Who Should I Start? Kirk Cousins or Marcus Mariota

Wednesday, December 10, 8:56 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins completed just 15 of 30 pass attempts in Week 14 for 162 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions, both of which came in the second half as the Falcons tried to play catch-up in what turned out to be a 37-9 blowout loss despite being tied 6-6 at the half. The 37-year-old now owns a 3:3 TD:INT through four starts, and will be without top receiver Drake London (knee) for a third straight game, leaving Darnell Mooney, Kyle Pitts Sr. (knee), and Bijan Robinson as the team's top passing options. The veteran has seen a lot of success when targeting his 6-foot-6 tight end, but it seems Pitts is inexplicably not an option in the red zone, with the 25-year-old last receiving a red zone target back in Week 9, while the likes of David Sills V and Dylan Drummond commanded a total of five red zone targets in Week 14 alone. If Cousins can focus his attention on the team's top talent, there could be an opportunity to be fantasy relevant, however, the 4x Pro Bowler is outside the QB2 range for Thursday Night Football.

Wednesday, December 10, 12:47 PM

Washington Commanders veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota will make his seventh start of the year in Week 15 against the division-rival New York Giants, according to The Washington Post's Tashan Reed. The Commanders have ruled out Jayden Daniels (elbow) after he aggravated his elbow injury in last week's blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Daniels isn't dealing with a long-term injury, but with Washington's season essentially already over, the 32-year-old Mariota could end up starting the rest of the way for the Commanders. Although he doesn't offer a ton of fantasy football upside, Mariota has been pretty serviceable leading the team's offense in place of Daniels this year. He's completed 62.9% of his 194 pass attempts for 1,389 yards, nine TDs, and seven interceptions. Mariota averaged 186.6 passing yards and 30.8 rushing yards per game from Weeks 8-13. Consider him a midrange QB2 option in superflex leagues this weekend versus the G-Men.