Who Should I Start? Josh Allen or C.J. Stroud

Wednesday, January 7, 1:38 PM

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott said that quarterback Josh Allen (foot) will be a full-go at Wednesday's practice, according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic. Allen took the first snap of the Week 18 regular-season finale against the New York Jets to extend his streak of consecutive starts to 127 regular-season games, and then the Bills pulled him from the game on Sunday. The 29-year-old dealt with a nagging foot injury late in the year, but it's nothing serious and won't keep him from playing in Sunday's Wild-Card playoff game on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Allen finished the regular season as the top overall fantasy QB with 3,668 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in 17 games. He added a league-high 579 rushing yards and a league-high 14 touchdowns on the ground to separate himself at the position. Allen has the most fantasy upside at QB for the Wild-Card round.

Tuesday, January 6, 12:34 AM

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud rested in the second half of the season finale versus the Colts after completing 14 of 23 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown in the first half. Once it was known that the Jaguars were up big in their game against the Titans, thus eliminating the Texans from winning the division, the team decided to give Stroud the rest of the day off with a playoff spot already locked up. Houston will travel on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild-Card round. The 24-year-old signal-caller has had another solid season, completing a career-high 64.5% of his passes for 3,041 yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight interceptions while adding 48 carries for 209 yards and another score on the ground in 14 games. The Ohio State product has posted 7.0 yards per attempt or higher in 10 of 14 games this season. The Steelers sit in the middle of the pack against the pass in most metrics, ranking 14th in net yards per pass attempt (6.3) and 16th in dropback EPA (0.060). Stroud and the Texans may need to air it out more often Monday night, with how dominant Pittsburgh has been against the run recently, allowing a league-low 73.3 rushing yards per game over the final four weeks. In one career game versus Pittsburgh in Week 4 of the 2023 season, Stroud threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns, posting the second-highest yards per attempt (10.2) in a game of his career. Stroud projects as a quality option for fantasy managers in playoff leagues and can be trusted as a borderline QB1/QB2.