The only thing worse about getting my Thursday night pick wrong is having to sit through a god awful game just to find out I got it wrong. So thanks a lot Cincinnati for just letting Miami hang around while up 15. I would have rather seen the Bengals just put Miami out of its misery instead of having to pray Ryan Tannehill could somehow pull off a backdoor cover with no time to throw. Oh well, it happens. At this point I’m just going on a rant.

Anyway, Week 4 is officially underway thanks to last night’s game. This week is going to be a long one because the first London game of 2016 is here (MORNING FOOTBALL!). Truthfully, as I look at the schedule my eye is caught up by the primetime games this week. That isn’t to say that the rest of the slate isn’t good (there are a couple potentially really good games there), but I think that it’s all about primetime this week.

Sunday Night Football features a matchup between the Chiefs and the Steelers in a huge AFC game. Kansas City picked up a big early season win against the Jets last week while Pittsburgh got crushed by the Eagles last week. Le’Veon Bell returns from his suspension Sunday and gives Pittsburgh one of its most versatile weapons back. While Kansas City sports a tough defense, I think getting Bell back gives Pittsburgh too much to handle.

Shifting focus to Monday Night Football and the matchup between the Giants and the Vikings. Now there are a few ways this game could go but I really think this game falls on how the Giants offensive line handles the Vikings front-seven. Minnesota is playing the best defense in the entire league right now and this could be a nightmare game for the Giants. We’ll also get a look at how Sam Bradford and the offense deal with the new-look Giants defense, which played well the first two weeks but struggled last week.

Overall it’s looking like a pretty good week for the NFL. Now before I get to my NFL picks, there are two outstanding games in college football this week that I want to give my thoughts on. Tonight features a top-ten matchup between #7 Stanford and #10 Washington. It’s a stellar coaching matchup as well between David Shaw and Chris Petersen. I’m interested to see how Washington tries to stop Christian McCaffrey. While I think Stanford should win this game, don’t count out Washington and the tricks Chris Petersen always has up his sleeve.

Saturday features the big matchup of the weekend between #3 Louisville and #5 Clemson. This one is all about the two Heisman candidates at quarterback, Lamar Jackson of Louisville and Deshaun Watson of Clemson. Jackson has been tearing up opposing defenses all season, while Watson has failed to live up to the hype that made him one of the front-runners for the Heisman trophy. While this game is in Clemson, I really like what I’ve seen from Jackson and the Cardinals.

Okay, lets get to my Week 4 picks. Last week I went 8-8 so I’m fighting the good fight here trying to get into a groove. Nevertheless I think this is the beginning of a good run here for my weekly picks. So here we go, my Week 4 picks (Winners in Bold)

This Week: 0-1      Last Week: 8-8       2016: 26-22

9:30 AM

Indianapolis (-2.5) vs. Jacksonville

1:00 PM

Tennessee vs. Houston (-4.5)

Cleveland (+7.5) vs. Washington

Seattle (-2.5) vs. New York Jets

Buffalo vs. New England (EVEN)

Carolina (-3) vs. Atlanta

Oakland (+3.5) vs. Baltimore

Detroit (-3) vs. Chicago

4:05/4:25 PM

Denver (-3) vs. Tampa Bay

Los Angeles (+8) vs. Arizona

New Orleans vs. San Diego (-4.5)

Dallas (-2) vs. San Francisco

Sunday Night Football

Kansas City vs. Pittsburgh (-5)

 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a primer for fantasy football Week 4. Enjoy the games this weekend. Join the conversation on the comments section or on social media. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Week 4 kicks off tonight in Cincinnati as the Bengals take on the Dolphins in a matchup of 1-2 teams. I’ll give my thoughts and pick for the game a later on, but first I have to play a little catch-up from Week 3. I’m going to skip my best/worst of the week since its Thursday and you’ve probably all seen or read just about all the analysis you could handle. I will be updating my power rankings, and things have certainly shaken up since last week. As an added bonus, I’ll bring you my first batch of teams whose season has already bitten the dust.

Let’s talk power rankings for a moment. We saw quite a shift in power in the NFC this week. Minnesota overcame an early 10-0 deficit and put in a dominant defensive performance against Carolina. The defending NFC champs now sit at 1-2, and will have to grind the next few weeks to get back into the top of the conference. Minnesota, on the other hand, has the defense to play against anyone in the league and will go as far as Sam Bradford can take this team.

The AFC didn’t see quite the same shakeup that the NFC did, but one of the top teams caught a bad beatdown. Philadelphia shellacked Pittsburgh, my #2 team last week, on Sunday. The Steelers had no answer for the Eagles on either side of the ball. If you would have told me that Antonio Brown would have 12 catches for 140 yards, I would have said that the Steelers win that game by two touchdowns. Instead, Philly wins by 31, and that folks is why they play the game. It’s a tough loss for Pittsburgh early in the year especially with Baltimore sitting at 3-0 in the division (playing a light schedule though) and top dogs in the conference (New England and Denver) are looking strong at 3-0 as well.

That about covers the key news for my Top 5 from Week 3 and now lets take a look at my rankings heading into Week 4.

(1) New England Patriots (3-0) – Last Week: 1

Well Bill Belichick did it again. New England looked dominant against the upstart Texans. At a certain point I just don’t know how this team can lose once Brady comes back. This week, the Patriots face their old pal Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills, who are coming off an upset win over Arizona.

(2) Denver Broncos (3-0) – Last Week: 3

I think one of the more shocking results from Week 3 wasn’t that Denver got a win in Trevor Siemian’s first road start, but that Siemian threw for over 300 yards and 4 TDs. Cincinnati dared Siemian to beat them throwing deep and he obliged them, much to the Bengals’ dismay. I’m starting to believe that Siemian is capable enough to lead Denver into January. Denver goes on the road again this week to face Tampa Bay, a game which the Bucs will be desperate to win.

(3) Minnesota Vikings (3-0) – Last Week: 5

Now I already talked about the Vikings win over the Panthers. So I’m going to look ahead here for the Vikings. I truthfully believe this defense is playing the best of any in the NFC. If this team can get the running game going a little more, I think they will have a legitimate shot of making a deep run in the playoffs. This week, the Vikings host the Giants on Monday Night Football.

(4) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) – Last Week: 4

Yikes! That game got out of hand in a hurry in the second half against Philly. Don’t worry Steelers fans, it was just one bad game. Le’Veon Bell is back this week, just in time for a tough matchup against the Chiefs. This is still one of the top teams in the AFC, although they will have to take care of business in the division with Baltimore off to a hot start.

(5) Philadelphia Eagles (3-0) – Last Week: Unranked

All aboard the Wentz Wagon folks! I’ve been staring at that Pittsburgh game on the schedule all summer thinking, there’s only one way the Eagles had a chance to win the game. All out assault on Ben Roethlisberger and a sound gameplan on offense. Hey, what do you know? That’s exactly what happened. Now Wentz will have his struggles at some point, he is a rookie after all. The real focus should be this defense led by newly minted NFC Defensive Player of the Month, Fletcher Cox. This unit is averaging nine points allowed per game. It’ll be interesting to see how this team comes out of the bye week.

Watch List: Baltimore (3-0), Green Bay (2-1), Kansas City (2-1), Atlanta (2-1), Oakland (2-1)

While we are all trying to figure out the teams fighting for the top spot on the team, the first three weeks have given us a clear answer on some of the teams who won’t even make the playoffs. The following teams have already found themselves “eliminated”: Jacksonville (0-3), New Orleans (0-3), Cleveland (0-3), and Chicago (0-3). Historically, 0-3 is nearly impossible to comeback from and make the playoffs. The only real shock here is New Orleans, who has an offense to contend, but my goodness are the Saints incapable of playing any defense. It’s a shame to see Drew Brees wasting away there. He won’t be alone as there are still 16 teams who will meet the same fate as the Saints and the other three teams that are now “Eliminated.”

Okay so now quickly onto tonight’s game between the Dolphins and the Bengals. Off the bat, I’m not exactly excited about this matchup. Cincinnati will have a slight edge playing this one at home, but the line for this game just seems ridiculous (Bengals -8). I think the Bengals are the more talented team, but something seems to be off with them so far this season. Miami has played tough against its opponent’s but the overall lack of a running game puts way too much pressure on Ryan Tannehill to make me feel comfortable with them long-term. However, tonight they’ll be able to avoid the Bengals defensive strength due to the fact they can’t run the ball efficiently and will be forced to throw. I like Miami tonight with a backdoor cover (+8).

 

I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” featuring all of my picks for the weekend. Plus a look at the top college matchups on Saturday. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Today’s “Weekend Recap” won’t be dealing too much with what happened on the field. Truth be told, I’m only going to give a brief preview and my pick for Monday Night Football. Sports can wait for one day, because yesterday brought the tragic death of a budding star and the passing of a legendary figure. Before I delve into the morbidity of Sunday, I want to first pass my heartfelt condolences to the families of Arnold Palmer and Jose Fernandez.

Palmer rightfully will be remembered as a legend of his sport and left behind an indelible legacy. His impact will still be felt for years to come. Words can’t properly put into context what he meant for the sport of golf. I’m too young to have seen “The King” play in his prime, but the things I learned about him over the years truly gave me an appreciation for the athlete, but more importantly the man that Palmer was. Those that have met him and had the opportunity to speak with him all universally have great things to say about him. It’s not often you see a person with that kind of likability. The sport of golf lost one of the faces on its Mount Rushmore yesterday.

There really isn’t a terrific way to transition from one sad story to a truly tragic one. Tragedy is really the only way to describe the passing of Jose Fernandez at the age of 24 in a boating accident early Sunday morning. Maybe this hits me a little harder since I’m the same age as Fernandez, but I was shocked when I saw the news of his death when I woke up yesterday. I’m sure that as more information comes in on the accident, we’ll get a better idea of what led to the incident. But for now I want to focus on the person. Any baseball fan will tell you that Fernandez was the “next big thing” for baseball.

He was a budding superstar, and already was the ace of the Miami Marlins. His story is an amazing one. Escaping Cuba at the age of 15 to find a better life in the United States, Fernandez sought the American Dream. There have been some truly gripping stories about his four attempts to leave Cuba since news of his passing; all are worth giving a read if you have the chance. Fernandez was another person that was universally liked and respected by his peers. He meant so much to the Cuban community in Miami, and his passing is heartbreaking.

I may just be a voice among the masses, but I would have been remise if I didn’t offer up my thoughts on the passing of both these men.

So now onto a lighter topic, and that is tonight’s game between the Saints and Falcons. 10 years after the famous “Steve Gleason/Return to New Orleans” game, these division foes square off for the first time this season. I think this will be an offensive display all game long. Matt Ryan is on fire to start the season, and Drew Brees can still sling the ball all over the field. Lots of points will be put up by both of these explosive offenses. I’ll take the Saints tonight in a shootout.

Thanks for bearing with the somber recap today. Tomorrow I’ll do a full recap of the NFL and throw some college football in as well. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon on Facebook to keep the conversation going.

Welcome to Week 3 everyone. We’re going to learn a lot about who’s for real and who just got off to a hot start. Houston may have been revealed as a “hot start” team on Thursday against the Patriots. At a certain point, I just don’t know how anyone, myself included, can pick against New England. They had a great gameplan and executed with minimal error, whereas Houston had a similar plan but turned the ball over three times (two fumbles on kick returns) stifling any chance of taking momentum away. I do believe that Houston is a better team than what they showed against the Patriots, but clearly this is not an upper-echelon team in the AFC.

So now with the Thursday night game in the rearview, lets take a quick look at some of the things I’m looking at this week before getting to my game picks. I think one of the best ways I’ve heard Week 3 described came from Bill Simmons on the “B.S. Podcast.” He described this as the “rock, paper, scissors” week where we’ll find out what a team is really going to be this season. We know that Carolina, Denver, and Pittsburgh are solid teams along with New England, but what teams are in that next tier and trying to topple the top dogs.

Those fringe teams are the ones I’ll be keeping an eye on this week, and I don’t think any of those draw a tougher matchup than the Minnesota Vikings. I still think despite the loss of Adrian Peterson that Minnesota is the dark horse team to win the NFC over Carolina. Funny thing is that they will play the Panthers this week in Charlotte. This is the matchup of the week for me, and hopefully should produce on hell of a game between two of the best defenses in the NFL. Carolina should hold serve in this one but I am a huge fan of Vikings coach Mike Zimmer and believe he’ll have his team ready for a slugfest with the Panthers.

On the AFC side of things there a few games that caught my attention when looking at the slate of games. First, the Jets and Chiefs square off in a game that will likely have playoff implications down the line. A loss for either would give them two losses against AFC opponents (a key tiebreaker for a playoff spot). Each team needs to try and keep pace with its respective division leader as well. The Jets are looking like they will be without Brandon Marshall for this game, which is less than ideal playing against one of the best secondaries in the league. Kansas City is a tough place to win, give the Chiefs the advantage there.

The second game that caught my eye is the Denver-Cincinnati game. This will be a good test to see what this Denver offense is made of. They will be on the road against a playoff caliber team. The Bengals have a lot at stake here especially after losing to Pittsburgh last week. I expect a very physical battle between two hard-nosed defenses. Cincinnati will likely dare Trevor Siemian to beat them throwing the ball, and I want to see if he can (it’s the only question mark I’ve had all year with Denver).

My under-the-radar matchup this week is the Raiders-Titans. It’s a game that has me curious to see what I’ll find. Oakland had the great win in Week 1 but fell short in Week 2. Tennessee cost itself an upset win in Week 1 and stole a game right out from under Detroit in Week 2. This another one of those games where we’ll find out a lot about each team. I think that Oakland has the offense to get a playoff spot, but the defense has underwhelmed. On the other side Tennessee has played tough and stayed in games against Minnesota and Detroit. If they hadn’t allowed two defense touchdowns against the Vikings, the Titans actually could have been 2-0 coming into this game. It will certainly be a game to keep an eye on.

So now on to my picks for Week 3, and honestly I think I’m starting to pick up some steam after last week. It was a winning week for the Shooting the Moon picks. Rather than toot my own horn (if I do go on a run, there will plenty of horn tooting), let’s just get to the picks. (Winners in Bold)

This Week: 0-1   Last Week: 10-6   2016: 18-14

1:00 PM

Arizona (-3.5) @ Buffalo

Oakland (-1) @ Tennessee

Cleveland @ Miami (-9)

Baltimore (EVEN) @ Jacksonville

Denver (+3.5) @ Cincinnati

Detroit @ Green Bay (-7)

Minnesota (+6.5) @ Carolina

Washington @ NY Giants (-3)

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Los Angeles @ Tampa Bay (-4.5)

San Francisco (+10) @ Seattle

NY Jets @ Kansas City (-3)

San Diego @ Indianapolis (-1)

Pittsburgh (-3.5) @ Philadelphia

 

Sunday Night Football

Chicago @ Dallas (-6.5)

 

Enjoy all the games and the best of luck to your teams. I’ll be in Philadelphia tomorrow for Eagles-Steelers but I’ll be back on Monday to recap the weekend and preview Monday Night Football between New Orleans and Atlanta. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

“Ugh.” That’s about the best way to sum up the World Cup of Hockey for American hockey fans. Team USA (which plays Czech Republic tonight) is already eliminated after two poor showings against Canada and Team Europe. The darlings of the tournament, Team North America, were just eliminated on a tiebreaker with Russia. It’s a pretty night and day comparison between the two teams with American ties.

Team USA is easily the biggest disappointment of the tournament in my opinion. Depending on the outcome of tonight’s game, they will either finish in 3^rd or 4^th in Group A. Regardless this is a team that has made strides in previous international competition and just never got anything going in its first two games. I do believe that part of the problem was the lack of speed on the roster with some of the younger Americans like Johnny Gaudreau and J.T. Miller playing for the North American team. I also still wonder how USA Hockey decided that John Tortorella would coach this team, but that’s another subject entirely. In a game based on speed there were a few too many “grinders” on this roster to have legitimate chance to win.

On the flip side, Team North America stole the spotlight in its brief time in the World Cup of Hockey. I talked about it in my “Weekend Recap” but I was in awe at the speed and relentless effort this entire team showed in the tournament. This collection of future NHL All-Stars was a sight to see and provided some of the most entertaining hockey you will see until March in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was certainly a sight to see if you were able to watch this team play. I’m just disappointed we won’t get the “D3: Mighty Ducks” storyline from a potential Canada vs. Team North America semi-final game.

I’ll leave you all with the overtime of the Team North America vs. Sweden game. If you want, skip ahead to about halfway through the video, it’s pure adrenaline in the form of overtime hockey.

“Good night, sweet prince.”

I’ll be back Saturday with a “No Huddle” to preview Week 3 of the NFL. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

It’s a Thursday edition of “No Huddle” and like always I’ll be previewing Thursday Night Football, and I’m going to throw a quick note about the college football action tonight as well.

First thing’s first though, and that is tonight’s matchup between the Texans and Patriots. I’m very intrigued by this matchup right off the bat. New England is now down to its third quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, after news broke today that Jimmy Garoppolo would not dress tonight after suffering a sprain AC joint in his throwing shoulder against Miami.

That’s great news for Houston because Garoppolo looked great on Sunday and if he was healthy, I didn’t see how the Texans would win. Now, we are back to square one with the Patriots having to go with a relative unknown at quarterback. Houston sports one of the top defenses in the NFL and could control the game if they can hold the New England running game in check. Rob Gronkowski may finally make his season debut tonight, which would be great news for New England here. That could mean the first look at Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett together in the two-tight sets that the Patriots dominated opposing defenses with a few years ago. A short passing attack from New England is to be expected in combination with the power running game with Legarrette Blount leading the backfield.

My key matchup for this game though will be the Houston offense against the New England defense. Don’t be fooled by the comeback that the Patriots allowed last week against Miami, this defense is not to be taken lightly. Houston may be extremely talented on offense but has yet to really get rolling, averaging just 21 points per game through the first two weeks. I’m very interested to see what New England will try to take away in this game. My guess is that you might see a lot of deep zone defenses in an attempt to take away the over-the-top passing plays to DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller. The Texans will be without left tackle Duane Brown, which is a huge loss for this offensive line as he is one of their top pass blockers.

Overall, I think this will be a tightly contested game and both kickers should factor into the conclusion of the game. It will be an interesting chess match between Bill Belichick and his former assistant Bill O’Brien. I like Houston to squeak one out on the road tonight.

Shifting over to college football for quickly, tonight’s game on ESPN features #5 Clemson on the road against Georgia Tech. The Tigers have been far from impressive this season but still managed to stay undefeated through the opening three weeks. This has the makings to be a trap game for Clemson though as a monumental matchup with Louisville is only a week away. Defensively, they’ll have to replicate its performance against the Yellow Jackets last season when they held this triple-option offense to 71 yards on the ground. That being said, I think there is just too much firepower for Clemson and I expect them to take care of business tonight.

Check back to Shooting the Moon later today for an update on the World Cup of Hockey following the Russia-Finland game going on right now. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Week 3 of fantasy football is upon us and things are starting to heat up. Injuries are piling up, sleepers are showing potential, and stars are disappointing. By now we should have a pretty decent idea of what our teams look like after the first two weeks, so this is where the real game begins.

Today’s “Reality of Fantasy” will be a deep dive into a few different topics. First I’ll go over the studs and duds from Week 2 before going all in on Week 3. I’ll be looking at waiver/free agents to snag, the best/worst matchups, and look at breakout players to acquire.

So Week 2 wasn’t exactly the best one for fantasy football, and injuries did have a lot to do with that. Sloppy play also factored into a generally disappointing week for fantasy. Oh well, that’s the name of the game, and why I talked up the “optimal score” draft strategy before the season in my Fantasy 101 post. Disappointments aside there were a few guys that lit it up in Week 2, so lets take a look at my studs and duds.

Stud: Stefon Diggs, WR, Minnesota Vikings 

We witnessed a star-making performance from Diggs on Sunday night against Green Bay. Diggs was the best player on the field and put up an absolutely gaudy stat line (9 catches/10 targets, 182 yards, 1 TD). I love what I’m seeing out of this second-year wide receiver so far this season. With some of the “elite” wide receivers struggling out of the gate, Diggs is looking like the breakout star of 2016. Minnesota will need another performance like this against Carolina this week.

Dud: Mark Ingram, RB, New Orleans Saints

Ingram was the “forgotten man” on Sunday against the Giants (also this game disappointed in more ways that just Ingram). Nine carries for a guy capable of handling much more is not going to get it done. His paltry stat line (9 carries, 30 yards, 0 TDs, 4 catches/4 targets, 17 yards, 0 TDs) was only marginally saved by his 4 catches in PPR leagues. The Saints are a much better offensive team and Ingram is an integral part of the success they can have. He’ll have a chance to bounce back against Atlanta on Monday Night Football.

Stud: Melvin Gordon, RB, San Diego Chargers

Looks like last week wasn’t a fluke for the Chargers second-year running back. Gordon is on fire to start the season, posting his first career 100-yard game, and more importantly, is finding the endzone (he had 0 TDs in 2015, already has 3 this season). The backfield is depleted so Gordon will have ample opportunity to build on this start. Gordon is looking like a draft-day steal for fantasy this season. I love his Week 3 matchup against the Colts. He’ll have a chance to run wild on Sunday.

Dud: John Brown and Michael Floyd, WR, Arizona Cardinals

Outside of the short touchdown scored by Floyd on Sunday, both of these receivers were non-existent on Sunday. That’s a cause for concern since they were key cogs in this high-flying offense in 2015. Floyd only hauled in two of his six targets for eight yards and the touchdown while Brown is getting no love at all (1 catch/3 targets, 14 yards, 0 TDs). You would think that eventually one or both will find their 2015 form but it’s a scary situation. Both receivers are basically dart-throw plays until further notice.

Stud: Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons

Where has this Matt Ryan been? He posted his second consecutive 300-yard passing game and added 3 TDS. Even more impressive is that Ryan is doing this with Julio Jones playing with a calf injury (he’s still putting up good numbers by the way). Jacob Tamme, Mohamed Sanu, Tevin Coleman, and Justin Hardy have all seen a good amount of targets in part because of Jones’s injury. Ryan is rolling right now and has the best matchup of the week against New Orleans.

Dud: Jameis Winston, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Russell Wilson, Eli Manning, and Drew Brees all get a pass this week thanks to a horrific performance from Winston. Sub-250 yards passing and five turnovers will land you on the “dud” list just about every time. Now I do think this is going to be a slight setback for a potentially big year for Winston. He just ran into an Arizona defense that had a lot to prove after getting Belichicked in Week 1, drawing numerous criticisms and call-outs by head coach Bruce Arians in the lead up to this game. Stay the course with Winston, there are much better days ahead.

Now that we can finally put Week 2 to bed, lets take a look at what Week 3 has in store. There are a few games that just scream fantasy success, and like always there are a couple games that should just be avoided at all costs. This week I’m going to be a little more specific with who really benefits in each game since last week I was a little vague and just threw games out there.

Best Matchup: Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans

This is the only game on the slate where I would tell people to load up. This has the makings to be a shootout on Monday Night Football and will likely decide a lot of fantasy games this week. Matt Ryan and company are the guys I will be focusing on to be the fantasy studs in this game. New Orleans gives up a ton of yards every week, and only gave up 16 points last week because the Giants couldn’t hold onto the football. Atlanta could easily put up 35 points on the board, which will be music to a fantasy owners ears. New Orleans will likely be in comeback mode all night long which will mean Drew Brees, Willie Snead, and Brandin Cooks could all have huge nights statistically.

Worst Matchup: Minnesota Vikings (vs. Carolina Panthers)

This was a tough choice for my worst matchup of the week. However, without Adrian Peterson I just don’t have a lot of faith for the Vikings offensively against Carolina. Sam Bradford will be under fire all game long behind this offensive line, which struggled against Green Bay. Carolina’s front-seven is much better than Green Bay’s front-seven, which is very bad news. Stefon Diggs may break one big play, but aside from that, I don’t see much fantasy success for Minnesota.

Good Matchup: San Diego Chargers (vs. Indianapolis Colts)

This is another game that could be a high-scoring affair. I’m looking at the Chargers specifically here though because the Colts are struggling on defense, and that’s being a bit generous. I expect Philip Rivers to have success throwing to Travis Benjamin and Antonio Gates against a banged up Colts secondary. Melvin Gordon is also on a hot streak and has a great opportunity to keep his run going on Sunday.

Bad Matchup: Seattle Seahawks (vs. San Francisco 49ers)

This one isn’t really about the matchup as much as it’s about the inability of Seattle’s offensive line to block anyone. Russell Wilson is already playing hurt and doesn’t have the same level of elusiveness that he’s shown in the past. Add the injuries to Thomas Rawls and Doug Baldwin into the mix and you start to see the picture here. The Seahawks have some serious issues right now, despite the fact that this has historically been a second half of the season-type team.

Other good matchups: Miami (vs. Cleveland), Dallas (vs. Chicago)

Other bad matchups: Bills (vs. Arizona), Cincinnati (vs. Denver)

Finally, before I wrap things up for today here are the top-3 free agent targets for this week and a pair of guys you need to try to trade for before the bye weeks get started.

Free Agents for Week 3

(1) Jacob Tamme, TE, Atlanta Falcons

Tamme is part of the red-hot Atlanta offense in fantasy, and is currently the second-most targeted tight end in fantasy. You would be riding the hot-hand a bit here and I don’t see sustained success in the long-term. Tamme is a great plug-and-play option for anyone that’s dealing with the Gronkowski injury, or has a struggling tight end.

(2) Quincy Enunwa, WR, New York Jets

Brandon Marshall is dealing with a knee injury, leaving his status uncertain for now. That means Enunwa will see more targets on top of the healthy amount of looks he’s already getting from Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Jets like running 3-WR sets on offense and don’t throw to the tight ends. Enunwa is a great option to have in your flex if he stays healthy, and even when Marshall returns. He has a tough matchup against Kansas City this week, but this is the type of guy to have on your roster when bye weeks come into play next week.

(3) Cameron Artis-Payne, RB, Carolina Panthers

Among the numerous running back injuries from the past week, Cameron Artis-Payne is the replacement you should grab here. The Carolina running game has loads of potential because of Cam Newton’s ability to run. Plus with the success of the passing game, there will be room to run here. Now, he won’t be a plug-and-play guy playing a tough Minnesota defense, but I do see potential here after this week. Artis-Payne will have the first crack at replacing Jonathan Stewart, not Fozzy Whittaker, who head coach Ron Rivera called a “nice change-of-pace back.”

Trade Targets for Week 3

 (1) Travis Benjamin, WR, San Diego Chargers

Benjamin slid into the Keenan Allen role in this offense and thrived last week. He was a stud in Cleveland last season and has the opportunity to be a top-15 receiver in San Diego. The clock is ticking to trade for him, because he will only get more expensive as the year goes on. His stock is on the rise, and it will cost you something valuable right now. You won’t have to give up a top guy for him yet though which makes him a great trade target.

(2) Allen Robinson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Here’s a great situation you can find at this stage of the season. Robinson only has nine catches in two games and has yet to score a touchdown. He has a great schedule coming up to get back on track, and now is the time to try and wrestle him away from a frustrated owner. Be prepared to overpay a little bit because Robinson has shown that he can be an elite option in fantasy. I’m not selling the farm to do it, but I would sacrifice a pair of guys to get him. This is a buy-low scenario.

 

Hopefully that will get you started on your Week 3 prep. I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at Thursday Night Football and an update on the World Cup of Hockey. Send me your fantasy questions in the comments section or on social media. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook

It’s a Tuesday edition of “No Huddle.” Today I’m going to quickly recap last night’s Bears-Eagles game, update my NFL Top 5/Watch List, and go over some of the best and worst from Week 2.

Last night we learned a lot more about the Carson Wentz-led Eagles. In short, the early results have been pretty good. Wentz isn’t doing anything flashy, but he’s getting the job done and protecting the football (no turnovers through two games). Credit to Doug Pederson and Frank Reich for coaching up their rookie quarterback. I especially loved Wentz being able to read the defense and audible at the line of scrimmage to get the Eagles into the best possible play. It’s those little things that show the intelligence of the young QB, who looks more than capable in his first two games. By the way, that Eagles defense has been solid under Jim Schwartz, and has been incredibly difficult to get anything against. Granted this has been against two of the weaker teams in the league so next week’s game against Pittsburgh will be a true test of what this team is made of.

On the other side, Chicago is going to be in real trouble now that Jay Cutler is injured (another casualty of a horrific Week 2). Once Brian Hoyer stepped into the game, things went from bad to worse. The Bears have very little running game, and the loss of Cutler takes away much of the explosiveness of the passing attack. Cutler isn’t a top tier quarterback, but his arm strength gives him the ability to make some tough throws. It’s going to be tough sledding for Chicago from here on out.

Let’s take a look at how this week’s Top 5 and Watch List shakes out after Week 2.

(1) New England Patriots (2-0) – Last Week: 1

The Patriots looked dominant against the Dolphins until Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a shoulder injury. With a solid lead, Bill Belichick and his staff shifted to a much more conservative gameplan to protect the lead. New England almost let Miami back into the game but the defense held up in the end. I’m very intrigued to see how New England looks Thursday night against Houston. Rob Gronkowski may finally make his 2016 debut, and the Pats could sorely use him to give Jacoby Brissett another safety valve against a tough Houston defense.

(2) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) – Last Week: 2

In a torrential downpour on Sunday, the Steelers grinded out a win against division rival Cincinnati, 24-16. I really like what I’ve seen so far from Pittsburgh and things are looking up with one more game left on Le’Veon Bell’s suspension. The running game has been fantastic in his absence with DeAngelo Williams carrying the load. Pittsburgh has been sharp defensively, and really caught a break with the weather taking the deep-to-intermediate passing game out of the gameplan. Next week, the Steelers travel to Philadelphia to take the upstart Eagles.

(3) Denver Broncos (2-0) – Last Week: 4

Denver’s defense did it again on Sunday against the Colts. Aqib Talib and Shane Ray each scored a defensive touchdown en route to a 14-point victory against the Colts. In addition to the defensive success, Denver turned quarterback Trevor Siemian loose. He was 22-for-33 passing for 266 yards. His progression in the passing game will be a key to keeping defenses from loading up the box against CJ Anderson, who was solid again on Sunday. Denver will hit the road next week and playing against the Bengals.

(4) Carolina Panthers (1-1) – Last Week: 5

 

Things didn’t go smoothly for Carolina against the Niners in the first half. However, the Panthers looked like themselves in the second half putting away San Francisco for its first win of the season. Cam Newton looked great after an early interception and torched the 49ers defense. I’m interested to see who will step up at the running back position with Jonathan Stewart injured, but with the way this passing game is clicking that may be a moot point. Carolina’s top dog status in the NFC will be on the line this week with Minnesota coming into town.

(5) Minnesota (2-0) – Last Week: Unranked

Funny how this worked out. Minnesota looked great defensively against the vaunted Packers offense on Sunday night. Stingy and opportunistic, the Vikings have put together quite the core of players on defense. Now my worry about this team is on the offensive side of the ball. Adrian Peterson suffered a torn meniscus in Sunday’s game, and his status will be up in the air week-to-week (I think he misses some time in the short-term). Sam Bradford is still learning the offense and building up the timing with his receivers. The offensive line looked out of sync and had a difficult time protecting Bradford (who’s injury history is well known at this point). It’s not all bad for this offense though. Stefon Diggs is a star-in-the-making, posting monster numbers in his first two games and looks like Antonio Brown-lite so far this season. A road test against Carolina will show what this team is made of against the class of this conference.

Watch List: New York Giants (2-0), Houston (2-0), Arizona (1-1), Green Bay (1-1), Baltimore (2-0)

Okay, now its time to look at the best and worst moments from this week. It wasn’t the best week of football but there are a couple gems from the week.

Best: Jimmy Garoppolo (prior to injury)

Pats fans saw the conservative Garoppolo in Week 1. In Week 2, the NFL was introduced to the potential that New England has whenever they decide to move on from Brady. Garoppolo was fantastic throwing for 234 yards and 3 TDs in a little less than a half of football. Pretty good, if you ask me. Unfortunately his dismantling of Miami’s defense was cut short when Kiko Alonso crushed Garoppolo into the turf causing a sprained AC joint for the Pats QB.

Worst: Injury, Upon Injury, Upon Injury…

I wrote about this yesterday, but Week 2 was a busy week for the medical staffs across the league. It was a who’s who of names that will be out for extended periods of time, or the entire season in the case of Danny Woodhead. Football is a tough sport and there is always one or two of these weeks every season. San Diego looks to have the worst injury luck this season with Woodhead joining Keenan Allen on the injured reserve.

Best: Marcus Mariota’s Game Winning Throw Against Detroit

Can’t really draw it up better than this for a young QB. Mariota ripped the hearts out of Detroit fans with this throw to Andre Johnson, who makes an amazing play on the ball in traffic. It’s going to be a long season for Tennessee, but this has to give some hope to the Titans faithful.

Worst: Seattle’s Offense…Again

Yikes! Didn’t think things could get much worse for the Seahawks. Somehow they did against a Rams defense that didn’t look like it could stop a nosebleed a week ago. Seattle’s offensive line is non-existent at the moment and if Russell Wilson is going to continue to play hurt, these blocking issues could erupt into a full-blown epidemic in Seattle.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another edition of “Reality of Fantasy” where I’ll look back at fantasy studs and duds from Week 2 and look ahead at Week 3. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Happy Monday folks! Another great weekend is in the books, so there is a good amount to catch up on from a few different corners of the sports world. I’ve got college football, NFL, and even some hockey to get to in today’s Weekend Recap.

Hello Lamar Jackson!

Talk about a coming out party. The Louisville quarterback is on an absolute roll to start the season. His latest performance may not have been the biggest statistically, but he led an absolute shellacking of Florida State on Saturday, 63-20. Jackson now has 18 total touchdowns (more than 114 schools this season in the FBS) and put himself as the early frontrunner for the Heisman trophy. Louisville now sits at #3 in the polls and will face #5 Clemson in two weeks, and what a game that could potentially be down in Death Valley.

Tide Rolls in Mississippi

Alabama found itself down 24-3 late in the second quarter against Ole Miss. It was looking like Hugh Freeze was going to do the unthinkable, win a third consecutive game against Nick Saban. Then the Tide score 14 points in the span of about two minutes to close out the first half, showing once again why this is the top team in the land until further notice. Bama then put foot to throat in the second half, jumping out to an 18 point lead in the fourth quarter before holding off a furious rally from the Rebels. Tough games still loom for the Tide, but I’m penciling this team in for a spot in a New Year’s Eve national semi-final.

The NFL War of Attrition has Begun

While there is still one game left tonight, but if your team got through the weekend with a win and no injuries consider yourself lucky. Every year there is always one or two weeks where it seems like players drop like flies. This was one of those weeks. While there is no official word on the severity of most of the injuries, here are just some of guys that went down during Week 2. Adrian Peterson, Danny Woodhead, Doug Martin, Ameer Abdullah, Arian Foster, Jonathan Stewart, Thomas Rawls, Jimmy Garrapolo, Donte Moncrief, and DeMarcus Ware. We’ll know by later today how long most of these guys will be out. The long list of injuries overshadowed a pretty sloppy day of football.

The Puck Dropped in the World Cup of Hockey, No One Told Team USA

Playoff hockey is pretty good, but international/Olympic hockey is about as good as it gets. The world’s best have assembled in Toronto for the first World Cup of Hockey since 2004. Team USA was stunned by Team Europe 3-0 in its Group A opener, and generally just didn’t seem to have any spark. The spark they were missing may have made its way over to Team North America. The US/Canadian under-23 team is basically the future All-Stars of the NHL. My goodness does this team have speed and are just relentless on the ice. Team North America is my dark horse pick to win it all, and opened up Group B play with a 4-1 win over Finland. The real test for the young guns is tonight’s game against the Alexander Ovechkin-led Russian team. Team USA plays Canada tomorrow night and desperately needs a win to avoid getting knocked out of contention.

Monday Night Football Preview

The Bears host the Eagles tonight on Monday Night Football and for ESPN’s sake I hope it’s a better game than the Niners-Rams game from last week. I’m not really sure what to make of the Bears, who lost last week on the road against Houston. It’s a talented team on offense but they’re quarterback is Jay Cutler. John Fox and Vic Fangio are two great defensive minds but the defense was missing Kyle Fuller and Pernell McPhee last week. Fuller is listed as questionable for tonight while McPhee won’t be back til midseason. Philadelphia also brings a bit of uncertainty into tonight’s game. The Eagles looked great last week…against the Browns. It is Carson Wentz’s first road game against a good defensive coaching staff that will try and throw out any trick in the book against the rookie QB. Defensively, the Eagles could be in trouble trying to defend Alshon Jeffery and Kevin White, who both have a significant height advantage over the Eagles secondary. The pass rush will have to get to Cutler because if he’s able to heave it up to either of his 6’3” targets, it could be a long night for Philadelphia. All that being said I’m going to take the Eagles +3 tonight, and I think they can win this game outright.

I’ll be back tomorrow to recap Monday Night Football, go over Week 2 of the NFL, update my top 5 power rankings, and talk fantasy football. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

I’m working a little bit of overtime this week but it’s all for you guys, the No Huddle rolls on! I’ll quickly touch on Thursday night’s game between the Jets and Bills and go over some news before giving my Week 2 picks against the spread.

Thursday night turned into a much better game than anyone could have expected, but that’s a good thing for us. The Jets got a much-needed victory to right the ship before a huge stretch of games against a tough group of playoff teams. Buffalo falls to 0-2 with the loss and sees its playoff hopes drifting further and further away (historically, 0-2 teams have about a 12% chance to make the playoffs). Offensively the Jets looked great in a total team effort on that side of the ball. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 374 yards and a touchdown. Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall both went for 100+ receiving yards on six catches a piece with Decker adding the receiving touchdown. Matt Forte was a monster in the redzone with 3 touchdowns on the ground and 100 yards.

Buffalo may have put up 31 points but it’s a deceiving number. It was a bad offensive night from the Bills if you took away the two big touchdown plays. The Greg Salas 71-yard touchdown stemmed from a broken play and a busted coverage. Marquise Goodwin absolutely burned Darrelle Revis for an 84-yard touchdown. Outside of that, the Bills really didn’t accomplish much on offense. Even worse, they didn’t reach the redzone until the final touchdown drive of the game. That’s not going to get it done in the NFL.

The big news from this game came on Friday with the firing of Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman. From the sounds of the reports, specifically one from Sporting News, Roman may have been the scapegoat for the 0-2 start to keep the heat off Rex Ryan for the time being.

Ok, now onto my Week 2 picks against the spread. It was a bit of a mixed bag in Week 1, I went 8-8 with last week, which is okay for anyone that went with my winners. Here are the picks for this week (Winners in Bold).

1:00 PM

Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh (-3)

San Francisco @ Carolina (-13.5)

Dallas (+3) @ Washington

New Orleans (+4.5) @ New York Giants

Miami (+6) @ New England

Baltimore @ Cleveland (+7)

Kansas City @ Houston (-3)

Tennessee @ Detroit (-6)

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Seattle @ Los Angeles (+6.5)

Tampa Bay (+6.5) @ Arizona

Indianapolis @ Denver (-6)

Jacksonville (+3) @ San Diego

Atlanta @ Oakland (-5)

 

Sunday Night Football (8:25 PM)

Green Bay (-2) @ Minnesota

 

I’ll be back tomorrow to recap the weekend and preview Monday Night Football. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.