The Atlanta Falcons will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding QB Kirk Cousins.
Is Kirk Cousins Playing in Week 8?
Cousins is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any setbacks, he is on track to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Falcons’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Kirk Cousins in Week 8?
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.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Kirk Cousins’ Fantasy Points Projection in Week 8
Cousins is projected to score 18.5 fantasy points in Week 8. This includes 274.7 passing yards, 1.9 passing touchdowns, and 0.7 interceptions. It also includes 1.8 rushing attempts for 3.7 yards and 0 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
Kirk Cousins’ Week 8 Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 11:45 PM ET on Saturday, January 25.
Conference Championship QB PPR Rankings
1) Josh Allen | BUF (at KC)
2) Jalen Hurts | PHI (vs. WAS)
3) Jayden Daniels | WAS (at PHI)
4) Patrick Mahomes | KC (vs. BUF)
Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 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).