Atlanta Falcons fantasy stud and dud from Week 7

A second straight win for the Falcons, this time on Monday Night Football. The offense was held to 23 points, less than the 30 points we’re accustomed to seeing from them, but they had a very good performance, nonetheless. The fantasy points also didn’t flow as much as we’re accustomed to, but they were still very prevalent.

We have a lot of great content analyzing the game here at The Falcoholic, but in this article, we’ll look at things strictly from a fantasy football perspective. Let’s look at Atlanta’s top fantasy performer and biggest fantasy disappointment from Week 7’s victory against the New York Giants.

Fantasy Stud/Dud 2018 History:

Past Studs: Matt Ryan (3), Julio Jones (1), Calvin Ridley (1), Mohamed Sanu (1)

Past Duds: Atlanta D/ST (2), Devonta Freeman (1), Mohamed Sanu (1), Austin Hooper (1), Tevin Coleman (1)

Stud - Giorgio Tavecchio

Stat Line: 2/2 PATs, 1/1 40-49 yards, 2/2 50+ yards: 15.0 standard league/PPR points

Oh yes, I’m going with the kicker in this one! Tavecchio outscored everyone on the team except for Matt Ryan, who was the 12th highest scoring quarterback in fantasy football this week while Giorgio was the second-highest scoring kicker.

The Giants came into this game as the second most generous defense against opposing fantasy kickers — a point I made in this week’s start/sit column where I advocated for people to start Tavecchio.

The Italian terror made that suggestion look good as he proceeded to nail all five of his kicks tonight, with each of them getting progressively longer as the game went along. After eeking a 40-yard FG into the uprights at the end of the first half, Tavecchio was decisive in nailing a 50-yard FG in the third quarter, and then a career-long 56-yard FG which represented the dagger, with 2:00 left in the game.

Tavecchio should be rostered in every league as the kicker of a prolific offense going forward, at least until Matt Bryant makes his return. He deserves a game ball for his performance tonight, and he also deserves to be named this week’s fantasy stud.

Dud

Mohamed Sanu: 2 catches, 21 receiving yards: 2.1 standard league points, 4.1 PPR points

In that same start/sit column, I suggested to leave Mohamed Sanu on your bench because he was coming off of an injury and probably wouldn’t be 100% in this game, if he played at all (which he did).

This was a toss-up between Sanu and Calvin Ridley, as Ridley did have more yards but more is expected from him as a fantasy WR at this point, but the five receptions the rookie had at least somewhat mitigated the poor performance in PPR leagues. Sanu’s two catches did no such thing.

Matt Ryan had a great game once again, but with 10 different players catching passes from him and Julio Jones accounting for nine receptions and 104 yards, Sanu was phased out of the offense for the most part. The Rutgers product had a great run of four straight starter-worthy fantasy performances coming into this week, but this is a reminder that Sanu is still very much a hit-and-miss fantasy performer.