Who Should I Start? Joe Flacco or Kirk Cousins

Saturday, November 22, 12:03 PM

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco (shoulder) practiced in full on Friday and doesn't carry an injury designation for the Week 12 meeting with New England. He has been dealing with this injury for at least a few weeks but has played through it, so few were worried about his availability. Instead, the bigger concern is the one-week suspension of Ja'Marr Chase, leaving the veteran signal-caller without his top receiving option for Sunday's contest. With Joe Burrow (toe) out for at least one more week, Flacco may be making his final start of the 2025 campaign. To his credit, he's played well during his time with the Bengals, throwing for 1,453 yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions while completing 63.4% of his attempts. He struggled in the recent loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Sunday's game versus a potent Pats defense might be one of his toughest challenges of the season, especially without Chase in the mix. However, several quarterbacks are already ruled out due to injury (there could be more), and others like Justin Herbert and Bo Nix are off on a bye, so a bigger argument can be made for Flacco to remain starting in all fantasy formats. He'll still have Tee Higgins, who has scored at least one touchdown in five of his last six appearances. Andrei Iosivas has also proven to be reliable (at times) when given an expanded role, and Chase Brown's pass-catching prowess should help even more. Granted, not having Chase isn't an ideal scenario, but Flacco still has an excellent chance of staying competitive with Higgins, Brown, and Iosivas as his primary targets in Week 12.

Saturday, November 22, 4:44 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins will make his second start of the season on the road in Week 12 against the Saints, with the team losing Michael Penix Jr. (knee) to injury for the rest of the year. The 37-year-old started the team's Week 8 contest against the Dolphins, but unsurprisingly looked rusty, completing 21 of 31 passes for 173 yards and no scores (and zero interceptions). Expectations should not be high for managers considering the veteran as a streaming option, as he lost his job to Penix last year and was unable to wrest it back to begin 2025. Also, the Saints have been solid on defense, limiting opposing quarterbacks to the 17th-most fantasy points in the league, and they get the benefit of this game being played in New Orleans. With a low implied point total for Atlanta in this one (19), there isn't expected to be a lot of scoring, and if there is, it could come from the one-two punch of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier on the ground, especially given that top wide receiver Drake London (knee) will be out. As such, Cousins projects as a low-end QB2 in this matchup.