In a game where the narrative and the story kept changed — from Atlanta’s inability to move the ball at all, to the Falcons’ incredible second half fighting spirit to the egregious officiating on the final drive — the Birds just came up short against their division rivals.

While I’ve taken the stance that we can be proud of the team for their fight against a Tampa squad that had seven extra players, all wearing the black and white stripes, it can be considered nothing more than a moral victory. I hope you had a more successful week, with an actual victory, in your fantasy leagues.

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 are Atlanta’s fantasy stud and fantasy dud from Week 5’s defeat against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Fantasy Stud/Dud 2022 History:

Past Studs: Cordarrelle Patterson (2), Drake London (1), Tyler Allgeier (1)

Past Duds: Kyle Pitts (2), Falcons D/ST (1), Marcus Mariota (1)

Fantasy Stud - Marcus Mariota

Stat Line: 14-25, 147 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown, 7 carries, 61 rushing yards, 1 fumble (0 lost), 1 2-point conversion: 17.98 standard league/PPR points

Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, please once again note that this article only looks at a player’s statistical prowess in the realm of fantasy football, nothing else. Mariota did not have a great game in real life, but he was a fine fantasy quarterback for managers who had him in starting lineups (mostly applies to those in 2 QB/Superflex leagues).

Mariota had a passing touchdown and no turnovers, but what really made him an effective fantasy play was his 61 rushing yards, which was a team high. As of the conclusion of the Sunday games, Mariota is the QB8, which means that he will finish as a top 10 scoring player at his position.

I would still advise against starting Mariota next week against the San Francisco 49ers, especially if Kyle Pitts does not return from his hamstring injury. It still feels like his time as Atlanta’s starting quarterback is ticking down.

Dud

Younghoe Koo - 0/1 50-59, 1/1 XP: 1.0 standard league/PPR points

There were many candidates for this section of the column this week, but we have to highlight Younghoe Koo for putting up a near goose egg on the scoreboard. He only had one opportunity to kick a field goal — a 52-yarder which was by no means easy —so it is not his fault that he did not have a good fantasy day. A lack of opportunity for a kicker will result in lost fantasy matchups all the same.

I am by no means calling Koo a bad kicker or even saying that he had a horrible day on Sunday, he just did not have many chances due to game script and a poor display by the Falcons offense overall. As a result, he ended up as the 28th-highest scoring kicker as of the end of Sunday’s games. You normally want your kicker to get double digit points, so to get just 1.0 from the position can be fatal. If the kickers for the Chiefs and Raiders get more than one point, Koo will officially be the lowest scoring starting kicker in the league in Week 5.

Don’t lose hope in Koo, as this was just an anomaly. Keep firing him up as a usual starting fantasy kicker, though maybe expectations will need to be checked for next week’s game against a really good 49ers defense, albeit one that is battling some injuries at the moment.