Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Darnell Mooney

Saturday, December 21, 12:03 PM

Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle will be facing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense on Sunday Night Football in Week 16 that has allowed the fewest half-PPR points to opposing RBs in the last five weeks, which includes just one rushing touchdown given up. However, because of the high volume that Dowdle has been seeing of late as Dallas' clear-cut No. 1 RB, he'll carry high-end RB2 value for fantasy managers still alive in the playoffs. The 26-year-old is coming off a a career-best 149 rushing yards on 25 carries in last week's win over the Carolina Panthers after setting a previous career-best with 131 rushing yards the week prior. In the last four games, Dowdle has really been eating, seeing at least 18 carries per game and averaging 5.69 yards per attempt with a touchdown. Fantasy managers may not want to expect another career performance on Sunday night, but Dowdle is certainly trending up.

Friday, December 20, 10:30 PM

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney picked a terrible time to have his worst outing of the season, recording zero catches on one target against a depleted Raiders defense. The 27-year-old posted a one-catch performance back in Week 1, but averaged almost five catches per contest from Week 2-14. Now, with confidence shaken combined with a rookie quarterback making his first start, fantasy managers who survived Week 15's debacle must decide whether or not to use Mooney in Week 16. The lack of success last week should probably be attributed to Kirk Cousins more than Mooney, however. Still, even though the Falcons are nine-point favorites on Sunday versus the Giants, Atlanta is likely to deploy a heavy dose of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier against a defense that has yielded the fourth-most fantasy points to running backs on the season. If the Falcons do need to ask Michael Penix Jr. to throw, then the receivers should see some success, as New York allows the third-highest completion rate to QBs and has only intercepted a pass twice on the entire year. All that being said, Mooney looks like a shaky WR3 in the fantasy playoffs this Sunday.