Atlanta Falcons

Despite his poor play recently, Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris has made it clear that he is standing by quarterback Kirk Cousins as the starter, even after Cousins tossed four interceptions in the Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Cousins has played poorly in recent weeks, but The Athletic's Dianna Russini has been told that no internal discussions of a QB switch to first-rounder Michael Penix Jr. have happened. Atlanta will continue to show faith in Cousins with the added motivation of facing his former team, the Minnesota Vikings, this weekend. Things can change quickly in the NFL, though, so if Cousins falls flat again in Week 14, perhaps Morris will change his tune about the QB situation heading into Week 15. The 36-year-old Cousins has fallen to low-end QB2 status after throwing six interceptions without a touchdown pass in the last three games.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III is coming off back-to-back six-target games, catching 10 of those balls for 141 yards. The 28-year-old has been a pretty consistent option in the passing game for the Falcons all year, catching three or more passes in 10 of Atlanta's 12 games, while seemingly pushing Kyle Pitts out of the picture over the last couple of weeks. With just one touchdown on the season, the Clemson product's upside is limited, but with 45 receptions on the season, he can be in Flex consideration most weeks in PPR leagues. Minnesota allows the most fantasy points to wide receivers in the entire NFL, so this could certainly be one of those weeks. McCloud III projects as a WR5/Flex option this week, with slight upside in PPR formats.

Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo hit two fields and an extra point attempt in Week 13, however, a field goal attempt from 35 yards out sailed wide right, marking the sixth field goal he's missed in the last six games. The 30-year-old is now 21-for-29 (72.4%) on the season, although he has yet to miss an extra point (24-for-24). Week 14's matchup with the Vikings has the Falcons as six-point underdogs and if Atlanta plans to win the game, they may not be able to settle for field goals. Still, the Falcons should be able to move the ball through the air, assuming Kirk Cousins remedies his interception issues, but drives may stall when the team has to run the ball down close against one of the toughest run defenses in the league, which could translate to opportunities for Koo. This matchup will also be indoors, so weather shouldn't be a problem. View Koo as a low-end kicker option this week with more reliable options in better situations likely available for the taking on the waiver wire.

Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts has burned fantasy managers in three of the last four contests, culminating with a two-target, zero-catch performance in Week 13. There isn't much reason to believe that things will get better in Week 14 against the Vikings. Minnesota can be beaten through the air, but the damage has been coming from wide receivers, not from the tight ends. The Vikings have allowed the most fantasy points in the NFL to opposing wide receivers, but they're middle-of-the-pack against tight ends. Pitts has fallen to fifth on the team in terms of targets, below Ray-Ray McCloud III and Bijan Robinson, with a 13.9% target share thus far. The 24-year-old is a low-end TE2 in this matchup -- even with six teams on bye -- and while he has TE1 upside in any given week, his weekly floor is zero, having put up goose eggs twice already in 2024.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney (Achilles) was a limited participant in practice on Friday but does not appear to be in jeopardy of missing Sunday's contest against the Vikings. The 27-year-old has garnered at least six targets in nine of 12 games this season and has nearly the same air yards share (35.0%) as teammate Drake London (36.4%) despite drawing a 4.4% smaller target share (27.1% vs. 22.7%). Mooney has five touchdowns on the season, but none since Week 9 with quarterback Kirk Cousins struggling so mightily (0:6 TD:INT last three weeks). There are a couple of things working in the fifth-year pro's favor this week, though, as Minnesota allows the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers so far and the Falcons are six-point underdogs, so they may need to throw the ball in order to keep pace with the Vikings. For Mooney's sake, hopefully his QB can shake the interception issue that plagued him last week and the wideout will be a WR3 in Cousins' Week 14 "revenge game."