall metrics. First place? Sam Bradford.

* Amari Cooper finished the season with the exact same 87 targets as his rookie year. His drops, however, reduced from 18 to 4.

This Week's Games
Saturday
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans, 4:35pm ET
Detroit Lions at Seattle Seahawks, 8:15pm ET

Sunday
Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers, 1:05pm ET
New York Giants at Green Bay Packers, 4:40pm ET

Pick 'Ems
Last year, 6 pickers managed to equal or beat the Oddsmakers. This year, thanks in large part to a 5-0 Week 17 from the Oddsmakers, there was Only One.

Congratulations to the 2016 GWJ Pick'Em champion... Jayhawker!

I would also like to thank everyone that participated in the game throughout the season, especially those who had sh*tty season totals but still kept playing. I'm going to put some badly-needed maintenance and updates into the pick'em site, and the participation level that you all maintain makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time.

Final 2016 Results
Jayhawker: 56-28 IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/z32M3Ou.png)
Oddsmakers: 55-29
Bighoppa: 52-32
Certis: 50-24
Bubs14: 50-33
Torq: 49-35
iaintgotnopants: 49-35
EvilDead: 48-36
Abu5217: 47-27
Zaque: 47-32
MilkmanDanimal: 47-37
tboon: 46-33
*Legion*: 46-38
Infyrnos: 46-38
onewild: 45-34
jonfentyler: 45-39
UpToIsomorphism: 45-39
Rat Boy: 44-40
garion333: 43-31
karmajay: 43-41
TheGameGuru: 43-41
PorkSmoothie89: 43-36
MoonDragon: 43-40
LeapingGnome: 41-43
oldmanscene24: 41-43
Minase: 40-29
ballnchained: 38-21
cube: 37-42
Vector: 35-44
Stele: 28-32
Kush15: 18-17
Top_Shelf: 17-22
Paleocon: 15-10
Running Man: 14-10
Jowner: 4-1
Gumbie: 3-2
Nomad: 2-3
Docjoe: 2-3

Week 17 Results
Stele: 5-0
Oddsmakers: 5-0
Zaque: 4-1
MilkmanDanimal: 4-1
Torq: 4-1
UpToIsomorphism: 4-1
Abu5217: 4-1
Jayhawker: 4-1
onewild: 3-2
Infyrnos: 3-2
cube: 3-2
oldmanscene24: 3-2
karmajay: 3-2
TheGameGuru: 3-2
tboon: 3-2
EvilDead: 2-3
PorkSmoothie89: 2-3
LeapingGnome: 2-3
iaintgotnopants: 2-3
Bubs14: 2-3
MoonDragon: 2-3
*Legion*: 2-3
jonfentyler: 1-4
Bighoppa: 1-4
Rat Boy: 0-5

Coors losing the NFL sponsorship was one of the worst things to happen ever.

Jesus, I really fell apart last week. Congrats, Jayhawker!

One perfect week all season. Good finish.

Congrats, Jay. I forgot to play last week, not that it would've saved me.

Naturally, the perfect week came on the final week, when I got desperate and took long shots knowing full well how stupid my underdog picks were.

Yet only one of us beat the oddsmakers over the whole year. There's something to be said about "following the market" versus "trying to beat the market". That being said, I'm quite content with third place among those who played every week, considering last year I was utterly atrocious at the picks. I choose to credit having a job.

(P.S. - I got shortchanged a game somewhere, not sure if it was a win or a loss, probably that week where I forgot to enter the site didn't accept my picks)

Wait, what's that I see in week 17 . . .

Week 17 Results
MilkmanDanimal: 4-1
*Legion*: 2-3

Could it be???

Final 2016 Results

MilkmanDanimal: 47-37
*Legion*: 46-38

IMAGE(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s149/MilkmanDanimal/Ace-Ventura-Hip-Thrust-Gif_1.gif)

How did I not cheat that?

Woot! And I'm the only one to beat the oddsmakers! What weird, weird season.

I only beat Certis by six, and he missed two weeks. He couldah been a contendah.

Both missed weeks, travel. A true scourge.

Congrats Jayhawker! What's important is we stuck it to Legion and this year I did it without laying eyes on a single game. I can't help but think he knows too much and the KISS principle goes screaming out the window.

My bigger problem is that I can't help but put my loser teams in the pick'ems and then I can't help but pick them.

That and I can't help but be contrarian. I make the pick choices based on the betting lines, and I just like going against the line too damn much.

Also I don't actually know very much.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1fKg1pWQAAC3rq.jpg:large)

Oh, don't be too sad. Agent 89 will still be mocking DBs from the safety of a TV or radio studio somewhere.

That retirement letter is great, though. If I'm ever allowed to retire, I'm going to use something similar.

Thanks again for organizing the pick 'ems Legion.
It was interesting that early in the season there was a healthy crop of Goodjers above the oddsmakers, but they made an inexorable rise in the last 6 or so weeks of the season. I wonder if people started making desperation picks in an attempt to try and regain ground on the leaders?
I only missed one week, but even with a perfect score that wouldn't have changed my overall position much.

Are we doing a pick 'ems for the playoffs? Or are there not enough games to make it viable?

If so these would be my choices for the Wild Cards:

Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans - I think losing Carr removes any hope of Oakland making the superbowl, but they should probably still be good enough to beat Houston
Detroit Lions at Seattle Seahawks - Despite their lack of oline and backfield by committe, the defense is still just okay enough for Seahawks to find a way to win
Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers - Miami is my team, but I think Pittsburgh are better, and even if they were not, it is going to be too cold for Miami to play well
New York Giants at Green Bay Packers - I dearly wish for the Giants to beat the Patriots in the super bowl again, but I think Rodgers and Green Bay are too hot right now, unless the Giants defense is actually really amazing.

Missed two weeks and still finished in the Top 10, I will take that! Especially considering just how bad my picks were last season.

Oh, and I, too, beat *Legion*. Those homer picks will kill you. (Although a great many of my successful picks were more "what I want to happen" vs "what will probably happen". Also helps that Dallas won a lot of games this year.

Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans, 4:35pm ET

WTF? Such BS. Should be in Oakland. Stupid rules and whatnot.

garion333 wrote:
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans, 4:35pm ET

WTF? Such BS. Should be in Oakland. Stupid rules and whatnot.

Won't matter. We've got plenty of Oakland fans here to cheer when Ostrich Schaubs it up and throws some pick sixes.

bighoppa wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans, 4:35pm ET

WTF? Such BS. Should be in Oakland. Stupid rules and whatnot.

Won't matter. We've got plenty of Oakland fans here to cheer when Ostrich Schaubs it up and throws some pick sixes.

Really, the BS is that KC had such a great record. Who saw that coming? Expected them to compete, but damn.

Brock Osweiler vs. Connor Cook. The tens of people who will actually watch that game are in for quite a show.

garion333 wrote:
bighoppa wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans, 4:35pm ET

WTF? Such BS. Should be in Oakland. Stupid rules and whatnot.

Won't matter. We've got plenty of Oakland fans here to cheer when Ostrich Schaubs it up and throws some pick sixes.

Really, the BS is that KC had such a great record. Who saw that coming? Expected them to compete, but damn.

And KC competing had to help my pick'em score!

The season went pretty much as I expected. I felt like KC would make a run for the division, get in the playoffs, and then probably not have the firepower to win there. Over the last few weeks their offense has come together, but they still have a tough road ahead, especially if they have to beat Pittsburgh first.

Well, might as well make picks while I have the time and/or electricity:

Oakland at Houston: Blech. A match-up with lineups people would rather be different. I'm going to go Raaaaiders so that the What Ifs get dragged out for another week.

Detroit at Seattle: C'mon. Really? Seahawks.

Miami at Pittsburgh: Seriously? Steelers.

New York at Green Bay: Let's see, the G-Men are a wild card team the same year New England has the number one seed in the AFC. I've learned my lesson. Giants.

My picks, while I still can:

Houston over Las Vegas... err... Oakland
Seattle over Detroit
Pittsburgh over Miami
Green Bay over New York

Some tough games this weekend

Raiders
Seahawks
Steelers
Giants

But I could easily see these teams all losing as well.

Oakland
Detroit
Pitt
New York

Sadness in the form of Oakland
Seattle
Pittsburgh
Green Bay

* Matt Ryan was 2nd in the NFL in deep accuracy, per PFF's $1500-paywall metrics. First place? Sam Bradford.

Well, sure Bradford was 1/1 on passes over 20 yards. 100% completion on smallest possible sampleis pretty good!

Raiders
Seahawks
Steelers
Packers

Rooting for:
Raiders
Lions
Dolphins!!!
Packers

HOU
SEA
PIT
NYG

ESPN spent $100 million for today's package.

Today's weather:
Oak-Hou: It's indoors; who cares
Det-Sea: 33 and cloudy; it might rain during the second half

Sunday:
Mia-Pitt: High of 17, cloudy
NYG-GB: 11 degrees at kickoff; slight chance of rain

Playoff football!

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