Hopefully you all have recovered from that incredible Game 7 last night because its time to get back into football. I’ll have a post up with my thoughts from that wild game tomorrow before the parade but for now lets get into Week 9 of the NFL.

It all starts tonight with a pretty solid matchup in the NFC South between Atlanta and Tampa Bay. This is a rematch from Week 1 where the Buccaneers upset the Falcons in Atlanta so expect the intensity to be ratcheted up a few notches. Both teams are coming off of incredibly tough games last week so hopefully the short week won’t diminish the product on the field.

Atlanta may have a worse record than they did at this point in the season last year, but this is certainly a better team in 2016. They will be without Tevin Coleman again this week, but Devonta Freeman can certainly handle a big workload in the running game. Freeman is poised to have a great game tonight in a good matchup against this Tampa Bay defense. The same can be said for the rest of the Atlanta offense.

Matt Ryan should continue is incredible year and have ample opportunity to get the ball downfield to Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu Sr., and even Taylor Gabriel. Expect big numbers tonight from all of the key players in the Falcons offense.

Tampa Bay on the other hand is always going to be a bit of a wild card. Jameis Winston had been erratic at times this season, but has showed flashes of greatness as well. He is the x-factor tonight for the Bucs. Winston may have a difficult time getting the ball to Mike Evans with consistency considering he’ll draw Desmond Trufant in coverage. Trufant has a knack for shutting down the top receivers for the opposing team, but Evans is playing like an elite receiver this season so that should be a great matchup to watch.

Personally, I think Atlanta has the edge in this game. They are the better team overall and have the added motivation of losing the first matchup. I think Tampa Bay will still be feeling the effects of the overtime game against Oakland on Sunday. I’ll take Atlanta (-4.5) tonight in what could be a high-scoring affair.

Let’s shift our attention to Sunday, where there is a pair of great rivalry games in the early session and a fantastic matchup in primetime.

We’ll start with the Philadelphia Eagles traveling to face the New York Giants in a battle for second in the NFC East. This is certainly a must win game for both teams as each is trying to keep pace with Dallas, who should easily win against Cleveland.

This has the potential to be a tightly contested game dominated by the defenses. Philadelphia sports one of the more underrated defenses in the league and should be able to keep the Giants in check. Obviously Odell Beckham is one play away from breaking a big touchdown, but if the Eagles can consistently get pressure on Eli Manning those opportunities may not be there.

I’m very interested to see how the Eagles offense matches up with the Giants defense. This is where the game could be won or lost. Carson Wentz has been efficient throwing the ball, but Philadelphia has shied away from going for the big play, which could be a disadvantage for them here. The Giants defense is much improved from a year ago and they can afford not to blitz, using a four-man pass rush to tighten up the passing windows downfield.

Philadelphia has dominated this matchup in recent years, but has lost three out of the last four games following a 3-0 start. New York is coming off of a bye week and they could have a few wrinkles that the Eagles may not be ready for. I think this game comes down to whoever has the ball last.

The second rivalry game takes place in Baltimore with the Steeler and Ravens squaring off for the first time in 2016. The headline here is the early return of Ben Roethlisberger.

Prior to that news, I thought this would be an extremely tight game as we come accustomed to seeing between these AFC North rivals. Big Ben tips the scales squarely in the Steelers favor though.

Baltimore is almost devoid of any pass rush outside of Terrell Suggs and if they can’t pressure Roethlisberger this could get out of hand. Joe Flacco and the offense will have to show a ton of improvement out of their bye week. Reports out of Baltimore are saying that rookie running back Kenneth Dixon could be much more involved in the offense this week. He was the best running back for the Ravens during training camp before spraining his MCL before the season.

The interesting part about this matchup is that this will either be a game in the teens or both offenses just explode. There doesn’t seem to be anything in between. Give Pittsburgh the edge here though.

Finally, lets get into the Sunday night matchup between the Raiders and Broncos. You have the NFL’s best defense on one side playing against one of the most explosive offenses in the league. The loss of Aqib Talib for the Broncos could prove to be a very important factor in this game as Oakland sports possibly the best 1-2 combination at receiver in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree.

The battle in the trenches is going to be very compelling to watch here as well. The Denver pass rush led by Von Miller is very difficult to stop, but Oakland is one of the few teams that are equipped to handle the pressure. The Raiders have one of the most underrated offensive lines in the league, so this matchup should be very intriguing.

Speaking of pressure, I think Oakland’s defense will be under a ton of it to keep this game close. Denver’s offense is not the best but they have explosive weapons to exploit a weak defense like Oakland. They will have to find a way to keep Oakland within one possession and give this offense a chance to find a way to pull off the win. This could very well be the best game we see all week.

Now it’s time to get to my picks for the week. I’m coming off of a pretty good Week 8 where I went 8-5, so hopefully I’ve put the sub-.500 weeks behind me. So without further ado, here are my picks for the week (Winners in Bold)

Last Week: 8-5   2016 Season: 63-57

1:00 PM

Pittsburgh (Even) vs. Baltimore

Dallas (-7) vs. Cleveland

Jacksonville vs. Kansas City (-7.5)

NY Jets vs. Miami (-3.5)

Philadelphia (+2.5) vs. NY Giants

Detroit vs. Minnesota (-6)

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Carolina (-3) vs. Los Angeles

New Orleans (-4.5) vs. San Francisco

Tennessee (+4.5) vs. San Diego

Indianapolis (+7.5) vs. Green Bay

 

Sunday Night Football

Denver vs. Oakland (-1)

 

That’s it for me today, unfortunately had to push my World Series recap until tomorrow due to working today. That should be up prior to the start of the big parade in Chicago. Enjoy the games tonight, Golden State-OKC should be a lot of fun for the nightcap. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.