Falcons fantasy stud and dud from Week 16 vs. Giants

The Atlanta Falcons saw exactly what they had hoped to see in a matchup against the 2-win New York Giants, which was utter domination in quarterback Michael Penix Jr’s first career start.

This was the first week where the Falcons broke the 30-point mark since Week 8, with the offense having looked broken over the past month with Kirk Cousins in the operation room. This is a bit deceiving, as 14 of Atlanta’s 34 points came from defensive scores, but the offense nevertheless looked a lot more in rhythm.

It was semi-final week in most leagues, and the Penix boost helped recover some fantasy relevance for a few of Atlanta’s offensive weapons.

There is a lot of great content available here at The Falcoholic, and I encourage you to check it out if you want some in-depth analysis. This article will look at things strictly from a fantasy football perspective (that means looking at nothing other than pure statistics). Here is Atlanta’s fantasy stud and fantasy dud from Week 16’s victory the New York Giants.

Fantasy Stud/Dud 2024 History:

Past Studs: Bijan Robinson (7), Darnell Mooney (2), Younghoe Koo (2), Drake London, Kirk Cousins, Kyle Pitts

Past Duds: Kirk Cousins (5), Kyle Pitts (3), Drake London (2), Darnell Mooney (2), Tyler Allgeier, Younghoe Koo

Fantasy Stud – Bijan Robinson

Stat Line: 22 carries, 94 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns, 2 catches, 9 receiving yards: 22.30 standard league points; 24.30 PPR points

Bijan Robinson has claimed ownership on this place in this column, as he has remained Atlanta’s best fantasy player week in and week out, completely paying off the first round investment fantasy managers made in him back in August.

Atlanta’s offense scored two touchdowns in this one, and both were by way of Bijan touchdown runs. That now makes six rushing touchdowns over the past six games, right in time for the playoff push and fantasy post season itself. He’s also now recorded 100 yards from scrimmage in nine of his past 10 games.

Robinson has been the definition of consistency in fantasy football and in real life football this season, and he remains the lifeblood of Atlanta’s offense.

There’s not really much more to say about the greatness of Bijan Robinson. Fire him up on Sunday Night Football in your championship games next week, as he remains a lock for 25+ touches and all of the high leverage work in the Falcons’ offense.

Dud

Kyle Pitts: 1 catch, 7 receiving yards: 0.7 standard league points; 1.7 PPR points

There was one stretch in the season — from weeks 5 through 8 — where Kyle Pitts had four consecutive double digit PPR weeks and had many in the fantasy community wondering if this was finally the start of a much anticipated breakout. Outside of one more solid week against the Saints, however, Pitts has fallen off a cliff.

Pitts once again was an absolute afterthought today, despite the enhancement of quarterback play. His first target was right around the goal line late in the half where Penix found him accurately and the tight end proceeded to bobble the ball into the hands of Cor’Dale Flott for an interception.

Pitts caught one pass in the second half for seven yards and that was the open and the close to his statistical book today. Needless to say, you should not start him if you are still alive in your fantasy leagues.

Kyle Pitts has once again been a colossal disappointment, not just in fantasy football but in real NFL games. There are no more excuses to make after three years of endless ones.