The Atlanta Falcons will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Falcons skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Kirk Cousins, QB
Cousins broke franchise records with 509 passing yards on 58 pass attempts in the Week 5 overtime win over the Buccaneers. If you exclude that game, he’s been QB20 or worse in four straight. If Bijan Robinson is going to be featured on the ground, I’ve got volume concerns.
Without the ability to produce with his legs, Cousins needs to be near perfect through the air to return top-12 value, and while I think he can have some success this week, will Atlanta need him to put up big numbers?
The Bucs lost a ton of firepower last week, and with a leaky run defense (30th in yards per carry allowed to running backs and 24th in overall rush defense by EPA), this script doesn’t set up nearly as cleanly as the first meeting between these teams.
Cousins is my QB13 right now, a ranking that could fall based on some injury news that impacts the QBs ranked just below him.
Bijan Robinson, RB
Robinson has consecutive top-10 finishes after not doing so once through five weeks as it would appear that he is trending in a very profitable direction for those who invested a first round pick on him in August.
The Falcons scored 36 points against the Buccaneers in the Week 5 meeting, but fantasy managers were left wanting more as their star RB had just 77 yards of offense. I’d happily bet him to exceed that production in this spot, as the Bucs have allowed 17+ points to five different running backs this season and will be operating on short rest after trying to tackle Derrick Henry for 60 minutes on Monday night.
Robinson is a real threat to lead the position in scoring this week, and that’ll have me invested in the DFS streets.
Tyler Allgeier, RB
Week 7 was the Bijan Robinson show (21-5 carry edge; 5-1 target edge), and I don’t see a reason for this offense to pivot off of that game plan.
That’s not to say that Allgeier hasn’t been impressive this season — he has. Despite just one game with double-digit carries, he has a rush of 15+ yards in four of seven games. The talent is there, and my trust in the offense is real, but there aren’t enough touches in this offense for him to hold stand-alone value with a healthy Robinson.
You’re keeping him rostered in all formats. Allgeier would be a strong RB2 if Robinson were to go down, and that’s the type of player you want to have access to as we turn the corner on the first half of the fantasy season with an eye on the playoffs.
Darnell Mooney, WR
Mooney put together a strong stat line in Week 5 against these Bucs (9-105-2), and it could have been far better if not for a bad drop that looked like it was going to cost Atlanta the game. Cousins was throwing the ball all over the yard that night, and 29.6% of his targets went in Mooney’s direction; the matchup data alone gives him Flex appeal in the rematch.
I haven’t loved what I’ve seen from Mooney over the past two weeks (his yards per route are down 27.9% from the first five weeks), but he’s been on the field for over 87% of Atlanta’s offensive snaps and remains consistently involved.
The Bucs blitz at the third-highest rate in the league, and we’ve seen enough creativity from this offense to think that they can exploit that aggression. Mooney is a fringe top-30 receiver for me with a nice ceiling to complement a reasonable floor in this spot.
Drake London, WR
London’s first target last week came with seven minutes remaining in the first half (12-yard reception), but he ended up getting there against the Seahawks (6-63-1). That’s as good an example of how different this offense is than it was a year ago.
Kirk Cousins has made a concentrated effort to keep his WR1 engaged, and it’s working to the tune of three straight top-15 finishes at the position (five top-20s in his past six games). London lit up these Buccaneers in the Week 5 win (12-154-1), and I have zero reservations in labeling him as a top-10 play for the rematch.
Kyle Pitts, TE
The former first-round pick has 65+ receiving yards in three straight games, matching Brock Bowers for the longest TE streak this season and the longest by a Falcons tight end since Tony Gonzalez (Weeks 10-14, 2011). Is the breakout coming?
It’s possible. Pitts recorded season highs in catches (seven) and targets (nine) last week, posting his fourth finish of TE13 or better in a five-game stretch. What encouraged me most from last week was consecutive catches of 10-plus yards on the first drive. He’s being scripted into this offense in a way that we never saw under Arthur Smith.
The upside might not be what we thought it was (his aDOT is down 27.5% from 2023), but fantasy managers should be happy to sell off some ceiling for additional stability — that’s the situation I think we have.
There was a moment in late September when Pitts was on the fantasy chopping block, but he’s now a tier ahead of streamers and one that can be started with confidence moving forward.
Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Game Insights
Atlanta Falcons
Team: The Falcons have the league’s worst average starting field position (their own 26.8-yard line).
QB: Is Kirk Cousins getting a hang of this system? Over the past three weeks, he’s completed 70.4% of passes when blitzed (Weeks 1-4: 46.7%).
Offense: Despite the one-sided loss to the Seahawks last week, the Falcons have improved their third down conversion rate in four straight games. In Weeks 1-3, they converted 22.2% of third downs, a rate that has improved to 46.2% since.
Defense: The Falcons (50.7%) and Panthers (55.8%) are the only teams in the league allowing points on most drives this season.
Fantasy: Drake London is starting to live up to the promise when he entered the NFL – he’s been a top 20 fantasy receiver in five of the past six weeks.
Betting: Kirk Cousins has covered five straight road games (his last three with Minnesota and his first two with Atlanta).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Team: This is Tampa Bay’s fourth home game in a six-week stretch – they go on the road for five of seven contests from Week 9-Week 16.
QB: Baker Mayfield’s fourth red zone pass of Week 7 was intercepted by Marlon Humphrey. In Weeks 1-6, he was nearly perfect inside the 20-yard line: 20-of-25 with 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Offense: The Buccaneers have scored on their opening drive in four straight games, allowing this team to play with a lead more often than not.
Defense: Tampa Bay has been outscored 44-7 in second quarters over the past two games (in the other three quarters of those games, they’ve outscored the opposition 75-24).
Fantasy: Mike Evans left Week 7 with a hamstring injury that had his status in question mid-week – he turned seven targets into 23.2 PPR fantasy points against the Falcons in their Week 5 meeting.
Betting: On short rest, Baker Mayfield is 2-3 ATS when playing on the road (5-1 ATS in such spots at home).
