Bijan Robinson is in the running for overall RB1, rest of season.
Talk about a heartbreaker. The Falcons went into New Orleans riding the high of four victories in the previous five weeks, against a reeling Saints team which was coming off of seven consecutive defeats and a head coach firing, and they came away embarrassed.
Atlanta out-gained their rivals by over 100 yards, had over 10 more minutes in time of possession and had 11 more first downs, yet they somehow lost by three. That’s what happens when you lose the turnover battle (albeit only 1-0), and miss three kicks.
There is a lot of great content available here at The Falcoholic, and I encourage you to check it out if you want some in-depth analysis. This article will look at things strictly from a fantasy football perspective (that means looking at nothing other than pure statistics). Here is Atlanta’s fantasy stud and fantasy dud from Week 10’s defeat against the New Orleans Saints.
Fantasy Stud/Dud 2024 History:
Past Studs: Bijan Robinson (3), Darnell Mooney (2), Drake London, Younghoe Koo, Kirk Cousins, Kyle Pitts
Past Duds: Kirk Cousins (3), Kyle Pitts (2), Drake London (2), Tyler Allgeier, Darnell Mooney
Fantasy Stud – Bijan Robinson
Stat Line: 20 carries, 116 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns, 3 catches, 28 receiving yards: 26.40 standard league points; 29.40 PPR points
All of the Falcons skill position players played their part in moving the ball today, but Bijan Robinson was the absolute engine of this offense once again. The one time Longhorn ran all over an overmatched Saints defense all afternoon, reaching a season high 116 rushing yards.
Bijan scored Atlanta’s only two touchdowns in the game, both on the ground. First, he stepped in and saved the day from the 1-yard-line after Tyler Allgeier got stuffed on three consecutive carries, and then he scampered away from everyone on a 37-yard score near the end of the third quarter to pull Atlanta to within three.
Robinson has exploded in recent weeks, now reaching over 20 points in PPR formats in each of the past five games. Offense coordinator Zac Robinson has realized that the best version of Atlanta’s offense is one where Bijan is the focal point, and he has been given more than 20 touches in each of the previous four games.
Robinson is a serious contender for rest of the season overall RB1 in all scoring formats. He, Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley look to be a cut above all others at the position in fantasy football right now.
Dud
Younghoe Koo: 2/2 XPs; 1-4 FGs (1-1 20-29, 0-1 30-39, 0-1 40-49, 0-1 50+): 2.0 standard league/PPR points
There were no ifs, ands or buts about it today, Younghoe Koo was an absolute train wreck and he was the single biggest reason for the team’s defeat in this one.
Koo got plenty of opportunity and the coaching staff showed faith in him multiple times. The woes started with a missed 53-yard field goal wide left early in the second quarter, continued with a kick which was blocked (and which may have missed either way) right before the half and climaxed with a doink off of the right upright midway through the fourth quarter.
Overall, since his heroics in the initial Saints game, way back in Week 4, Koo is 8-15 on his kicks, which translates to an absolutely catastrophic 53.3%. Extrapolated throughout a full season, there is not a single kicker who has had a field goal percentage that low since Owen Pochman in 2003.
The Falcons offense is prolific at the moment, and they will consistently be close enough to the opposing end zone to give their kicker plenty of opportunity. None of that matters if the misses are as frequent as they have been for Koo recently. It’s completely inadvisable to continue starting him, at least until he can prove his consistency once again.