Fantasy championship week is finally here! 15 mentally grueling weeks trying to outsmart your friends and co-workers have led to this. One game separates you from the glory of victory or the agony of being the first loser. Financially second place isn’t too bad but is still a consolation prize nonetheless. We’re here for championships though, so we’re going to zero in on the best matchups of the week.

You know, fantasy football is really a funny game. One of the things I do when prepping for the regular season is to look ahead to Week 16. I circle a couple of games that I think can be exploited and target certain players accordingly. Whether that means drafting them or keeping their name on my radar for down the road. Sometimes I’ll make the mistake of drafting too much for that week which leaves me at the mercy of a team or two that may not be such a sound investment.

Last year I was right on the money when I looked ahead, making moves to get invested in the Jaguars-Saints game. This season I got a little too hot on the Buccaneers-Saints game, and of course the only league championship I’m playing for is with a team that has no one in that game. It just goes to show how much can change in just a few months.

Hopefully some of you had some better luck than I did when looking ahead at the schedule in draft prep or making a great deadline move. Let’s get down to business though and talk about the three best games/matchups of the week.

Best Game: Indianapolis vs. Oakland

On the surface, I love the potential matchup here. Two great offenses squaring off in Oakland should make for one of the best games of Saturday. Even better? Both defenses rank in the bottom quarter of the league in passing defense. Andrew Luck and Derek Carr will both have the opportunity to light up the opposing defense in this game. That means T.Y. Hilton, Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree, Donte Moncrief, and Seth Roberts are all candidates for WR1 (Hilton/Cooper), WR2 (Crabtree), and WR3/Flex (Moncrief/Roberts) consideration this week. The weather looks good for this game too so definitely target this game.

Top Matchup: Atlanta (vs. Carolina)

This NFC South matchup should produce a great fantasy day for the Falcons. Atlanta has been able to survive these past few games without Julio Jones and in fact, they’ve thrived without their best player. Devonta Freeman is coming off of his best game of the season while Taylor Gabriel continues to look like a waiver-add that could win you a championship. Matt Ryan owners have to be giddy with the prospect of this matchup. Despite the performance of the Panthers on Monday night, I think that this offense is too much to handle right now.

* San Diego has a great matchup this week with Cleveland as well.

Sneaky Matchup: Houston (vs. Cincinnati)

Call me crazy, but I think Tom Savage can unlock the potential of this Houston offense. We’ve waited all year to finally see what this young core of skill players can do, and now they have finally pulled the plug on Brock Osweiler. Just from watching the difference between the offense with Savage and Osweiler at the helm, you can easily see that Savage is an upgrade. Now the matchup isn’t great but I think that Houston’s skill players are very underrated in terms of talent. Obviously the production hasn’t been there. That being said, something totally changed last week with the benching of Osweiler.

Good Matchups: Washington (vs. Chicago), Tampa Bay (vs. New Orleans), New Orleans (vs. Tampa Bay), Tennessee (vs. Jacksonville), Miami (vs. Buffalo), New England (vs. NY Jets), Chicago (vs. Washington)

Tough Matchups: San Francisco (vs. Los Angeles), NY Jets (vs. New England), Cincinnati (vs. Houston), Denver (vs. Kansas City), Kansas City (vs. Denver), Pittsburgh (vs. Baltimore), Baltimore (vs. Pittsburgh)

Good luck to all of you vying for a fantasy championship this week. The final “Reality of Fantasy” for the 2016 season will be an awards edition and focus on dynasty leagues. Stay tuned for “Heat Check” which will be up later today. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.