Kirk Cousins self destructed and it affected everyone but Bijan Robinson.
The Atlanta Falcons went into the bye week sputtering and they came out of it looking nearly just as bad on the offensive side of the football, in Week 13. They had every possible logistical advantage against a Chargers team that had to play on Monday night in Week 12 and that had to travel from the west coast, and they laid an egg.
It was even one of the best games the defense had played all season but none of it mattered, thanks to four interceptions from Kirk Cousins.
As is the case with most quarterbacks, as Cousins sputtered so did the entire offense as a whole. Atlanta has now gone three straight games (all defeats) scoring less than 20 points, and they combined for 19 total in the past two. It’s been brutal from a fantasy football perspective.
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 13’s defeat against the Los Angeles Chargers
Fantasy Stud/Dud 2024 History:
Past Studs: Bijan Robinson (4), Darnell Mooney (2), Younghoe Koo (2), Drake London, Kirk Cousins, Kyle Pitts
Past Duds: Kirk Cousins (4), Kyle Pitts (2), Drake London (2), Tyler Allgeier, Darnell Mooney, Younghoe Koo
Fantasy Stud: Bijan Robinson
Stat Line: 26 carries, 102 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 6 catches, 33 receiving yards: 19.50 standard league points; 25.50 PPR points
Despite the struggles by the offense as a whole, Bijan Robinson still had a wonderful fantasy performance thanks to a ridiculous amount of volume. He tallied a career high 26 carries, as well as a career high 32 touches, as it was clear that Zac Robinson’s strategy was to feed the second year man early and often.
Robinson had a silly 13 touches in the first quarter, with one of them going for a 2-yard touchdown run to open the afternoon’s scoring. Unfortunately, his ceiling was capped given how badly his quarterback performed, but he still reached over 100 yards from scrimmage for the sixth time in the past seven games.
Tyler Allgeier seemed like a legitimate threat to steal enough work to make this a bit of a timeshare earlier this season, but he’s fallen into a mere change of pace role as the Falcons have decided that Robinson will be their engine.
Bijan Robinson has all the makings of a league winner this season in all league formats. Keep firing him up as a set it and forget it RB1.
Dud
Kirk Cousins: 245 passing yards, 0 passing touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 1 carry, 3 rushing yards, 1 fumble: 1.1 standard league/PPR points
Just when you thought that Kirk Cousins had hit rock bottom in the last game, he somehow went even lower in this one. Number 18 absolutely self destructed and he destroyed the Falcons’ chances in the process.
To put it bluntly, Cousins looked like he outright did not belong on a professional football field in this one. The game winning score was his pathetic pick six which was easily intercepted and run back the other way, he routinely threw in double and triple coverage, and there was no zip on the ball at all. The cherry on top was his league leading 12th fumble, as well.
Outside of the two games against Tampa Bay, Cousins has been mediocre at best and absolutely horrendous at worst. He should not be trusted under any circumstance moving forward as he currently looks like a shell of his former self.