Before I get into today’s “Heat Check” I want to send a special shout out to all of our servicemen and women on this Veteran’s Day. Thank you all for your service and providing us with the freedom that we all enjoy every single day.

Now let’s get down to business and delve into a subject that has really caught my eye in the opening two weeks of the NBA season. It’s not the struggles of the Golden State Warriors, or the strange resurgence of the Lakers. I don’t really care all that much about the Clippers playing their best basketball in a couple of seasons either.

For me, I’m wondering when Anthony Davis is finally going to get some help in New Orleans. Davis will likely win Comeback Player of the Year, and could be in contention for a few other awards by the end of the season. The problem is he plays on the second-worst team in the NBA and until last night had the same record as the 76ers (who are incapable of winning in October-November).

Let’s all be honest here, Davis is a top-five talent in this league and when he is playing at 100% there are few players who can match his level of play. It honestly blows my mind how the Pelicans can have one of the few franchise cornerstones and still be this bad. Last season you could give the Pelicans a pass for being in the lottery because both Davis and point guard Jrue Holiday were both injured for much of the year.

This season though? I don’t think there are many guys playing better than Davis. Right now he is averaging 31 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals per game. He also sports the second highest efficiency rating in the NBA. Obviously this is only through an eighth of the season, but we’re witnessing Davis return to his superstar form at the tender age of 23.

In a star driven league such as the NBA, it blows my mind how the Pelicans haven’t been able to sell the idea of playing with one of the premier big men in the league to potential free agents. You see that small failure in the makeup of this roster. New Orleans seems content on trying to build around Davis through the draft. Which is all well and good from a long-term view but only when you are hitting big on those lottery picks.

Just because the Pelicans have Davis locked into a five-year deal through 2020 doesn’t mean they shouldn’t at least be more competitive. Most teams would kill to have a player of the caliber of Davis, hell the Sixers have spent three seasons tanking just to find one (and may have found two).

Getting back to this roster, there aren’t really any guys who can be a competent second option in this offense and no one who can lockdown defense. Granted, this is a younger team so there are bound to be growing pains.

This is a franchise that has traded lottery picks and whiffed on other high picks (Austin Rivers at 10 in 2012…ugh). We’ll see if Buddy Hield is part of that championship puzzle that New Orleans tries to piece around Davis. He drew a ton of negative hype despite being one of the nation’s top players last year at Oklahoma. I definitely saw the criticisms, including that he was a senior dominating underclassmen, but he can shoot the ball well from deep which is a valuable asset in a league that is becoming more and more enamored with the three pointer.

I am very interested to see what the Pelicans will do with an extra $31 million in cap space opening up after this season added to what will be the largest salary cap in league history in 2017. New Orleans has until the 2020 to become a relevant team in the NBA or they will risk seeing Davis walk away in free agency by declining his player option.

Unfortunately, it looks like Davis is going to be an All-Star on a horrific team this season. So for the love of all that is good and right in the world, can we please get Anthony Davis some help?

Have a great weekend everyone! I’ll be back on Monday to recap a massive weekend including college football, college basketball, NFL, NBA, NHL, and UFC 205 from NYC. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook

Week 10 is here folks; it’s a Fantasy Football Friday here at Shooting the Moon. Today’s “Reality of Fantasy” will focus strictly on the matchups for Sunday. There are a lot of very intriguing games this weekend and this could end up being one of those weird weeks for fantasy. Basically there are a few great games for fantasy and a heap of games that could go any way. As usual I will be going over the best games to target and the ones to avoid. Since there isn’t any game where you should outright bail on, the “worst” matchups are just ones that I wouldn’t have a ton of confidence in. Let’s jump right in and get to the best and worst matchups of the week.

Best Matchup: Chicago vs. Tampa Bay

I love this entire game from a fantasy perspective. Both teams don’t play spectacular defense, which is music to my ears. Don’t be scared off by the injuries to Jameis Winston and Mike Evans. They had ten days to recover and look ready to go for Sunday.

That is all I need to hear to advocate going with Winston if you are streaming QBs this week. Evans should always be in your lineup anyway, and if he’s not we need to have a chat after this column. In other injury news here, keep an eye on Doug Martin. If he is good to go, he could be in line for some worthwhile touches, even if he doesn’t get his full workload.

On the Chicago side of this game, Jay Cutler is back and looked great against that tough Minnesota defense two weeks ago. Now I always have my worries about Cutler considering he can turn into a turnover machine at anytime. That being said this is the definition of a “plus” matchup against a defense that allowed a 500-yard passer two weeks ago, and most recently got 43 points put up on it ten days ago.

Start your studs on both sides, this could be a fun game. Las Vegas sports books have the over/under at 46 so they expect a good amount of points. I think that is a conservative number.

Worst Matchup: Los Angeles vs. NY Jets

Oh boy, where do I start with these two teams. First thing’s first, Los Angeles may be the worst fantasy offense in the past five seasons. There are players on Cleveland that I would trust more than the skill players for LA, and that is saying a lot. Todd Gurley reportedly has barely practiced this week and is going against one of the best run defenses in the NFL. As Bernie Mac would say, “Nuff said.”

The Jets have been a mess all season, and this is one of the more difficult matchups they will face all year. The Rams are stout against the run, which is bad news for Matt Forte and Bilal Powell. I was already not too high on the Jets receivers considering that Ryan Fitzpatrick is currently questionable and a game-time decision with a knee sprain. All signs point to him playing, but a banged up QB against this Rams defense usually doesn’t mean success.

This could be an ugly game, one of those matchups that makes us all happy that the Redzone channel exists.

Good Matchup: San Diego (vs. Miami)

As long as Philip Rivers is in at QB, the Chargers will always be a fantasy friendly offense. The only issue is outside of Antonio Gates and Melvin Gordon, which weapon do you trust. Well, at receiver I would put my money on Tyrell Williams and Dontrelle Inman. Obviously I would take whichever one draws Byron Maxwell, but that won’t be known until game day. San Diego should be able to throw the ball around all day against the Dolphins shaky secondary.

**Playoff Note: Definitely get some stock in this offense now as San Diego has a great playoff schedule (Weeks 14-16)**

Tough Matchup: Kansas City (vs. Carolina)

This could be another ugly game on Sunday. Kansas City is not the most prolific offense and doesn’t take a ton of deep shots despite the emergence of Tyreek Hill as a deep threat. Jeremy Maclin is banged up and Travis Kelce is one of the most underutilized weapons (yes, I realize that he is the leading receiver…still he is potentially Gronk-lite). Carolina has looked much better on defense coming off of the bye week. Don’t love this matchup and I wouldn’t be confident rolling with any of the Chiefs here.

Other Good Matchups: Arizona (vs. San Francisco), Atlanta (vs. Philadelphia), Dallas (vs. Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh (vs. Dallas)

 Other Tough Matchups: Seattle (vs. New England), Washington (vs. Minnesota), Green Bay (vs. Tennessee), Houston (vs. Jacksonville), Jacksonville (vs. Houston)

Good luck with all of your fantasy games this weekend. I’m working on a brief “Heat Check” to finish off the week so stay tuned to Shooting the Moon. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Happy Thursday everyone! First things first, apologies for going MIA for the last two days, I’ve been dealing with an illness. I’m pushing through it today because there is a football game tonight. There is a lot to get to today, so I’m not going to waste any time here. I’m going to go over my power rankings for Week 10, get into a few of the best matchups, preview Baltimore-Cleveland, and reveal all of my game picks.

My power rankings look pretty similar to last week, but there could be a big shift depending on the outcome of a few games between some of the best teams in the league. Oakland is the big mover this week after the impressive win against Denver. The Watch List will look slightly different as a few teams suffered losses last week. Without further ado, here are the power rankings for this week.

(1) New England Patriots (7-1) – Last Week: 1

Wash, rinse, repeat here for the Patriots. They were on a bye last week, but outside of Dallas, no one is staking a legitimate claim to the top spot in the NFL. Tom Brady is by far the top candidate right now for MVP despite missing the first four games. This offense was on fire prior to the bye due in large part to Brady’s presence. This week brings a great test for New England with Seattle coming to town for a massive Sunday night game.

(2) Dallas Cowboys (7-1) – Last Week 2

 How ‘bout them Cowboys? Not much of a test for Dallas last week against Cleveland so they easily retain the second spot in the power rankings. The Tony Romo debate once again continues though as he gets closer to being cleared. Dak Prescott should keep this job due in large part to the improvement he has made to this point in the year. I don’t think it’s a stretch that the Offensive Rookie of the Year is guaranteed to come from the Cowboys. Big game this week against a potentially angry Pittsburgh, who are coming off of a loss to rival Baltimore.

(3) Oakland Raiders (7-2) – Last Week: 5

 Oakland made a huge statement win last week against Denver, and even did it in a surprising way. Denver wasn’t gashed through the air like some thought they would given the injuries in the secondary. The Raiders instead went to a power running game and dominated the line of scrimmage and busted big runs. These Raiders are my surprise team of the year so far, and I’m interested to see how they play down the stretch. For now though, Oakland gets a week to rest as they enter their bye week.

(4) Atlanta (6-3) – Last Week: 4

Despite the victory last Thursday, no movement here for the Falcons. They certainly took care of business after letting Tampa Bay get off to a quick start. Atlanta’s offense is still one of the best in the league and will be bolstered by the return of Tevin Coleman after a two-game absence due to injury. I still have questions about this defense coming down the stretch. The prolific offense masks the fact that this defense allows an average of 28 points per game. That is way too high for a team that could potentially make a run in the playoffs should they get there. This week brings an intriguing matchup with the Eagles in Philadelphia, which has been a difficult place to play this season.

(5) Kansas City (6-2) – Last Week: Watch List

Welcome to the power rankings Kansas City. The Chiefs have quietly won 17 out of their last 20 games dating back to last season. They don’t play the most exciting brand of football but Andy Reid has certainly found a winning formula. Despite injuries to Alex Smith and Spencer Ware, the Chiefs grinded out a win against Jacksonville last week. Both should ready to go for this week, and got even better news in Justin Houston getting activated yesterday. Kansas City travels to Carolina this week in one of the more interesting games of the week.

Watch List: Denver (6-3), Seattle (5-2-1), NY Giants (5-3), Detroit (5-4), Baltimore (4-4)

There are two games I really want to get into this week. Both involve my top two teams in the NFL. The first is the matchup between the Cowboys and Steelers. This really boils down to which offense can dominate the opposing defense. Now don’t be fooled by the ugly loss that Pittsburgh suffered against Baltimore last week. The Ravens always play the Steelers tough and Pittsburgh is also 2-7 in games where Big Ben is coming back from an injury.

Dallas has looked great but the signature wins aren’t looking all that great (at Green Bay, OT win against Philadelphia). This is a great Pittsburgh team that just has a bad record at the moment. There is also the added motivation for Dak Prescott to finally put the Tony Romo rumblings to sleep with a win on Sunday.

I don’t expect Pittsburgh to shut down the Dallas offense so that means Pittsburgh will have to be sharper than they have been on the offensive side of the ball. The Steelers have struggled without Big Ben, but I sense that the opportunity is there for this offense to explode on a injury weakened Dallas defense.

Moving onto the Sunday night game, and the game of the week between Seattle and New England. Prior to Monday night, I would have said that the Patriots would easily win this game. Seattle finally looked like the team we saw dominate opposing defenses in the second half of 2015.

Obviously everyone will be watching the Brady vs. Legion of Boom matchup, which will be compelling. However, keep an eye on how New England’s defense plays against Russell Wilson and the rest of the Seattle offense. Bill Belichick defenses are known for taking away the opponent’s fastball, so there are two things to keep an eye on.

I would expect for the Patriots to do everything possible to keep Russell Wilson inside of they pocket. Bad things happen when Wilson is able to improvise and attack downfield. The second thing to keep an eye on is the coverage on Jimmy Graham. Look for New England to have him blanketed all night, even if that doesn’t mean outright double-teaming him. This has the makings of a game of the year candidate, so definitely enjoy this one in primetime.

A game that likely won’t be a game of the year candidate is tonight’s game between the Ravens and Browns. Baltimore is coming off of what felt like an upset win over the Steelers. Cleveland is the only winless team left in the league, and the “0-16” talk is getting louder and louder by the week.

Truthfully, this could be the last chance that Cleveland has to get a win this season. That is how bad things are in “The Land” this season. Baltimore should win this game easily tonight, so there I’m not going to waste everyone’s time getting into the X’s and O’s here. Despite the fact that I have concerns about this line, I’m still going to go with Baltimore (-7.5) tonight.

Time for my favorite part of the week, and that is my game picks. Every week has been interesting seeing how I stack up. Not doing to bad compared to the experts that do this for a living so I’m feeling pretty good. Another week above .500 last week puts me on a nice little hot streak. Here are this week’s picks (Winners in Bold)

Last Week: 8-5       2016 Season: 71-62

1:00 PM

Green Bay (-2.5) vs. Tennessee

Minnesota vs. Washington (-2.5)

Chicago vs. Tampa Bay (+1)

Kansas City (+3) vs. Carolina

Atlanta (-2) vs. Philadelphia

Los Angeles vs. NY Jets (-1.5)

Denver (+3) vs. New Orleans

Houston (+2) vs. Jacksonville

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Miami vs. San Diego (-4)

Dallas vs. Pittsburgh (-2.5)

San Francisco vs. Arizona (-13.5)

 

Sunday Night Football

Seattle (+7.5) vs. New England

That’s it for me today, I’ll be back tomorrow with “Reality of Fantasy” and “Heat Check” to finish out the week. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Happy Monday once again everyone! A new week is upon us, which means it’s time to quickly look back at the big events from the weekend. Football dominated the spotlight the first post-World Series weekend, as you could probably imagine. We’ve got a little bit of college ball to get to, plus some of my thoughts from the NFL. I’ll wrap things up with a preview of Bills-Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

The SEC grabbed most of the headlines in college football on Saturday with two major upsets and another installment in the Alabama-LSU rivalry. First let’s get to the upsets, Florida lost big on the road at Arkansas 31-10. The loss doesn’t hurt the Gators, who still hold a one game lead over Kentucky in the SEC East, bid to make the SEC title game, although it is costly to their national title chances. Florida is still the favorite in the East division but this second loss effectively means the Gators would have to win the SEC Championship to make the College Football Playoff.

Texas A&M’s loss to Mississippi State on Saturday definitely trumps the Florida loss in terms of importance. The SEC West was already going to be decided by the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, but A&M is no longer in the mix to sneak into the SEC title game or the College Football Playoff as of now.

I was one of the many people out there that thought Texas A&M had no business being ranked ahead of undefeated Washington by the playoff committee last week. This loss by the Aggies should return reason and order to those rankings. The Aggies had the strength of schedule in their favor in the eyes of the committee with just one loss to Alabama, but this upset is severely damaging. Considering the Big 12 champion will likely be on the outside looking in come playoff time (Baylor is no longer undefeated after losing to TCU) , and Washington being the only playoff relevant team in the Pac 12 as long as they stay undefeated, these one-loss teams have to be on their A-game every week.

I’ve been saying for a few weeks now that this could be the first year that a conference gets two teams into the playoff. If I had to guess right now, I would say that shockingly the ACC, not the Big 10 or SEC, has the best chance of doing so. Clemson remains undefeated, and one-loss Louisville continues to play well with Heisman frontrunner Lamar Jackson lighting up opposing defenses. As we enter the final stretch of the regular season, the “next best” teams jockeying for position for the #4 seed in the playoff will be a compelling storyline to watch.

Now let’s move onto the NFL and the interesting day that we witnessed yesterday. Green Bay was upset at home by Indianapolis, Baltimore shut down Pittsburgh, and Detroit shocked Minnesota. That isn’t the headline of Week 9 though thanks to Oakland defeating the defending Super Bowl champs in dominant fashion.

The biggest question going into the week was whether or not Oakland, at 6-2, was a legitimate contender in the AFC. Well folks, we certainly have our answer. This high-flying offense took a much more ground and pound approach against Denver. The Raiders frequently brought in an extra lineman to counter the tough Broncos front-seven and found considerable success. Oakland forced ran the ball at will last night and played efficiently in the passing game.

I thought that the Raiders offense would be okay against a banged up Denver defense, but I was truly surprised by the Oakland defense. They played a great game led by All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack, who reminded us all once again why he made the first and second team All-Pro lists last season at two different positions. Oakland’s defense will struggle at times, but if Mack continues to play this way he will mitigate some of those issues on the back end.

All season I’ve been all over the potential of this Oakland team, and thought that a hot start could get them into the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Clearly this isn’t just a hot start that we are witnessing in Oakland. These Raiders are for real, and will have a large role to play in the ever-evolving playoff picture.

Okay, let’s quickly get into tonight’s game in Seattle between the Bills and Seahawks. Right off the bat, I’m struggling to see how this game is anything but a defensive battle. Buffalo is banged up on offense, and Seattle’s issues on offense are well documented.

I think these defenses will have the upper hand in this matchup tonight. Tonight’s game could come down to which defense blinks first. Lesean McCoy will be back in the lineup for Buffalo and could have some opportunities to gash Seattle without Michael Bennett anchoring the defensive line. Keep an eye on McCoy’s health throughout this matchup though as his hamstring injury was aggravated the last time that he played.

Personally, I’m interested to see which defense show up for Buffalo. Last week they were thoroughly dominated by Tom Brady and the Patriots en route to a 41-point performance. Buffalo had been playing solid defense prior to that game, so you would think that they would come ready to put the Pats game behind them.

The x-factor here is the game being in Seattle. In the Pete Carroll era, Seattle has been one of the NFL’s toughest places to win. For me I think that makes all of the difference in this game. I’ll take Seattle (-6) tonight, but I’m not in love this pick. I think the Seattle defense can keep Buffalo in check, and maybe even get a defensive touchdown. The Legion of Boom in Seattle is enough for me to pick the Seahawks to end the week on a winning note.

That’s it for me today, enjoy the game tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” to go through all of Week 9 and update the power rankings. Make sure to go out and vote tomorrow! Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Game 7 certainly lived up to all of the hype and the impossible expectations that come with it. First off, congratulations to the Chicago Cubs for winning its first World Series in 108 years. This was truly one of the best World Series that I can remember watching.

It was fitting that the Cubs came back from 3-1 deficit to break the curse of the billy goat. Like an exorcism of all of the demons of past failures, the comeback really felt like the only way that Chicago winning would feel right.

Then there was Game 7. Quite possibly the best baseball game I have ever watched. It had everything you could possibly want out of a winner-take-all game. You had comebacks, mistakes, clutch hitting, bizarre moments, and it seemed like it would never end. Even though you didn’t think it could end, you almost didn’t want it to.

The rain delay between the 9^th and 10^th innings may go down as the most important one in the history of baseball. Just after the Cubs blow a three-run lead and Cleveland has all of the momentum, Mother Nature stepped in to calm things down.

Joe Maddon seemingly did everything to lose that game, and every decision backfired. He takes out all of the pitchers a little early and the Indians jump all over them for multiple runs. Luckily, David Ross hits a home run to bail out Maddon with the first pitching change.

Once things got to the 10^th and play finally resumed, you almost felt that the Cubs would be in perfect position to pull off the victory. The top of the order was on its way to the plate, including the top two MVP candidates, followed by a guy trying to win his second consecutive World Series.

Of course the Cubs score twice, but leave the bases loaded to end the inning. You almost got the feeling that it wasn’t enough and they had left the door open for Cleveland. Chicago turns to a 25-year old with only one career save to close it out. After quickly getting the first two outs, Cleveland gets a man on and Chicago allows him to steal second. Then, Rajai Davis knocks him in. You could almost hear the collective gasps from Chicago faithful.

Finally though, the Cubs get the final out and win the game. The entire celebration is the reason why baseball is so great. It was pure jubilation from a team and a fanbase that suffered for years and years. All of the different stories and videos online painted were incredible to see. Fans who literally couldn’t believe what they had just seen, and to finally see their team win the big one.

It was lightning in a bottle, we will never see something quite like this again. In a few years I hope you will all remember where you were during Game 7 of Chicago-Cleveland.

Enjoy the weekend everyone! I’ll be back on Monday with another “Weekend Recap.” Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

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.

It’s Waiver Wednesday for fantasy football, and this might be one of the most important weeks to hit the wire hard. Week 9 is the second of the two biggest bye weeks of the season. Hopefully you have all prepared your teams to deal with six teams on their byes. I’ve discussed streaming in previous articles and how important doing so will be once we entered this stage of the season. I’ll reiterate the main theme of those pieces of advice though.

Streaming is all about exploiting the best possible matchups for a given week. Plain and simple right? Typically the streaming positions are quarterback and defenses in any normal year, but with the massive amount of injuries at running back this is a year where streaming a running back can be done in the most desperate of cases.

For example, you might consider grabbing a guy like Tampa Bay running back Antone Smith in Thursday night’s game. He’ll only be relevant for a week or so, but could be worth it due to his big play ability and familiarity with the scheme (he played under Dirk Koetter in Atlanta two seasons ago). He’s in line for a larger role due to all of the injuries.

Before I delve into some more streaming options, let’s remember that New England, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, Houston, and Arizona are all on a bye this week.

Most of the fantasy relevant quarterbacks and defenses should be good to go this week. If you are in the market for a spot start at either position, here are some options that might be worth considering.

At quarterback this week, Ryan Tannehill is the top streaming option who can be picked up right away. He’s obviously a bit of a risk, which is why he isn’t likely on a roster to begin with. That being said he faces a Jets defense that is susceptible through the air, and with the recent success of Jay Ajayi running the ball the Jets could be keying on the running game. Tannehill has weapons at receiver who can be difficult to cover in man-to-man defense, and could break a big play. He is available in about 80% of ESPN fantasy leagues and certainly worth a look this week with a plus matchup against the 24th ranked fantasy defense for QB scoring.

A riskier play with a good matchup is Trevor Siemian. Personally, I would only go this route if Tannehill is picked up and I’m desperate for a QB. Oakland is the 25^th ranked fantasy defense for QB scoring, but Siemian’s production is not ideal. Similarly, Sam Bradford has the best matchup of all fantasy QBs and has a higher floor than Siemian. However, the poor offensive line play and the resignation of offensive coordinator Norv Turner don’t inspire much confidence. Both should only be used in the most desperate of situations.

For fantasy defenses this week, all of the fantasy relevant defenses are in play so you should be okay there. However, I will caution all of you to avoid streaming the Dallas D/ST this week against Cleveland. The Cowboys just lost Maurice Claiborne and Barry Church to injury last week, which leaves this secondary vulnerable. Cleveland might be the worst team in football, but they can throw the ball a bit. The Browns will likely be playing from behind the entire day, and garbage time could be very unkind for this defense.

Now let’s take a look at the best and worst fantasy matchups for Week 9. There are a few interesting games from a fantasy perspective here this week.

Best Matchup: Green Bay (vs. Indianapolis)

I know that the Packers have been a bit frustrating this season, but I absolutely love this matchup for Green Bay. Indianapolis has a terrible defense, which is no secret by now. Randall Cobb and Ty Montgomery should be back in the lineup this week, and this offense will be all systems go come Sunday afternoon. The Colts just gave up 31 points to a Nick Foles-led Chiefs offense and I can only imagine what Aaron Rodgers will do to this defense.

Worst Matchup: Buffalo (vs. Seattle)

For the first time in a few weeks, I have to get away from my typical “just pick whoever plays against Denver or Minnesota” mentality this week. Which brings me to Buffalo having to travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks. Seattle might be the toughest place to play in the entire NFL and the Seahawks are coming off of an upset loss. I just don’t like Buffalo’s chances to have a good offensive day in this game.

Good Matchup: Atlanta (vs. Tampa Bay)

 While these Thursday night games are a crapshoot to predict, I absolutely love this matchup for the red-hot Falcons offense. Tampa Bay is coming off of an overtime game and is on a short week. Seattle and Arizona both looked terrible after a hard-fought overtime game on a regular week. Atlanta should be able to attack this defense at will all night long.

Tough Matchup: Detroit (vs. Minnesota)

Detroit has an offense that can put up points, but I just can’t imagine Minnesota’s defense having a second-straight letdown game. The Lions struggle to run the ball, which is where the Bears surprisingly found success against the Vikings. Add to the equation here that the game is in Minnesota and that is quickly becoming one of the tougher places to play in the NFL.

Other Good Matchups: New Orleans (vs. San Francisco), Dallas (vs. Cleveland), Tampa Bay (vs. Atlanta), Miami (vs. NY Jets), Pittsburgh (vs. Baltimore)

 Other Tough Matchups: Oakland (vs. Denver), Jacksonville (vs. Kansas City), St. Louis (vs. Carolina), Seattle (vs. Buffalo), San Diego (vs. Tennessee)

That’s it for me today folks, I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” to preview TNF and Week 9. Plus, I’ll wrap up the World Series and give my thoughts on what should be a terrific Game 7. Enjoy the game tonight! Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

The 2016-17 NBA season is finally here. After a wild playoffs and even crazier free agency period which saw Kevin Durant jump to Golden State, the stage is set for another great year of basketball. So with that I present to you the first edition of “Heat Check” which will serve as the place for NBA talk on Shooting the Moon.

We are about a week into the season but if you follow the NBA you know that the season doesn’t really start until after the All-Star Break. Until then everyone will just be jockeying for position and trying to stay in the playoff hunt until the stretch run…unless of course they are tanking (god bless you if your team is doing that).

Since there isn’t a ton to talk about just yet about what is actually happening in the league, I’ll get into a few bold predictions for this season. Almost universally, the community of national NBA analysts is predicting a rubber match between Golden State and Cleveland in the NBA Finals and Russell Westbrook being the favorite for the MVP. That’s a little boring to me, which is why I think some of these bold predictions will be fun to at least talk about as the season goes on.

Golden State-Cleveland III won’t happen this season

I’m wasting no time with this one here. I think Golden State is an amazing team on paper, but part of me believes they don’t make it out of the Western Conference for a third consecutive year. The Warriors had to sacrifice all of its depth in order to sign Kevin Durant, and come playoff time that is going to show.

Think about this, a #1 seeded Warriors could have to face Oklahoma City, Portland, and San Antonio in its playoff run. That is a potentially brutal road to the NBA Finals. Golden State may have four of the top 20 players in the league, but that alone won’t be able to get them through a stretch like that.

Golden State has also played the most games out of any team in the last two seasons and three of its core players also played in the Olympics this summer as well. By the time May and June come around, the Warriors might run out of gas.

Kawhi Leonard wins the MVP

 Russell Westbrook is going to put up video game numbers this season, but the Thunder might barely make the playoffs as a seven or eight seed. Westbrook would have to average a triple-double in that situation to win the MVP. There is a good chance OKC misses the playoffs though. The last time the Thunder didn’t have Durant, Westbrook put up insane stats put they missed the playoffs.

Kawhi Leonard, to me, looks poised to have the best season of his career with an offensive game that looks drastically improved from a year ago. He is drawing comparisons to Kobe Bryant from players like Demarcus Cousins. Leonard is already one of the best defenders in the NBA, and if he continues to dominate on the offensive end I just don’t see any way you don’t give him the MVP at the end of the year.

In addition to what Leonard could potentially do individually, he could easily be on the team with the NBA’s best record. People forget that Golden State had to go for the wins record last season partly because San Antonio wouldn’t go away, winning 67 games.

The two-time defending Defensive Player of the Year will be adding his first MVP at the end of the year.

The Scoring Title Will Be Won By a Player on a Non-Playoff Team

Historically, the player that wins the scoring title comes from a playoff team. This season presents a situation where the scoring title will come from a player from a non-playoff team.

The odds-on favorite to win the scoring title is Russell Westbrook, and I mentioned before that I’m not very high on OKC this season. I just don’t like the make-up of this team, despite the fact that Westbrook could average 30+ PPG in his sleep. The Thunder is an injury away from being in big trouble this season.

Another potential contender for the scoring title is Westbrook’s former teammate James Harden. Last season Harden was narrowly edged out for the scoring title by Steph Curry, but this season there is a big change in Houston that will literally put the ball in his court.

Houston brought in Mike D’Antoni to run the Rockets this season, and in addition to implementing his fast-paced system, he moved Harden to point guard. That will put the give Harden complete control of this offense, not that he already didn’t get the ball enough though.

The Rockets might score 115 points per game, but they will be giving up about that number as well. Mike D’Antoni teams have never been known to play any kind of defense, and this roster does not have anyone that you would consider a “stopper” either. Houston easily misses the playoffs in my opinion, even with Harden putting up career numbers.

This may be an overreaction, but if healthy, I think Anthony Davis makes a strong push for the scoring title on a bad New Orleans team as well.

“Heat Check” will be back next week, I’ll try to keep things fun until the season heats up but there will be the first power rankings for sure in the next edition. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Well last night went exactly the way we all thought it would. Chicago came out of nowhere to upset Minnesota last night, and I’m sure I am not the only one who totally whiffed on that game. In fact, while listening to the Fantasy Focus podcast earlier today, I found out that over 84,000 people were knocked out of ESPN’s Eliminator Challenge (basically a massive suicide pool) due to last night. I feel like I say this all the time, but just when you think something is a sure thing in the NFL, the unexpected always happens. Week 8

Now, I’m not going to overreact to this loss because those seem to come in pairs this season unless you are the Patriots. Minnesota still has one of the best defenses in the league, but that defense was due for a letdown at some point. I will say that I have some serious concerns though. This offensive line got really bad in a hurry, in fact Pro Football Focus gave Vikings tackle TJ Clemmings the worst single-game grade at the position in over a decade. This offense still lacks an identity, and certainly has taken multiple steps backwards following the 5-0 start.

I definitely was surprised by the effort put forth by the Bears last night. The defense certainly took advantage of the Vikings’ weakness on offense. Jay Cutler didn’t turn the ball over in one of the most shocking parts of this game. Running back Jordan Howard opened up the game with a 69-yard rush en route to a 153-yard performance. Certainly there were some encouraging signs here for the Bears, but this is still a mediocre football team at best for the rest of the year.

Enough about that debacle last night though, it’s time to move onto more pressing matters in the NFL. The rest of today’s “No Huddle” will offer up some players to consider in the MVP race now that we’ve reached the midseason mark, and I’ll reveal my latest power rankings.

Let’s talk about the MVP race because while I think we can all agree that Tom Brady is undoubtedly the front-runner, there are a few names that need to be in the discussion. This isn’t to say that I don’t think Brady should win, but there is more than just one man in this race.

If you had to ask me, there is a toss-up between two quarterbacks for the second spot in the MVP discussion. Matt Ryan and Derek Carr have both been phenomenal so far this season, and worthy of consideration behind Brady.

Derek Carr may have already “broken out” in terms of being a good player, but I think we are witnessing him making the jump to a superstar. Despite having one of the worst defenses in the league, Carr has led the Raiders to a 6-2 record so far. He is completing 66% of his passes this season and averaging 290 passing yards per game. Those are very solid numbers for the third-year quarterback.

The real sign of Carr’s jump to superstardom is in the touchdown and interception numbers. He currently sits at 17 touchdowns and just three interceptions this season. Speaking of pace, Carr is on his way to a career season overall.

Numbers aside, he has also shown signs of the rare “clutch gene.” Carr leads the league in game-winning drives this season due in large part to him making some incredible throws when it mattered most. Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree are great weapons to have at your disposal, but I argue that Carr is the biggest reason for Oakland’s success this season.

While we are potentially seeing the birth of a superstar in Oakland, we are also witnessing the resurgence of “Matty Ice” in Atlanta this season. Last season, the Falcons fell apart due in large part to combined performance of the offensive line and Matt Ryan. One year later and those concerns are no longer an issue for the Falcons.

Yes, Atlanta made huge improvements to the offensive line, but Matt Ryan is playing incredible football this season. Take this Sunday’s game against Green Bay as a prime example of Ryan’s MVP credentials. Down six with just under four minutes left in the game, Ryan leads a methodical drive down the field to win the game. The game-winning touchdown was an 11-yard pass just over the outstretched arms of the safety to Mohamed Sanu Sr. in the back of the endzone. That wasn’t even Ryan’s best touchdown pass of the day either. He dropped an absolute dime to Taylor Gabriel deep downfield in between two defenders. Matty Ice finished on Sunday 28-for-35 passing for 288 yards and three touchdowns.

In 2016, Ryan is completing just fewer than 70% of his passes and has amassed 2,326 passing yards. He has thrown 19 touchdowns and just four interceptions as well. Ryan was certainly the focal point of the Falcons’ collapse in 2015, but he has certainly silenced the detractors so far this season. Atlanta currently leads the NFL in points scored with 262, due in large part to Matt Ryan’s improved play.

An interesting thing to note is that both Carr and Ryan have the only 500-yard passing games so far this season.

Now let’s get into the power rankings and the watch list for this week. The top-two teams remain unchanged but there has been some movement behind them after last week.

(1) – New England Patriots (7-1) – Last Week: 1

No need to beat around the bush here, this is the best team in the NFL. I will continue to say that until further notice. While I do think it was a little shortsighted to trade their best linebacker midseason, Bill Belichick certainly has earned the right to make a decision like that. They’ll have a week to figure out how to replace Jamie Collins in this defense, so that won’t be a big worry for New England. The Patriots cruise into their bye week with the NFL’s best record and a strangle hold on the AFC East.

(2) – Dallas Cowboys (6-1) – Last Week: 2

The Cowboys narrowly avoided a huge divisional loss due in large part to the Eagles coughing up the victory. Dak Prescott had some rookie moments during the early portions of the game, but he came through in crunch time. He has earned the right to lead this team until the coaching staff and front office feel its time to go back to Tony Romo. Prescott looks more than capable of handling the pressure in Big D. Ezekiel Elliot continues to look like a shoo-in for Offensive Rookie of the Year, and is even looking like one of the NFL’s best running backs already in his young career. Now this defense did suffer injuries to key players in the secondary, but that shouldn’t be an issue this week against 0-8 Cleveland.

(3) – Denver Broncos (6-2) – Last Week: 5

The Broncos got a bit of revenge last week against the Chargers, and with the losses by Minnesota and Seattle, move up to the third spot in the power rankings this week. The loss of CJ Anderson hurts, but Devontae Booker looks more than capable in the backfield. There will certainly be a ton of pressure on the Denver front-seven this week if Aqib Talib misses Sunday’s showdown with Oakland. That front-seven did just get DeMarcus Ware back from his arm injury, which will bolster this pass rush exponentially.

(4) – Atlanta Falcons (5-3) – Last Week: Unranked

Atlanta earns a place in the power rankings this week off the heels of a thrilling win over the Packers on Sunday. Matt Ryan certainly deserves a ton of credit, but this team just feels miles ahead of the 2015 Falcons. Alex Mack is making such a huge difference on this offensive line, and you can see it in all phases of this offense. Atlanta has to make a quick turnaround against Tampa Bay this week for a Thursday night matchup.

(5) – Oakland Raiders (6-2) – Last Week: Watch List

I came about this close to putting the Raiders here last week, and in all honesty I guess I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. This defense is one of the worst in the NFL, and this is the most penalized team in the league by far. However, as I discussed before, Derek Carr is playing at a MVP-level. As long as he is playing at this level, the Raiders will be in every game they play this season. This week brings the season’s toughest test in a massive AFC West showdown with Denver on Sunday Night Football.

Watch List: Minnesota (5-2), Kansas City (5-2), Seattle (4-2-1), Pittsburgh (4-3), Philadelphia (4-3)

 Enjoy Game 6 tonight everyone! Tomorrow’s posts will include “Reality of Fantasy” and either the first “Heat Check” (NBA) of the year or a World Series recap depending on the outcome of tonight’s game. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.

Happy Monday and a very happy Halloween to you all! I hope everyone enjoyed a fun filled weekend with plenty of Halloween festivities. While we were all dressing up and getting into the holiday spirit, there was a great weekend in sports going on.

We’ll start this week’s “Weekend Recap” in Chicago, where the World Series literally stole the spotlight from the NFL. The Fall Classic is certainly living up to its moniker, as this has been a tight and tense series to this point. Games 3 and 5 looked and felt like World Series baseball, where every pitch and at-bat mattered. This Chicago story though, is being upstaged by the Cinderella run of the Cleveland Indians.

Much of the media attention with this World Series has centered on the Cubs trying to break the 108-year championship-less drought. The Cleveland Indians look like a team playing with nothing to lose with a manager who can’t seem to make a tactical error. The Cubs on the other hand, have looked like a team that feels the pressure to win.

Of course, this series is not over though. In baseball they say that the last three outs are the hardest to get, well the same could be said about finishing off a series too. This last win could be tough to get for the Indians. Chicago gets Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks pitching in Game 6 and Game 7 respectively, which is certainly to their advantage.

Prior to this series I picked the Cubs to win in 6, and obviously that’s not going to happen, although I think we could be in for something special here. I’m pulling for a Game 7 in the worst way now, and not because I want the Cubs to win. The MLB needs a Game 7 from Cleveland on Wednesday night.

Baseball has definitely taken a back seat to the NFL and NBA in recent years. Last night, a World Series game beat Sunday Night Football in the ratings for the first time in five years. That speaks volumes about the mainstream appeal of this matchup and the stories behind these two teams.

I will be the first one to tell you, the two best words in all of sports are “Game Seven.” A game for all of the marbles between these two teams could produce a classic that we will be talking about for years to come.

It’s not often that the NFL will play second fiddle to anything in popular culture, but rightfully football took a backseat this weekend to the World Series. That doesn’t mean that nothing great happened yesterday though. I’ll get more into the bigger picture of Week 8 tomorrow, but for now I’ll touch on a couple of things that caught my attention yesterday.

There was a ton of “free football” yesterday with three games needing overtime to come to a conclusion. London got its first taste of NFL overtime between the Bengals and Redskins. Unfortunately though, those fans watched as both teams mucked up the overtime period and the game ended in a tie (much to the surprise of Washington coach Jay Gruden, who just found out about ties last week). Somehow, there has now been a tie in back-to-back weeks for the first time in almost two decades.

Some analysts have been calling for changes to the overtime rules, but honestly that kind of talk is nonsense. Ties are a part of the game in the NFL, hell, just a few years ago Philadelphia tied a game that ended up helping them make the playoffs and they came a few plays short of making the Super Bowl.

The second overtime game of the day between Oakland and Tampa Bay looked destined for the same result after Sebastian Janikowski missed his second 50-yard field goal of the game. However with just over a minute left in overtime, Derek Carr connected with Seth Roberts, who broke away from two colliding defenders, on a 44-yard touchdown pass to win the game for Oakland. The Raiders stayed undefeated on the road, and kept pace with the defending champion Broncos in the AFC West.

For the second straight week the Sunday night game went to overtime. Philadelphia blew a ten-point fourth quarter lead, which led to the third overtime game of the day. Dallas won the toss and marched down the field capped off by Dak Prescott turning a broken play into the game-winner. A huge comeback win for the Cowboys now cements them atop the NFC East with a two-game lead over the Eagles and Giants, who will play each other next week.

Let’s quickly shift our focus tonight’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears. Minnesota is coming off of a tough loss in Philadelphia last week and Chicago is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mike Zimmer ripped his team after the loss to the Eagles and I expect this team to come out tonight with something to prove.

Chicago may get back Jay Cutler tonight, which is an improvement over third-string QB Matt Barkley, but even that won’t be enough to beat this Minnesota defense, which I have said many time this year is up there with the likes of Denver’s defense.

The Bears just don’t have enough on either side of the ball to beat the Vikings tonight; I just can’t envision a scenario where they win. Fittingly this game is taking place on Halloween because this game could resemble the worst parts of a slasher film. Give me the Vikings (-5) to cap off a great week for my NFL picks (currently 8-4 for this week).

That’s it for me today, I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween. I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” to go through all of Week 8. Stay tuned to Shooting the Moon all week for everything in the sports world. It’s the most wonderful time of the year with all four major sports going strong right now. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.