Tackling topics is the theme today for a big “No Huddle.” We’ve got the Broncos-Chargers game to preview, as well as look big picture at the rest Week 6, and my game picks for this week to cap it all off. So, there is not a whole time to waste here. Let’s dive right in and talk Thursday Night Football.

This one is pretty cut and dry as far as the matchup goes. Denver is clearly one of the elite teams in the NFL when healthy, now they have the added motivation of getting beat at home last week. That is bad news for a Chargers team that has amazingly found a different way to lose just about every single week.

Credit has to be given to Phillip Rivers though. He has kept San Diego in every game so far despite his team’s long list of shortcomings. Running back Melvin Gordon has also done a great job so far carrying the load in the backfield after a disastrous rookie season. Speaking of rookie seasons, defensive end Joey Bosa looked great last week with two sacks and three tackles for loss. That was a promising sign for a defense that desperately needs playmakers.

On the Denver side of things, they look like they will be at full strength tonight. Right tackle Donald Stephenson, tight end Virgil Green, and quarterback Trevor Siemian should all be back in the lineup tonight for the Broncos. That should stabilize the running game after a couple of down weeks. CJ Anderson is primed for a big night with two of his best run blockers back in the fold. Even if San Diego decides to sell out to stop the Denver rushing attack, Trevor Siemian showed the ability to get the ball downfield to both of his great wide receivers. Considering the injuries in the San Diego secondary, I don’t think they can afford to sell out on the run, so we may see a “bend but don’t break” approach tonight.

All in all, it’s not hard to see the outcome this is trending towards. Denver should easily win this game. They have won 16 straight divisional games on the road and I see no reason to expect that trend to stop tonight. The pundits might be saying trap game for Denver, but I’m not buying it. I’m going with Denver (-3).

Now let’s shift our focus to the rest of Week 6. There are a few really interesting games on the slate, which will make for a potentially difficult week for me making picks, but could prove to be a very fun week overall.

The big game this week is the Atlanta Falcons traveling northwest to play the Seattle Seahawks. Similar to last week, the big storyline here is the matchup between the Atlanta offense going against the Legion of Boom.

I’m intrigued to see how Seattle plans to stop this red-hot Falcons offense. Last week we saw Atlanta use Tevin Coleman to create mismatches against the Denver linebackers. Seattle’s defense is better equipped to deal with that gameplan with a combination of Kam Chancellor and Bobby Wagner. Reports out of Seattle seem to indicate that Richard Sherman will shadow Julio Jones, which should produce a fantastic individual matchup.

Seattle’s offense is starting to take a turn for the better after a terrible opening two weeks. Russell Wilson had the bye week to rest up and recover from his pair of lower body injuries. That will bode well for the Seahawks as Wilson and tight end Jimmy Graham are finally starting to get on the same page in the passing game. We’ll certainly find out whether Atlanta’s six-sack performance on defense was a sign of things to come or the aberration from its usual defensive performance.

The second game I’m keeping a close eye on is the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders. I haven’t been shy about my love for the Raiders this season so far. I thought this team could take the next step after showing a ton of promise last season. So far, so good for the silver and black as they sit at an impressive 4-1 record. Derek Carr has been one of the primary reasons for this success. He has made some absolutely clutch throws in the first few weeks. Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper have also been great this season as well. Both present a tough matchup for any defense since you can’t scheme to take one away because the other one will feast on one-on-one matchups (see Crabtree’s three TD performance against Baltimore).

For all of the success though, they haven’t been blowing teams away and have had to grind games out. This team is due for a tough loss at some point. While I like the Raiders, here are a few reasons this is the game they cough up.

First, the last time we saw Kansas City they were embarrassed by Pittsburgh on a national stage. The Chiefs had that bad taste in their mouths for two weeks now, and have a big reason to come out strong in a division game on the road. Don’t be fooled by the Sunday Night Football dud that the Chiefs produced two weeks ago.

Second, Kansas City is coming off of a bye week. Andy Reid is 15-2 in his career following a bye. Reid’s teams always seem to figure something out after the bye week as evidenced by the eleven straight wins the Chiefs reeled off last season. Nine of those wins came after the bye week, which includes the playoff win against Houston.

Lastly, for some odd reason, Oakland struggles at home. Now this could be a product of the Raiders just not being good until this season but for me it’s the eye test that gives me pause. Oakland was 3-5 at home last season, and going much further than that really doesn’t help considering how bad this team used to be. Last week Oakland needed a freak play to beat the Chargers at home.

So, there is a valid argument to be made here for the Chiefs getting a huge divisional win on the road. Will they pull it off? Maybe. This is why they play the game though.

There are a few other games to keep an eye on in the early window on Sunday. Philadelphia-Washington is always a good divisional rivalry game, and we get the added bonus of seeing how this Eagles team responds from last week’s loss in a game it should have won.

Tom Brady’s 2016 home debut will certainly be worth tuning in. Cincinnati presents much more of a challenge than Cleveland so we’ll certainly see how the Patriots decide to attack this defense. Carolina-New Orleans and Baltimore-NY Giants could both have exciting finishes as well.

Alright folks, now we move onto my picks for Week 6. Last week I amazingly found a way to go .500 once again. The 4:00 pm block absolutely crushed what was an amazing start to my Week 5 picks. Oh well, it happens. You live and learn in this game. No blood, no foul though as I still have not dipped below .500 this season. Here are the picks for this week (Winners in Bold).

Last Week: 7-7     2016 Record: 41-36

 1:00 PM

San Francisco vs. Buffalo (-9)

Philadelphia (-2.5) vs. Washington

Cleveland vs. Tennessee (-7)

Baltimore (+3.5) vs. NY Giants

Carolina (-2.5) vs. New Orleans

Jacksonville vs. Chicago (-2)

St. Louis (+3) vs. Detroit

Pittsburgh (-7.5) vs. Miami

Cincinnati vs. New England (-8.5)

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Kansas City (-2) vs. Oakland

Atlanta (+6) vs. Seattle

Dallas (+3.5) vs. Green Bay

 

Sunday Night Football

Indianapolis vs. Houston (-3)

 

Enjoy all of the games tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow with an MLB Postseason round-up tomorrow. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

As Week 6 of the NFL season looms, things must be getting tight in your fantasy league. We are approaching the midway point of the fantasy football season. Many of us are fighting tooth and nail for a precious playoff berth. Every week becomes critical at this point of the season. While you may feel the need to look ahead, keeping your one-week goal in mind is paramount.

Today’s “Reality of Fantasy” will look at this week’s best and worst matchups, plus streaming options for defense. First, let’s get the bye weeks out of the way so we can get a better feel for how to approach this week. Minnesota and Tampa Bay are both on a bye so this is a decidedly light bye week for fantasy purposes. Mike Evans from Tampa Bay and the Minnesota defense are the key players that are off this week, so plan your lineups accordingly.

With the top fantasy defense taking the week off, let’s dive into some streaming options on defense. There are a few worthwhile selections this week to fill the massive void left from the Minnesota defense, which is averaging 16.8 fantasy points per week. You may even be looking to give the Carolina defense a breather considering its struggles in the past couple weeks going up against a potent offense in New Orleans. So here are a few options to look at this week:

• Tennessee Titans – This is a popular streaming option among fantasy experts this week, and I couldn’t agree more with the pick. The Titans get a beautiful matchup against the Browns. Cleveland can’t seem to keep any of its quarterbacks healthy, which bodes well for Tennessee this week. Tennessee has actually been a pretty tough defensive group this season but have flown under the radar in the league. There is a bit of risk involved though as the Titans have only scored double-digit fantasy points once this season, and it was last week against Miami. That being said, the matchup is just too enticing to ignore. Tennessee is only owned in 3.4% of leagues on ESPN and should be worth a look.
• Pittsburgh Steelers – This is a bit of a risky move here, but the Steelers defense draws a good matchup against the struggling Miami offense. Outside of the New England game, opposing defenses are averaging around ten fantasy points against Miami. Now you may ask, where is the risk? Well, Pittsburgh has not scored double-digits this season. This is due in large part to teams having to play a lot of catch-up in garbage time. I due think there are enough positives to roll the dice here for one week.

Like I said earlier, it’s a light bye week, but these are the type of things you have to get used to looking at week to week. Getting into a good habit of identifying viable streaming options will prepare you for the dreaded Week 8 and 9 byes (12 total teams on byes those weeks). Since all of the elite options at quarterback are playing this week, there should be no need for streaming there this week.

Now let’s take a peek at the best and worst matchups of the week. There may even be a surprise or two in here this week.

Best Matchup: Jacksonville vs. Chicago

I’ve gotten into a habit of only highlighting individual team matchups, but this is a game where I think that both teams will be able to put up points. Neither team really plays a lot of defense and I can see both teams trying to throw the ball frequently. Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson are due for an offensive explosion at some point this year. Coming off of a bye week, I think they can jump out early on Chicago and turn this game into a shootout.

Worst Matchup: San Diego (vs. Denver)

San Diego is a great offense for fantasy football, but this week it’s time to send all of the Chargers to the bench. The Chargers don’t have the same versatility that Atlanta has on offense and won’t be able to create mismatches in the passing game. I see a Denver defense looking to make a statement after getting beat last week. A tough season for San Diego is about to get a whole lot worse.

Good Matchup: Buffalo (vs. San Francisco)

An under-the-radar pick here, but the entire 49ers defense looks different without the presence of former All-Pro linebacker Navarro Bowman. That will open up room for Lesean McCoy to run wild. The Buffalo defense got a wake up call early in the year and should play well against the Niners. I doubt the move to Colin Kaepernick will do much to quell the offensive woes in San Francisco. Expect the Bills to have the ball a ton in this game, which will be ample opportunity for them to put up points this week.

Bad Matchup: Oakland (vs. Kansas City)

Now you may be saying to yourself, “Get out of here Moon, you’re crazy.” Well, I might be but there is a lot here working against the Raiders (a team I’m loving this season by the way). Andy Reid-coached teams are virtually unbeatable coming off of a bye week (15-2 in his career). Plus, Oakland is a team that tends to struggle at home. Derek Carr and company have been fantastic this season, but I see a let-down in the making for the Raiders.

Other Good Matchups: New Orleans (vs. Carolina), New England (vs. Cincinnati), Pittsburgh (vs. Miami)

Other Bad Matchups: Atlanta (vs. Seattle), Detroit (vs. Los Angeles), NY Jets (vs. Arizona)

 Just a quick house keeping note, I’m pushing back the MLB Postseason round-up to Friday so I can wrap up all four Divisional Series and preview both the ALCS and NLCS. Be on the look out for “No Huddle” tomorrow where I’ll preview Thursday Night Football and make my picks for Week 6. Follow me on Facebook @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Oh man, that was a pretty lackluster game last night. Hopefully you weren’t looking for any fantasy magic out of that one like me, because that was a pretty boring game. Tampa Bay was able to edge Carolina last night 17-14 in an extremely sloppy affair. Roberto Aguayo kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired and likely saved his job in the process having already missed two field goals earlier in the game. The Bucs flipped the script on the Panthers and went to a run-first gameplan, and surprisingly found success against the normally tough Panthers front-seven. Tampa Bay snapped a three game losing streak heading into its bye week.

Carolina is now in a very precarious position at 1-4 with numerous issues on defense and the reigning MVP in the concussion protocol. History says that only 6% of teams at 1-4 have ever made the playoffs. Not very good odds by any stretch, but that number may be a little inflated considering two teams made the playoffs last season after a 1-4 start (Houston, Kansas City). If Cam Newtown plays last night, Carolina probably wins that game so the Panthers aren’t quite dead yet with some winnable games ahead. They’ll need to reel of victories in bunches though to either catch Atlanta (which is red-hot again to start the season), or sneak into the wild card.

Now that we’ve put a little bow on last night’s game, it’s time to get down to business ahead of Week 6. Last week was not a good week for the Top 5. My #1 team, Denver, went down at home, while my #5 team, Philadelphia, coughed up a very winnable game on the road. There is some interesting movement in the power rankings this week as we are really starting to figure out who some of these teams are. Here are my power rankings and watch list going into Week 6.

(1) Minnesota Vikings (5-0) – Last Week: 2

Skol Vikings folks. Minnesota is the last remaining unbeaten team of the 2016 season. I’ve been all over the defense of the Vikings, but Sam Bradford is playing some fantastic football right now. He had the challenge of learning a new system and building a rapport with the entire offense. All of the pundits have been raving about Dak Prescott protecting the ball, but he had entire offseason with his team (granted, this is impressive for a rookie). Bradford had 15 days with this team and has yet to turn the ball over. Now THAT is impressive. Minnesota is sitting pretty in the NFC heading into a bye week. The last undefeated team makes the Super Bowl about 45% of the time.

(2) New England Patriots (4-1) – Last Week: 3

Where has this Tom Brady guy been all year? Oh right… Anyway, if you saw the highlights (there were plenty), you saw the beatdown that the Patriots put on the Browns this week. Brady didn’t miss a beat in his first game back from suspension. He had all of his weapons working, including a scary looking tight end combo of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett. Now that Brady has the first game under his belt, it is “all systems go” in New England. The Patriots get a struggling Bengals team this week for Brady’s home debut.

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

The Steelers got a comfortable win on Sunday over the Jets. The story for me in Pittsburgh is the emergence of Sammie Coates. He’s is becoming the clear #2 option in the passing game behind Antonio Brown. Coates fits nicely in the role that the suspended Martavis Bryant usually fills. Otherwise, this was business as usual for the Steelers. This week Pittsburgh travels to Miami to play a Dolphins team that is in complete disarray.

(4) Atlanta Falcons (4-1) – Last Week: Watch List

 

If there was a statement win to be found in Week 5, look no further than the Falcons victory over the Broncos. Tevin Coleman torched the Broncos’ linebackers for 132 yards receiving and a touchdown. Devonta Freeman led the ground attack, rushing for 88 yards and a touchdown. This pair of running backs for Atlanta is a serious problem for opposing defenses. The Falcons now can live with teams taking away Julio Jones with the way Freeman/Coleman are playing. Defensively, Atlanta had to be very pleased with the 3.5 sack performance from Vic Beasley Jr. His coming out party is a welcome sign for this defense, which has ranked last in sacks the past three seasons. Atlanta faces another tough test having to travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks, who are coming off of a bye. Early pick for my game of the week.

(5) Denver Broncos (4-1) – Last Week: 1

Denver got a curveball thrown it’s way by Atlanta last week. Kyle Shanahan completely out-schemed Wade Phillips. Offensively, the line for the Broncos is flat out struggling. That leaves the run game stuck in the mud, and the young quarterbacks under fire. I’m a bit worried by the news about Gary Kubiak, who was diagnosed with a complex migraine disorder yesterday. Kubiak is definitely missing the game against San Diego on Thursday, but should be back on the sidelines next week. It will be a situation to monitor going forward.

Watch List: Oakland (4-1), Philadelphia (3-1), Dallas (4-1), Green Bay (3-1), Seattle (3-1)

 By the way, if you haven’t seen the Oakland Raiders in action yet this season, you’ve been missing out. This team is fun to watch and its quarterback Derek Carr has made some flat out ridiculous throws to win them games this season. This was the first team on the Watch List for a reason. I think we are seeing a team that is capable of making the jump to the next level right before our eyes.

Now it’s time for the Eliminator for this week. Last week I put a few teams on notice. Arizona avoided the shredder by beating San Francisco, Carolina gets a reprieve for not having Cam Newton and a light schedule upcoming. Unfortunately, the Jets do not get the same benefit of the doubt as the Panthers. Everything is seemingly going wrong for the Jets and with the schedule they’ve played, its just not going to be a happy ending for the Jets this season. They headline this week’s crop of teams being “eliminated” from playoff conversations this week. (* – previously eliminated)

New York Jets (1-4)                                                 * Chicago Bears (1-4)

San Francisco 49ers (1-4)                                     * Jacksonville Jaguars (1-3)

San Diego Chargers (1-4)                                      * New Orleans Saints (1-3)

Miami Dolphins (1-4)                                             * Cleveland Browns (0-5)

That’s it for me today, thanks for reading everyone! I’ll be back tomorrow with an MLB postseason update and some fantasy football advice for Week 6. Join the conversation in the comments section or on social media. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Happy Monday everyone! I have officially pulled myself out of the hole I crawled into after my alma mater got embarrassed on national television Saturday night. Usually I talk about the best of the weekend, but this week I’m going to talk about the worst thing of the weekend, possibly even the entire football season. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m going to lead off with the 78-0 blowout Michigan delivered to Rutgers… in a road game.

Michigan treated Rutgers like the computer set to rookie difficulty in Madden. A 78-point defeat at home for Rutgers is pretty horrible, but that’s not even the worst part of all of this. I could talk about how Rutgers didn’t get its only first down until the fourth quarter. I could even get into how Michigan just force-fed the ball down Rutgers’s throat, racking up 481 rushing yards on 56 carries as a team. I could bring up the fact that Rutgers was also outgained 600-39. By the way when I went to look up this box score Google asked me “are you sure?”

Everything I just went through could easily have been the worst part of a 78-0 game. Not on Saturday, because Rutgers couldn’t just get embarrassed and be done with it. Nope, they had to lose that game with over 200 recruits in attendance. I’ll type that again and put the whole picture together for you. Rutgers lost to Michigan 78-0 while hosting 200 potential recruits. So unless Chris Ash is the greatest salesman in the history of the door-to-door sales that is college recruiting, this recruiting class is going to be DOA. Michigan already had a stranglehold on the top recruits in New Jersey, but after Saturday, Michigan just roped off the New Jersey borders and announced “This is ours” as Jim Harbaugh planted a giant maize and blue flag in New Brunswick.

Okay, now that I got that one off my chest, lets get into some of the best of the weekend.

Toronto Sweeps Texas, But The Brooms Might Not Be Done Yet

The MLB Postseason got into full swing this weekend. While I wish things had been a little more competitive between Toronto and Texas, things could be far from over in the remaining three series. The Blue Jays have been on fire since the start of the playoffs and are hitting home runs at a historic rate as a team (seven different players have gone deep for Toronto so far). My only question going forward is, can they stay hot after a few days off? That may be a legitimate fear from the Blue Jay faithful north of the border.

Rain forced Game 3 between Boston and Cleveland to be postponed until today. Games 3 and 4 are both in Boston so the door is open for the Red Sox to make a series out of this, which keeps the Jays on ice for a little longer. So far though, the Indians have flat out been the better team in this series. Game 1 saw Terry Francona throw the kitchen sink at Boston and walk away with a win. Game 2 was the game that Boston had to win, but alas the ideal game script went against the Sox as David Price was chased early en route to a 6-0 win for the Indians.

On the NL side of things, the Chicago took control of its series against San Francisco jumping out to a 2-0 lead. We get quite a treat tonight with Madison Bumgarner going up against Jake Arrieta in Game 3. “Big Game Mad Bum” takes a 23-inning scoreless streak in elimination games into tonight. I still think this is the year for the Cubs, but I can’t remember the last time Bumgarner has lost a playoff game.

The most competitive series so far was unsurprisingly the Dodgers and Nationals. Los Angeles and Game 1 starter Clayton Kershaw were able to edge Washington in the first game of this series to steal home field advantage away. The Nationals evened up the series yesterday before both teams hopped on a cross-country flight to California for Game 3 today. I like this series to go the full five games for an epic conclusion and a berth in the NLCS.

Texas A&M outlasts Tennessee in Double OT

The game of the weekend honors goes to the double overtime thriller between Tennessee and Texas A&M. This game looked like it could have gotten out of hand early in this game as the Aggies jumped out to a 21-7 lead after the first quarter. The Volunteers weathered the storm and engineered another incredible comeback to force overtime. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards this time for Tennessee, who had made a season out of winning these close games. Looking ahead in the SEC, both of these teams will get Alabama in the coming weeks. I think this is Alabama’s best chance to go down in the regular season. So either we’ll be talking about upheaval in the SEC, or anointing the Tide as the SEC champions around Halloween.

Monday Night Football Preview

As usual, I save the NFL recap for Tuesday/Wednesday, so I’ll touch on the Tampa Bay-Carolina matchup on Monday Night Football. The big storyline here is the absence of reigning MVP, Cam Newton. Derek Anderson will assume the starting quarterback duties while Newton is still recovering from a concussion he sustained last week. Obviously, this is bad news for a Panthers team that needs a win in the worst way, especially with Atlanta pulling off a big upset in Denver.

The Panthers still have a fantastic front-seven on defense to lean on to make big plays, but if they can’t generate pressure on Jameis Winston, it could be a long night in Carolina. Mike Evans is not Julio Jones, but he can be a massive problem for the recently exposed Panthers secondary.

While Tampa Bay has some potential in its offense, the defense will have to find a way to stop Kelvin Benjamin and Greg Olsen. Derek Anderson is a capable backup and showed he can spread the ball around before throwing the pick-six that ended the game for Carolina last week. Tampa Bay’s secondary actually might be worse than Carolina’s.

With question marks on both sides of this matchup, there is no way this line should be as high as it is. I’m going to go with Tampa Bay (+5.5) tonight although I do believe Carolina will win the actual game.

Enjoy the games tonight, I’ll be back tomorrow to recap Week 5 of the NFL. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

It’s a Friday edition of “No Huddle” which means I’ll be highlighting the games of the weekend in the NFL and college football. Plus, I’ll be finishing up as always with my picks against the spread for the NFL. Before I get there, let me quickly touch on last night’s game between the Cardinals and 49ers.

Arizona got a much needed win against San Francisco last night, and if you read my preview of the game, it went just the way I thought it would. Big games from David Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, and the Cardinals defense propelled them to a 33-21 win last night.

While this was a big game for Arizona, all of the news coming out of this game is about the dismal state of the 49ers. Chip Kelly said after the game that he needed to reevaluate every player’s spot on the roster, including the quarterback position. I was all over the potential problems in San Francisco coming into this season, and aside from the surprising win in the opener, they have met my expectations.

Now, lets get to the rest of another big week in football. The NFL slate looks good on Sunday, led by a great matchup between Atlanta and Denver. This is rightly the national game of the week on television. Atlanta features the top rated offense so far this season, while Denver’s defensive juggernaut is nothing new to us. There are a couple of important things to keep in mind for this game. The first is the dominance of Denver at home against NFC opponents, as the Broncos are currently riding a ten-game winning streak coming into this game.

The second thing I’m looking at is the health of the Falcons on offense. They will need all hands on deck against Denver, and look to have Mohamed Sanu and Jacob Tamme available. Both have been dealing with injuries for a couple of weeks now, and are on track to play through their injuries again. The name that has not shown up on the injury report is Tevin Coleman, who may see a severely reduced workload on Sunday. Coleman has sickle cell trait, and playing in the high altitude in Denver could exacerbate the symptoms. Expect to see more Devonta Freeman on Sunday, as the Falcons need to be careful with Coleman.

Another game that caught my eye on Sunday is between Houston and Minnesota. I firmly believe that the Vikings should win this game, but I think Houston presents an interesting challenge on both sides of the ball. Offensively, Houston has playmakers all over the field, but has struggled to keep the pocket clean for Brock Osweiler. With big play threats in DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller V, this offensive line needs to step up and give Osweiler time to throw. Minnesota has been great on defense, and this will be a nice little test for them on a short week.

Sunday Night Football features a showdown between Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers, which could produce one hell of a duel between these Super Bowl champions at quarterback. The Packers have not quite looked like the team we are used to seeing, but coming off of a bye week hopefully they have ironed out some of their issues. The Giants were smothered for most of the night against Minnesota on Monday, but have showed some promise early in the season. Both offenses are loaded with talent and the defenses are both capable of making plays. This has the makings of a great primetime game.

Let’s shift quickly over to college football, where the SEC is stealing all of the headlines coming into this week. The big matchup this week is the top-ten clash between #9 Tennessee and #8 Texas A&M. Just on face value hear, I like Texas A&M a lot in this game. These aren’t the Aggies that we’ve become accustomed to seeing over the past few years. They are playing fantastic defense so far this season and playing in front of a great home crowd will give them quite the edge in this game. Another reason I like Texas A&M actually has nothing to do with the Aggies, but with Tennessee. The Volunteers are coming off that miraculous win last week against Georgia, but I see an emotional letdown in the cards for Tennessee. They have been playing tightly contested games all season, and I think their luck may have run out.

The primetime game for the SEC is between #1 Alabama and #16 Arkansas. I learned my lesson the last time I thought Alabama was on upset alert, so I’m not going to jump the gun there. I will say that Alabama has been susceptible to losing conference games on the road against ranked opponents. I’m not falling into that trap this week; I think Alabama is just too good of a team for them to lose this game.

Now onto my picks for Week 5 of the NFL, and I’m not going to lie it was a nail biter for me last week. I still have not gone under .500 with my picks yet, and for a while there last week that streak looked dead. A miraculous comeback in the late games and a sweep of SNF/MNF got me above .500 for the week. So I’m going to try and keep this streak alive again this week. Let’s take a look at the picks (Winners in Bold).

This Week: 1-0     Last Week: 8-7       2016 Season: 34-29

1:00 PM

Houston vs. Minnesota (-5)

Tennessee (+3.5) vs. Miami

New England (-10) vs. Cleveland

NY Jets vs. Pittsburgh (-7)

Washington vs. Baltimore (-4)

Philadelphia (-3.5) vs. Detroit

Chicago (+5) vs. Indianapolis

4:05/4:25 PM

Atlanta vs. Denver (-6.5)

Buffalo vs. Los Angeles (-3)

San Diego vs. Oakland (-3.5)

Cincinnati (+1.5) vs. Dallas

 

Sunday Night Football

NY Giants vs. Green Bay (-7)

 

Enjoy all of the action this weekend, between baseball and football you should be covered. Keep the conversation going on social media, follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook. I’ll be back on Monday to recap the best of the weekend.

October baseball, I just love being able to type those two words. Every pitch matters, and every at-bat is critical. Today kicks off both of the NL Divisional Series, while the AL got a head start yesterday. I’ll be checking in periodically with the MLB Postseason as we get closer to the World Series.

So lets take a quick look at the slate today, which could prove to be an awesome day of playoff baseball. As I’m writing this, Toronto just finished off Texas in Game 2 of its Divisional Series, opening up a 2-0 lead going back to Toronto for a potential sweep of the Rangers on Sunday. Here is what the rest of the day looks like.

Boston vs. Cleveland (Cleveland leads 1-0) – Game 2: 4:30 PM (TBS)

The Indians got a big win last night over the Red Sox to open up this series, but could have come at a cost for today. Terry Francona went to his bullpen early last night, and may have exhausted his two best relievers for Game 2. Andrew Miller and Cody Allen pitched a combined four innings and threw 80 pitches last night. The pitching matchup is fantastic between David Price and Corey Kluber. Price is susceptible to getting shelled in playoff games, so I would be cautious if I were Boston. The Red Sox will have to get its offense going early, and try to chase Kluber out of the ball game to get to a potentially short-handed Cleveland bullpen. Another thing that may work in Boston’s favor today, there is no way this lineup is combining for twelve strikeouts again.

Los Angeles vs. Washington – Game 1: 5:30 PM (Fox Sports 1)

In my opinion, it won’t get much better than this pitching matchup. Clayton Kershaw going up against Max Scherzer has the potential to be a duel for the ages. These are two of the best pitchers in the entire MLB and hopefully they both deliver. I say that because the one place where Kershaw has struggled in his career is in the postseason. LA desperately needs Kershaw to shake off the postseason funk because Scherzer has been dominant this season, notching a career best in strikeouts as well as winning 20 games. Out of all four playoff series, I think this is the most important Game 1 we will see.

San Francisco vs. Chicago – Game 1: 9:00 PM (Fox Sports 1)

This has all the makings to be an amazing series. Chicago’s World Series drought is well documented while San Francisco is back in the postseason in an even year. The Giants won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014, so history is certainly on their side here. Don’t count out the Cubs though; this is the best team in baseball with the best manager in the game in Joe Maddon. Game 1 will see a great pitching matchup between Johnny Cueto and Jon Lester. This has the potential to be the epitome of October baseball.

 

Stay tuned to Shooting the Moon as I’m working on the Friday edition of “No Huddle.” Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

You know, as we get deeper into fall, it seems like the week passes by so much faster. Week 5 is already here with the Cardinals and 49ers set to faceoff tonight. It’s a pretty “meh” game for fantasy purposes but there is plenty to get to this week as I set the stage for Week 5. I’m not going to waste any time so lets get right into the “Reality of Fantasy.”

Last week ushered in the start of bye weeks, which is something I hope you all had the foresight to plan for. This week Seattle, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Kansas City all have the week off. That means most of you will likely be looking for replacements for Russell Wilson, Blake Bortles, or Drew Brees at quarterback. Since QB is a deep position in fantasy you can afford to only carry one signal-caller on your roster, but I’m the type that always likes to keep a deep bench for bye weeks and condense once I have my studs back in the lineup. So if you don’t have a Phillip Rivers or Matt Ryan (what a season he’s having for a guy you likely drafted as a backup) here are a couple of names I would consider as “plug and play” options:

  – Carson Wentz is probably the best option this week, and he should be available to pick up right now (owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues). He has gotten better with each week under his belt and draws a great matchup against a banged up Detroit defense. Wentz also is coming off of a bye week, so the extra time to prepare only makes me like this matchup more for Philadelphia. Hopefully you don’t play in a league with members of the Wentz Wagon, and go scoop him up.

  – Joe Flacco is a popular streaming option most years in fantasy football (I personally went Wacko for Flacco last week). This week he gets the Washington Redskins at home. Playing at home is the important thing to focus on here. Washington isn’t the greatest matchup but Flacco is a much better fantasy play at home. Flacco has scored 20+ fantasy points in seven of his last nine home games. Seriously consider him this week if you are in need.

I’m only focusing on QB streaming this week due to the high caliber fantasy QBs with an off week. In future weeks I’ll look at some other positional streaming options. RB and WR should always be you positions of depth whereas QB, TE, and D/ST can be streamed if you’re in a tight spot.

If you are forced to stream this week at D/ST due to the Seattle or Kansas City bye, consider the LA Rams if you can grab them. Aaron Donald is playing at a Defensive Player of the Year level right now and he’s causing all kinds of problems for opposing offenses. Donald and the rest of the LA defensive line are setting the tone for this defense and paid off big time last week against Arizona, scoring 13 fantasy points. They are owned in about half of ESPN leagues and should be available to pick up in a tight spot.

Let’s take a look at the slate for this week as I identify the best and worst matchups of Week 5.

Best Matchup: Oakland Raiders (vs. San Diego)

You must have thought I was going to lead off with the Patriots here. Nope, this week the Raiders draw one of the best matchups of the week. Derek Carr is playing at a top-five level right now and that’s with Amari Cooper not playing up to his potential. Michael Crabtree is actually the top receiver here, and that was before his three-touchdown explosion last week in Baltimore. San Diego is struggling mightily on defense and just received some bad news yesterday. Top cornerback Jason Verrete tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. That leaves San Diego even more vulnerable to this red-hot aerial attack from the Raiders.

Worst Matchup: Houston Texans (vs. Minnesota Vikings)

Look I love the talent that Houston has on offense, but they are running into a buzzsaw against Minnesota. The Vikings are playing some of the best defense out of any team in the league, and they haven’t played any pushovers either. Minnesota has shut down Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, and Eli Manning the last three weeks, so this doesn’t inspire much confidence for Brock Osweiler to have success. The “Brock Lobster” looked skittish in the pocket against New England two weeks ago and this Vikings front-seven is better than the New England front-seven. If Minnesota could get eight sacks against Carolina, how many do you think they can get against Houston?

Good Matchup: New England Patriots (vs. Cleveland Browns)

We can just file this one under the “obvious” category right now. Tom Brady is back and is primed to make a massive 2016 debut. The Patriots have run the third-most running plays to this point of the season, but don’t expect that to hold true with Brady back on the field. We also might get to see the real Rob Gronkowski in this game as the Patriots have relegated him as a virtual decoy in his first two games back from injury. I’m not that great at math, but I can put two and two together. This looks like a monster game in the making for Brady and New England.

Bad Matchup: Detroit Lions (vs. Philadelphia Eagles)

I know its been awhile since we last saw the Eagles in action, but I do feel the need to remind you all that they held Pittsburgh to three points in their Week 3 matchup. Detroit does have the benefit of playing at home but even the magic of the Jim Bob Cooter offense won’t stop the dominant play of Fletcher Cox and the Eagles defensive line. Philadelphia is allowing an average of nine points a game, which doesn’t bode well for a Lions team that only scored 16 points against the Titans in its last home game.

Other Good Matchups: Pittsburgh (vs. NY Jets), NY Giants (vs. Green Bay), Baltimore (vs. Washington)

Other Bad Matchups: Atlanta (vs. Denver), Miami (vs. Tennessee), Buffalo (vs. Los Angeles)

So now with a good base to work off of for the week, let’s shift our focus back to tonight’s game between the Cardinals and 49ers. Like I said before this is a pretty “meh” game on the NFL slate this week, especially for fantasy football. The big news here is that Carson Palmer is likely not going to play tonight for Arizona, which would leave Drew Stanton as the starting QB tonight. His presence lowers the potential value for the Arizona receivers, who finally took a step in the right direction last week. I expect a huge workload for David Johnson tonight with Stanton in at quarterback. If I was forced to pick a receiver to trust tonight, look no further than Larry Fitzgerald, who is the most reliable option of this receiving core and will operate as a safety valve since Arizona doesn’t often feature a receiving threat at tight end.

On the San Francisco side of things, this offense just doesn’t do it for me in fantasy. Carlos Hyde is playing well but something tells me that tonight might be a good opportunity to bench him. Arizona has its back against the wall and I expect this defense to carry them tonight.

Now I know that I usually do this in my “No Huddle” articles but to save everyone some time, I’m going to leave you with my game pick. Vegas currently have Arizona favored by four. I’m going with Vegas on this one so give me Arizona (-4) tonight.

Enjoy the game tonight, whichever one you may be watching. Keep the conversation going in the comments section or social media. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook. I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” to preview the rest of Week 5 and I’ll be talking MLB postseason as well.

We have officially reached the quarter-pole of the NFL season, and I don’t think anyone could have seen the opening four weeks go this way. Carolina and Arizona are both 1-3 after dominating the NFC last season. The Sam Bradford trade helped produce two of three undefeated teams in the league. New England didn’t miss a beat without Brady, going 3-1 during his suspension. Strangely enough, the Rams are also 3-1.

I could go on and on with the things that no one saw coming but I’m not one for dwelling on those things. More importantly, this is what will shape what we know about these teams going forward. That’s the beauty of the NFL, you really can’t predict what is going to happen. You can read every scrap of information about each and every team prior to the season, but none of it matters until they step onto the field for meaningful games. Ultimately, none of us actually know what is going to happen, we just go off of the things that we see happen on the field.

While things have gotten off to an odd start this season, this hasn’t exactly been a season from bizzarro world. So where am I going with all of this? Well I’m trying to stress the importance of uncertainty in the NFL. Sometimes the sure thing loses, while the team with no chance wins. Just when you seem to have a grip on a handful of teams, you get thrown for a loop.

That is a big thing for us to remember going forward. With bye weeks now playing a factor, just try to remember that nothing is ever certain. Some teams will figure things out on a bye, while other teams will hit the reset button during the bye, and a few teams will get out of rhythm because of the bye, costing them the rest of the season. Kansas City used its bye week to regroup and reeled off eleven wins in a row before running into the Patriots in the playoffs last season. Miami fired Joe Philbin after the London game, and turned the reigns over to Dan Campbell last year. Atlanta looked great early and fell apart shortly after its bye week going 2-5 down the stretch.

Now before I get too far down the proverbial rabbit hole here, lets get to why we’re here today. Today’s “No Huddle” will be looking at my power rankings going into Week 5 and highlight a few teams that are dangerously close to a lost season.

This week’s power rankings didn’t see a ton of movement, but the watch list is getting crowded with teams on the cusp of the upper echelon. Here are my top five teams going into this week.

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

The Broncos are looking the part as the defending Super Bowl champions, plain and simple. When you have a defense with an elite pass rush and an opportunistic secondary, you are going to be in a lot of football games. Denver also may have something special in rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch, which isn’t an indictment of Trevor Siemian, who looked capable in his own right. After Siemian left the game with a shoulder injury, Lynch stepped right in and started slinging the ball all over the field. There’s no word on whether Lynch will be the starter going forward, but he looks like a guy that can get the passing game going and alleviate the pressure teams have put on the running game in the last few weeks. This week’s matchup will feature the #1 offense of Atlanta against Denver’s vaunted defense. Whoever is in at QB for Denver will have to produce to keep the Broncos unbeaten.

 

(2) Minnesota Vikings (4-0) – Last Week: 3

Minnesota followed up a statement win against Carolina in Week 3 with a comfortable win on Monday Night Football against the Giants. I absolutely love what I’ve seen from the Vikings, and with each passing week they give you something else to admire. Week in and week out this defense will be the calling card of the Vikings. However, this offense gets better with each game as Sam Bradford gets more comfortable in this scheme. Bradford is playing effectively right now, and Minnesota was even able to get its running game going. This week brings an interesting matchup against Houston, which has talent on both sides of the ball.

 

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

Okay let’s get this one out of the way. New England getting shut out for the first time at home since 1993 was an aberration. Tom Brady returns from suspension this week and the last team I would want to be is Cleveland this week. New England is going to be just fine, and it won’t be long before they return to the top spot in these rankings. The loss drops them for now, but Brady will return everything to normal for the Patriots. I’m giddy with excitement to see the show that the Brady Bunch is going to put on starting this week.

 

(4) Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) – Last Week: 4

Well it looks like the Steelers got the bad taste of the Philadelphia lost out of its mouth. Pittsburgh dominated on Sunday night and had the Chiefs beat by about halfway through the second quarter. Le’Veon Bell’s return to the lineup was a welcome sign for Pittsburgh and man, did he look great. Bell is one of the best backs in the NFL, we just sometimes forget that because he either is hurt or suspended this time of year. The Steelers get the struggling Jets this week, and that is another game that could get out of hand quickly with the way these teams are playing.

 

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

It’s easy to stay in the power rankings for another week when you have a bye week. I do wonder if the bye week will take the Eagles early season mojo away though. This team was rolling on all cylinders the last time we saw them. We’ll certainly find out on Sunday when the Eagles travel to face Lions. I think this defense in Philadelphia is for real, but I’m still cautiously optimistic with Carson Wentz. We’ll see what the kid is really made of once he faces adversity.

Teams to Watch: Atlanta (3-1), Oakland (3-1), Green Bay (2-1), Baltimore (3-1), Seattle (3-1), Dallas (3-1), Los Angeles (3-1)

So now with the best in the league out of the way, there are a couple of teams that have caught my eye in a bad way. Last week I gave you four teams who you could immediately take out of playoff contention, and three of them won…go figure. There aren’t any more teams to add to that list just yet but there are a few hanging on by a thread.

Arizona (1-3) is the first team on that list right now and I just can’t seem to put my finger on what’s going wrong. Obviously Carson Palmer being hurt doesn’t help, but this offense just looks stagnant. A loss to San Francisco on Thursday night will be the final nail in the coffin for the Cardinals this season. This is the time for that defense to come alive and show why it was one of the best in the league last season. There are too many playmakers for this team to look this bad.

Carolina (1-3) makes the list this week, not because Cam Newton is hurt, but because this defense may have been exposed. Julio Jones going for 300 receiving yards will put a massive spotlight on the weakness of this defense. The loss of Josh Norman has proved to be more impactful than anyone thought. I think this team will be fine, but its gut check time for the Panthers this week against Tampa Bay on Monday Night Football.

NY Jets (1-3) will likely lead the next group of “eliminated” teams next week if they are unable to pull off an upset against Pittsburgh. Ryan Fitzpatrick has thrown nine interceptions in the last two games, which will never lead to wins in this league. Fitz still has the support of the locker room, mostly because Geno Smith is Geno Smith. Brandon Marshall may get his wish too; this ship is going down with Fitzpatrick at the helm.

I fully expect to add more teams to the “eliminated” group next week, but for now those are some teams who are teetering on the edge of leading that group next week.

 

That’s it for me today, stay tuned to Shooting the Moon for more NFL coverage this week. Keep an eye out for a quick recap of the MLB postseason tomorrow in addition to more football talk.

Happy Monday everyone! I’ve got a lot to cover today from all corners of the sports world. As usual I’m going to hold off on recapping Week 4 of the NFL until tomorrow once Monday Night Football is in the books. That still leaves plenty to talk about from a fantastic sports weekend. I’ll be talking about the USA winning the Ryder Cup, a crazy weekend in college football, and the end of the MLB regular season with a look at the postseason matchups. As always, I’ll finish with a preview of Monday Night Football. So without further ado, lets jump right in.

USA Wins the Ryder Cup

 If you didn’t watch the Ryder Cup then you missed out some of the best TV of the weekend. Team USA brought the Ryder Cup back to the United States for the first time since 2008 in impressive fashion, winning the event 17-11. Some experts will say that Brandt Snedeker was the MVP for the Americans this weekend with his 3-0 record over the weekend. However, I don’t think there was a more important player than Patrick Reed, who was on fire all weekend with one of the heaviest workloads playing in all five sessions.

His round during the afternoon session on Saturday will go down as one of the best ever in the Ryder Cup. Reed absolutely carried Jordan Speith, who struggled all weekend, in a tough matchup against Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. You could make the argument that Reed defeated the team of Stenson and Rose by himself. Reed finished the day with seven birdies and an eagle, feeding off of a raucous home crowd.

How did Reed follow up his legendary Saturday you ask? Well, he went out and played in the match of the tournament against Rory McIlory. Reed and McIlory went at each other like prizefighters all round long, with Reed coming away victorious in a matchup of the two best players from either side of this tournament. Reed’s victory set the tone for the Americans on Sunday, giving them the momentum to win the Ryder Cup, ending a run of three wins by the Europeans.

The win also produced the best picture of the weekend in my opinion. Rickie Fowler must have had one hell of a night yesterday. Congrats guys, you earned this one.

Crazy Finishes and Top-Ten Battles Dominate College Football

While the Ryder Cup stole the weekend, Saturday gave us a wild day of college football. #4 Michigan outlasted #8 Wisconsin 14-7 in the Big House to earn a hard fought victory. The Wolverines looked to be in control of this game, but couldn’t put the Badgers away until the final moments of regulation. I don’t think they could have done it in a more spectacular fashion. The game-winning interception by Jordan Lewis will be one of the top-plays of the season.

Not to be outdone, the primetime matchup between #3 Louisville and #5 Clemson lived up to the hype. A duel between Heisman candidates Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson proved that the Cardinals and the Tigers would be squarely in the playoff discussion at year’s end (barring upset losses). Clemson certainly benefitted from playing at home, but you can’t take anything away from either team here. A loss is a loss to the playoff committee, but Louisville didn’t hurt their postseason chances too much in a losing effort, only falling to #7 in this week’s AP Top 15. Clemson moved up to #3 this week trailing Alabama and Ohio State in the polls.

The other top-ten matchup, which took place Friday night, produced the most surprising result of these three games. #10 Washington clobbered #7 Stanford 44-6 in the definition of a “statement game.” The Huskies have the best, and maybe only, chance for a Pac-12 team to make the playoffs at the end of the year. They previously showed they have the speed to matchup with elite teams, but against Stanford they showed the toughness in the trenches that can win in January. The preseason hype so far has been real for Washington, who will have a tough road game this week at Oregon. The voters agreed that the hype was real this week, voting the Huskies as the #5 team in the polls.

While these huge matchups were the talk of college football coming into the weekend, a pair of wild finishes took away some of the spotlight. North Carolina stunned Florida State in Tallahassee 37-35 on a last second field goal. The Tar Heels squandered a 21-0 lead, and then found themselves down one with 23 seconds left in regulation after a late FSU touchdown. North Carolina was able to move the ball just into field goal range after a pass interference call against Florida State. Then Nick Weiler booted a 54-yard field goal for the win. The Tar Heels improved to 4-1 while the Seminoles dropped to 3-2, possibly crushing any postseason hopes for Florida State.

As impressive of a finish as the North Carolina-FSU game proved to be, the finish to Tennessee-Georgia was the best of the year so far. The Volunteers entered the second half down ten on the road at Georgia. Tennessee fought its way all second half to take a 28-24 lead with just under three minutes to play following a defensive touchdown. The Bulldogs got the ball back and took a 31-28 lead with a 47-yard touchdown pass. However, Georgia received a 15-yard celebration penalty on the touchdown and was forced to kick-off from the 20-yard line with ten seconds left in regulation. Tennessee took the return back to midfield with just enough time to run a Hail Mary for the win. I’ll let the video speak for itself, but what a win for Tennessee, who moved up to #9 in the polls with the win.

MLB Postseason is Set

I’ll talk more about this more in depth as the week goes on, but I have to set the stage for the MLB postseason. October baseball is finally here, and while there wasn’t much drama on the final day of the season like previous years, these playoffs will make up the difference. The Wild Card games will feature matchups between the Giants-Mets and the Orioles-Blue Jays with the winners playing the Cubs and Rangers respectively in the divisional round. Boston will take on Cleveland in the other AL divisional series while Los Angeles will square off with Washington in the NL.

Unfortunately there are too many storylines to get into here, but all will make for a compelling run towards the World Series. It all gets started tomorrow night with the Orioles and Blue Jays so set your DVR folks.

Monday Night Football Preview

Tonight features a matchup between the 2-1 Giants and the 3-0 Vikings on Monday Night Football. Minnesota is coming off of a huge road win against Carolina and is playing the best defense out of any team not named Denver in the NFL. While New York has some serious firepower on offense with the receiving trio of Beckham/Cruz/Shepard, the injuries to the running backs could make them too one-dimensional against this ferocious Vikings defense.

The Giants will have to fight fire with fire tonight. This $200 million defense will have to earn its pay against Sam Bradford and company to keep this game close. I don’t know if the Giants have enough to go into Minnesota and win though. I’ll take the Vikings to win tonight (-5).

That’s it for me today. Stay tuned to Shooting the Moon for plenty of football coverage this week. I’ll be talking MLB Postseason as the week progresses as well. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.