Falcons fantasy stud and dud from Week 9 vs. Cardinals

A tale of two top 10 draft picks.

The Falcons are in absolute shambles heading into their bye week. They followed up maybe their most complete and impressive game of the season against Tampa Bay (minus the turnovers) with three consecutive defeats against Tennessee, Minnesota and now Arizona.

Sitting at 4-6, Atlanta’s only lifeline is the fact that the rest of the NFC South is looking just as putrid. Against the Cardinals, they managed to run the ball very well (184 rushing yards) but seemed inept in the passing game (70 passing yards). To be honest, unless you had Bijan Robinson, you were very disappointed with the output from any other Falcons player in fantasy football this week.

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 10’s defeat against the Arizona Cardinals.

Fantasy Stud/Dud 2023 History:

Past Studs: Bijan Robinson (3), Tyler Allgeier (1), Kyle Pitts (1), Desmond Ridder (1), Drake London (1), Younghoe Koo (1), Jonnu Smith (1)

Past Duds: Drake London (2), Kyle Pitts (2), Bijan Robinson (2), Tyler Allgeier (1), Younghoe Koo (1), Desmond Ridder (1),

Fantasy Stud – Bijan Robinson

Stat Line: 22 carries, 95 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 1 catch, 11 receiving yards: 16.60 standard league points; 17.60 PPR points

Coming into this game, Bijan Robinson was out touching Tyler Allgeier 131-127 — a near even split nine games into the season — with Allgeier being the preferred option inside the 10 and the rookie being far more efficient with his looks (714 total yards for Bijan vs. 447 for Allgeier). All season, the fanbase kept wondering why head coach Arthur Smith kept insisting on the timeshare instead of letting his star rookie loose, and he finally did so this week.

Robinson had 23 touches to Allgeier’s 10, matching his own career high for opportunities that he set back in Week 2 and setting a new career high in carries with 22. He turned that into 106 yards from scrimmage and even finally got a carry near the goal line, which he turned into his second rushing touchdown of the season.

This is exactly what fantasy owners were looking for when they used a first round pick on Bijan this past August and if it’s a sign of things to come (and it certainly should be after the bye) then Robinson can be considered an elite option in fantasy given that he would be the team’s focal point on offense.

Dud

Kyle Pitts: 3 catches, 30 receiving yards: 3.0 standard league points; 6.0 PPR points

Another week, another game where Pitts doesn’t live up to the billing in fantasy football, or in actual football given where the Falcons took him in the 2021 NFL Draft. He led the team in targets, but that’s of little consolation, as he had his lowest yardage total since Week 4 and remains on just one touchdown catch on the season, and four for his whole career.

It’s hard to even blame Pitts at this point, as it’s clear that Arthur Smith is not maximizing his potential or using him as the legitimate out-wide receiving threat that he should be at this level. I have no doubt that nobody is more frustrated than Pitts himself, as his great potential coming into the league continues to be wasted.

You’ll need to find a replacement for Pitts as we go into the bye week, but finding another tight end to replicate the 3-5 points he has provided each game the past month of the season isn’t exactly a daunting task. Unless the team comes out of the bye with more of a focus toward getting him the ball, Pitts will go down as a fantasy bust for a second consecutive year.