Who Should I Start? Joe Flacco or Kirk Cousins

Sunday, November 23, 9:38 AM

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco will get one more opportunity to start after Joe Burrow (toe) was ruled out for Sunday's Week 12 contest against the New England Patriots. While Burrow was trending in the right direction for this week, the Bengals have ultimately decided to keep him on injured reserve for at least a few more days. As a result, Flacco will remain installed as Cincinnati's starting quarterback for Week 12. He's coming off an uninspiring 199-yard clunker against the Steelers, and although he has five touchdowns over his last two games, he also has four turnovers during that span. To make matters worse, he'll be without Ja'Marr Chase (suspension), shifting Tee Higgins to the top receiver role. New England's defense has been strong this season, but it's best at stopping the run. The Patriots have allowed the ninth-most passing yards, seventh-most passing touchdowns, and 12th-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks in 2025. This matchup and situation are best defined as "good, not great." That sentiment is reflected in RotoBaller's ranking of Burrow as the overall QB17 this week.

Saturday, December 27, 4:31 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins has a 5:1 TD:INT over the last two weeks as he's focused his attention on the team's top playmakers rather than spreading the ball around. The 37-year-old may have to continue to air it out in Week 17 as the Falcons are 7.5-point underdogs for a Monday Night Football showdown against the Rams that has one of the higher expected point totals on the slate (49.5). It has been easier to throw on the Rams than to run it, too, with Los Angeles allowing the second-most yards per game through the air over the last three weeks (277.7) while yielding the fifth-fewest rush yards per game over that span (97.3). No. 1 wide receiver Drake London (knee) heads into the contest with a questionable tag, but if he were to miss the game, those targets would likely be divvied up between Kyle Pitts Sr., David Sills V, and Bijan Robinson. Despite some solid stats over the past couple of weeks, the 4x Pro Bowler shapes up as a low-end QB2 for MNF, albeit with some slight upside with all of the talented weapons at his disposal.