Week 5 Thursday Night Fantasy Football Takeaways: Falcons' Kirk Cousins Emerging as Weekly Starting Option? | Who is the Bucs' Back to Own?

Discussing some fantasy football takeaways from the Thursday night game between the Falcons and Buccaneers.

The fifth week of the NFL regular season opened with a high-scoring, entertaining battle between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Let’s take a look at the top fantasy football takeaways from the contest.

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Team Stats

Atlanta won 36-30 in overtime. The game was within seven points all night, and the Falcons tied the game with a 52-yard field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter before winning on a walk-off touchdown 75 seconds into OT.

Atlanta had 550 yards of offense, while Tampa Bay had 333. Each team turned the ball over once. The Falcons had 509 passing yards and 73 yards on the ground, while the Bucs had 180 passing yards and 160 rushing yards.

Falcons’ Passing Game Takes Flight

Kirk Cousins had a monster game on his way to 509 passing yards. He completed 42 of his 58 passes, while throwing four touchdowns and one interception.

I mentioned before the game that I liked Cousins’ matchup this week, but I certainly wasn’t expecting that kind of performance. I can’t imagine his fantasy score gets topped the rest of the week.

Cousins looks like he’s getting more and more comfortable within the Falcons’ offense, and he’s now one of the better streaming QBs each week. He has a fairly favorable schedule ahead of him, so I’d mark him as a player to add and hold if you’ve been streaming QBs most of the season.

Drake London went off for 154 yards and a touchdown on 12 catches and 13 targets. It was a bit of a slow start to the season for him, with no more than 70 receiving yards in any game, but this kind of performance could certainly be the start of a hot streak. 

Atlanta isn’t going to throw this much every week, but the matchups for the Falcons’ wideouts going forward are very favorable, so more big games for each WR are possible and makes them all good fantasy assets to hold and possibly start. London is a player who needs to be starting every week.

Darnell Mooney had 105 yards and two scores on nine catches and 15 targets on Thursday. He’s gone over 55 yards in four straight games and is a sneaky good starting option in standard leagues now. 

His own percentage is at 80 right now, and that should be pretty close to 100% by the time the games in week 6 kick off. Mooney is a good flex option every week, especially when he’s got a favorable matchup. Don’t expect his week 5 production every week, but he can be an average or better fantasy scorer at least.

Ray-Ray McCloud and KhaDarel Hodge had similar numbers on the night. McCloud had 66 yards on six grabs and nine targets, while Hodge had 67 yards on two catches and targets, along with the game-winning 45-yard touchdown. 

McCloud has now topped 50 yards in three games this season, while having 42 yards in another. He still hasn’t caught a touchdown, but in PPR formats (especially deeper ones), McCloud has some fantasy value for sure.

Hodge made his first two catches of the season on Thursday - he hadn’t even been targeted in the first four weeks. So while his heroics will be remembered by NFL fans for a while, Hodge isn’t likely to be a fantasy asset in many leagues. 

A Breakout TE Performance?

Kyle Pitts has been heralded as a fantasy star since he entered the league, but he’s definitely failed to live up to expectations. After being held without a catch in week 4, Pitts had 88 yards on seven catches and eight targets on Thursday.

It was easily his best game of the season, and was the fourth-most receiving yards he’s had during his entire career. He’s only caught more than seven passes on one occasion.

Pitts saw his own percentage drop to 92 over recent days, and he only started in 64% of leagues this week. It’s just one game, but at a weak fantasy TE position, he’ll be back up at 100% owned and probably 80% or more started for his next game.

He’s not going to be a super confident start until he puts together another good showing or two, but it’s at least a step in the right direction for Pitts.

Pedestrian Day for Atlanta Backs

Bijan Robinson was nursing an injury coming into the game, so I expected a bit less work than usual for him. Robinson played 58 of the team’s 87 snaps, so apparently the injury wasn’t all that serious after all.

Robinson only got 12 rushing attempts, but he turned those into 61 yards. He added 16 receiving yards on three grabs and targets to post a solid fantasy score.

Robinson was under 20 touches for a fourth straight game, which is a bit concerning for fantasy owners. He’s gotten 26 touches over the past two weeks, but that could also have been intentional with two games in a short period of time. 

Still, this is a situation to monitor. If Robinson isn’t given close to 20 touches per game, he’s going to have to be extremely efficient to turn in respectable fantasy scores.

Tyler Allgeier got 31 snaps (36% of the team’s total) and struggled across his nine touches. He rushed six times for 12 yards and added 13 receiving yards on three catches and targets.

He’s just a deep league starting option when Robinson is around, but his inefficiency showed how risky a play he is. Allgeier has at least seven touches over the past four weeks, which is a healthy number, but he isn’t more than a deep league option (and probably just a flex one) most weeks.

Bucs’ Rushing Attack

As you saw in the team stats section, Tampa Bay ran the ball well on the night.

Rachaad White led the team with 72 yards on 10 attempts, but 56 of those yards came on a single run. He had three receptions, but he lost six yards on those grabs.

Bucky Irving added 44 rushing yards on nine attempts, with an additional 12 yards coming on two receptions and targets. 

White played 34 of the team’s 53 offensive snaps, while Irving saw the field for 23 snaps.

Both backs were pretty efficient with their touches, but because they are splitting snaps and touches, it’s going to be difficult to trust them with standard league starting spots, even if they are just flex ones. Both are above-average deep league starting options right now.

Evans, Godwin Lead Passing Game

Quarterback Baker Mayfield added 42 rushing yards on six attempts. Running isn’t usually mentioned when talking about Mayfield, but he’s now got 107 yards and two scores on the year, which certainly adds to Mayfield’s fantasy value.

Mayfield completed 19 of his 24 passes for 180 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. It wasn’t a huge game in terms of passing yards, but the three touchdowns and extra rushing yards helped Mayfield deliver another good fantasy score.

He’s got a pretty favorable schedule ahead, and based upon how he’s played so far this season, he should be a good starting option every single week.

Mike Evans led the pass catchers with 62 yards and two scores on five catches and seven targets. 

He’s yet to top 100 yards in a game this season, but five touchdowns are still making Evans a good fantasy option. Evans needs to be started every week, regardless of his matchup.

Chris Godwin had a solid game, with 64 yards on five receptions and six targets, while tacking on a two-yard run. 

It was one of Godwin’s lowest PPR fantasy output of the season, but still a solid performance. He hasn’t scored since week 3, but he’s still doing enough each week to be a good weekly starter, ideally in your flex spot.

With two receivers out with injuries, tight end Cade Otton was more involved and finished as the third-leading pass catcher. He had 44 yards on three grabs and four targets.

I expected more out of Otton, but this still might end up as one of the better fantasy TE PPR performances of the week. He’s had at least 40 yards and three grabs in the past three games, which is a lot more than a lot of other TEs can say.

IDP Standouts

Tampa Bay’s Tykee Smith had 11 combined tackles, a forced fumble and a pass defensed. It was easily his best game of the season, and makes him a player to add/play in deeper IDP leagues and watch in all other IDP setups.

Bucs’ Zyon McCollum had 10 total tackles and two passes defensed. It was also his best game of the season, but the heavy amount of passes and plays for Atlanta definitely helped him and Smith out.

Tampa Bay’s Lavonte David had eight combined tackles and an interception on Thursday. You should already know that David is a good IDP option, and after two sacks in week 4 and now the pick and two passes defensed this week, he flashes high IDP upside. Get him in your lineups if he’s not already!

Atlanta’s Jessie Bates III had eight combined tackles and two forced fumbles. Bates is another good IDP option and player to confidently start if your IDP league is deep enough.

Falcons’ Kaden Elliss had seven combined tackles and a fumble recovered. He’s got at least six combined tackles in each game, making him a steady IDP option. Elliss played 100% of the snaps, like Bates, for a fifth straight game.

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