Who Should I Start? Marcus Mariota or Josh Allen

Friday, January 2, 12:26 PM

Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota (hand) has officially been ruled out for Sunday's Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic. Mariota was a stretch to make it back to play in the final game of the year after injuring his hand in the Week 16 loss to the Eagles. The 32-year-old veteran was held out of the Christmas Day loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 and will now miss a second straight game to end the year. Journeyman QB Josh Johnson will make a second straight start for the Commanders. Mariota ended up playing in 11 games (eight starts) this year while filling in for the injured Jayden Daniels, and he held his own, throwing for 1,695 yards, 10 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He added 297 yards on the ground and a TD.

Sunday, January 4, 4:41 PM

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen played the first snap of Sunday's Week 18 contest against the New York Jets before being replaced by Mitch Trubisky. The Bills are locked into the fifth, sixth, or seventh seed in the AFC, and they didn't feel compelled to risk Allen's health with a Wild Card spot already secured. By playing the first snap of the game (which was a hand-off), Allen has now started 122 consecutive regular-season games. He reclaimed the honor of holding the longest active starting streak among quarterbacks after Philip Rivers, who had started 243 consecutive regular-season games, was benched in favor of Riley Leonard this week. Now, Trubisky will play the rest of the game while Allen rests on the sideline and gets ready for next weekend's playoff game. With that being said, the Bills have no other active quarterbacks, so if Trubisky gets injured, Allen would need to re-enter the game.