Third and Long: The JETS, the MIKE, and the Week 7 Recap

We're joined by guest host and New York Jets columnist Jordan Pensabene (@jpens4real21) in our recap of a particularly hectic week of football, attacking the Percy Harvin trade, team trends, and the playoff picture very vaguely taking shape. Listen here or on iTunes!

#struggleface

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Week 7 Fantasy Report: Ghosts of Football Yet to Come

Relatively speaking, this week sputtered by with little to-do. A few games went down to the wire and some interesting upsets caused mild tremors, but nothing registered much more than a burp on the figurative Richter scale. What we did see, over all else, was the growing emergence of young players in their respective positions. As is customary during midseason, rookies began hitting their strides, teams loosened the ropes on their young projects, and we as fans began to notice a sense of evolution around the league. Hence, this week I'd like to focus primarily on some of the more impressive youngsters, of course touching upon their fantasy forecasts in both re-draft and a few dynasty tidbits. Hope you all enjoy this seventh installment of my fake football stock report.

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Third and Long: Rivalries and the Week 5/6 Recap

We're back after a one-week hiatus (our bye week!) to take on some big rumblings around the league. Listen here or on iTunes! As a postscript, since I (Lucio) talk so much about the Browns' zone-blocking scheme, here's a fantastic article from SB Nation that breaks it all down: http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/10/17/6993241/cleveland-browns-bryan-hoyer-offense

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Preseason Trends and Exhibition Injury Pointlessness

Preseason football, more than any other organized sport, exists mostly as a risk-riddled cash grab. I love watching young hopefuls climb their respective depth charts and analyzing backup players, which ostensibly gives the preseason its purpose; but when coaches claim to force their starters to play in exhibition games as punishment, there's something very wrong with the practice. A rash of serious injuries have taken down some of the more important players in the league to this point, affecting both reality and fantasy. Without firing off yet another rant against the waste of time we call the preseason, I'd like to go over some notable injuries and how they may affect building your roster.

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Article 2: Packing it in?

Article 2: Packing it in?

There's more bad news for David Wilson. The New York Giants running back now may never play football again due to another neck injury, this time during training camp. After having a season ending injury, which originally was called spinal stenosis in 2013, Wilson was diagnosed with a "burner" on Tuesday, according to ESPN. The Giants have ruled him out for the rest of the team's practices as well as the first preseason game on Sunday. Now there are reports from NJ.com which say Wilson needs "a miracle" to play football again.

Although Wilson is stating that this is somewhat a minor injury, it looks like doctors will be less optimistic. This is horrible news for the New York Giants who drafted the high upside Wilson with the 32nd pick of the 2012 draft. But fortunately for the team, if Wilson is ruled okay to return to play eventually, they have the roster to let him ease his way back in. Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams, Peyton Hillis, and Michael Cox are all capable of playing in Wilson's absence but obviously Wilson has the best potential of all of them to be the starting running back.

A few of our hosts (who are both Giants fans) at Three by Five Network had a conversation about this on twitter yesterday:

I can see both perspectives in this case. Wilson was not having the best year before his injury like Dennis (@DMalles98) said. He recorded 146 yards on 44 carries (3.3 YPC) with one touchdown and two fumbles. But like I mentioned earlier, David Wilson definitely has the potential to be a superstar. Wilson did not have enough playing time (only 115 carries in two seasons) like Jesse (@JesseCampbell23) said. Wilson's two fumbles in Week 1 against the Cowboys really put him behind on the depth chart in 2013. We've seen Wilson do well with opportunity in college and at the end of the 2012 season and he never had much of an opportunity before his injury last season.

Obviously, the best the case scenario is for this to be a minor injury like Wilson stated and ease him back into action. But I seriously doubt that will be the case. Hopefully the Giants will be able to suffice using a RBBC (which they were probably doing anyway even with Wilson) and let Wilson move on. Above all, let's hope that David Wilson will recover and at least be able to pursue a less risky career choice. We will find out on Monday what his test results say.

About the Author

Alex Sappe
Co-creator and co-editor-in-chief of Three By Five Sports Network
Co-host of the Third and Long Podcast
Co-host of the Footballistically Speaking Podcast

Follow me on Twitter @AlexSappe

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The Offseason Sucks...

The Offseason Sucks... 

It's still only July. The EPL regular season is still more than 2 weeks away. The NFL regular season is still more than a month away. The NHL regular season is still more than 2 months (AGHHJAGHJ) away. Worst of all, the summer months are starting to drag on.

All ESPN is giving us is LEBRON IS GONNA WEAR NUMBER 23!!!!!!!!! and a bunch of MLB highlights (which all look the same to me). I've been preparing a little earlier than normal for the fantasy football season because I'm still upset over my 3rd place finish from last season and I really can't wait for football. But even that can get a little boring after a while. Here atThree By Five Sports Network, we've been recording random episodes of our podcasts because we're trying to make something relevant out of the sports world today. The Going 5-Hole Podcast should have an offseason episode coming up within the week and the Third and Long Podcast will have a special edition episode where Lucio and I do a mock draft for every team in a 12 team league (It was a good idea but dragged on a bit in the end).

So to keep our loyal followers and myself entertained, I will be posting articles throughout the rest of the offseason (and maybe even continue into the season if there are still things I want to talk about which are not discussed in the podcast episodes). Each article could have anything written in it but most likely will be general news and quick analysis by myself and our other hosts. My first offseason article will be posted today.

Just remember, football and fútbol are almost here!

Follow me on Twitter: @AlexSappe

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Upcoming (and practically useless) Information

We're Official! 

Now that we have our brand new website built by our own hosts, Lucio Leone and Alex Sappe, we'll be getting a constant stream of content posted here from now on. Get ready for...

Weekly! episodes of the Third and Long Podcast (NFL), hosted by Lucio Leone, Jesse Campbell, and Alex Sappe, starting mid to late August!

Bi-weekly!! episodes of the Footballistically Speaking Podcast (EPL), hosted by Lucio Leone, Alex Sappe, and Mike Kane, starting early to mid August!

And random!!!!!!!!!! episodes of the Going 5-Hole Podcast (NHL), hosted by Mike Kane and Dennis Malles (We're hoping for at least bi-weekly episodes but who knows when these two lazy buffoons are doing with their section...who invited them anyway...)!


The dates it's looking like our podcast seasons will start are:

Third and Long: Wednesday, August 27th

Footballistically Speaking: Monday, August 11th

Going 5-Hole: ???????????? (Shooting for somewhere between 10/1 and 10/8)

All of this has probably already made this the greatest news you've ever heard...but wait! There's more! (Yes, I know...I'm almost done though) Now that we're official, we're now on iTunes! You can subscribe to our podcast network (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-by-five-sports-network/id896879341?mt=2) so you'll never miss an episode.

All of us here at Three By Five Sports Network look forward to providing all of this content and hope that you enjoy it and keep listening!

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