Eagles vs. Falcons Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Eagles and Falcons on Monday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: Hurts made a handful of mistakes in Week 1, but he was able to come out as the QB10 (16.4 points).

He had 3 turnovers, throwing 2 interceptions and getting charged with a fumble on an early snap by Cam Jurgens, who is taking over at center for Jason Kelce.

The center exchange was sloppy in the first outing without Kelce, but Hurts still delivered enough explosive plays paired with 33 rushing yards to get by.

If he did not have those turnovers (or your league does not penalize you for them) he jumped into the mid-QB1 range.

That is where Hurts lines up in fantasy, but he needs to clean up a few things from Week 1.

Some are prematurely labeling the “tush push” as dead, but the Eagles converted their one try with a successful snap.

Where Hurts had issues was handling pressure in Week 1.

Under pressure, Hurts was 4 of 13 for 3.8 yards per attempt with an interception.

The only quarterback with a worse rating against pressure in Week 1 was Bryce Young.

The quarterback right above him was Bo Nix.

From a clean pocket, Hurts was sixth, however, hitting 16 of 21 passes for 10.9 Y/A with both of his touchdowns.

The Falcons played passively under Jimmy Lake in Week 1 against the mobile Justin Fields.

The Falcons blitzed 16.7% of the time in Week 1, 24th in the league.

They played man coverage on 0.0% of passing plays, the only team in the league to do that in Week 1.

Hurts had wide splits against man and zone coverage in Week 1.

The Packers were aggressive, and Hurts made them pay.

Against man coverage, Hurts was 7 of 10 for 14.6 Y/A with 2 touchdowns.

Against zone, however, Hurts was 9 of 19 (56.5%) for 5.7 Y/A with both interceptions.

Kirk Cousins: Sunday was a rough outing for our first look at the new Atlanta offense.

Cousins was QB31 (6.2 points) in Week 1, passing for only 155 yards and 6.0 yards per pass attempt.

He threw 2 interceptions.

The story of the game was whether or not the Falcons were hiding Cousins’ lack of mobility coming off his Achilles injury.

While there is some truth here, using the rate of pistol formations that Atlanta ran is a false lead.

That’s what this system utilizes.

The only team to run more plays out of pistol in Week 1 than Atlanta was…the Rams. Where Zac Robinson just came from.

This system always uses a high rate of shotgun as opposed to under center.

Matthew Stafford was under center for only 10.8% of his dropbacks on Sunday night.

Now, the Falcons also did run only one play-action pass, and they were the only team in the NFL that did not attempt a pass 20 or more yards downfield.

I do believe there was some protection going on for Cousins, and he looked bad when tasked to avoid pressure.

And Pittsburgh got plenty of pressure.

The Steelers were able to pressure Cousins on 45.8% of his dropbacks without a blitz.

Cousins has always been a passer who struggles if you get to him, and Sunday was no different.

Both of his interceptions came under pressure.

Cousins coming off of injury, none of the Atlanta starters playing in the preseason, and facing one of the best pass rushes in the NFL out of the box was a cocktail for disaster.

If Cousins truly cannot move and needs protection to the degree of the team hiding him, he simply won’t be under center long.

I do want to give this offense some leeway for the matchup and lack of preseason reps, but that does not mean I am willing to use Cousins as more than a back-end QB2.

Of course, we will also have the “Cousins in Prime Time” narrative here.

Cousins’ teams have a 12-19 record in prime time and a 3-10 record in Monday night games.

Cousins has averaged 6.9 yards per attempt on Monday night with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

The Eagles were a Jekyll and Hyde defense in Week 1, giving up a handful of huge plays.

They allowed only a 48.6% completion rate to Green Bay (4th), but they also allowed 15.3 yards per completion (31st) when passes were caught.

Running Back

Bijan Robinson: Robinson was used the way we were looking for in Week 1. We just need this offense to have better weeks moving forward.

Robinson turned 23 touches into 111 yards against Pittsburgh, rushing 18 times for 68 yards and catching 5 passes for 43 yards.

He had 88.5% of the backfield touches.

Robinson never had a game with that high of backfield usage as a rookie.

He hit 70% of the backfield touches in just two games.

If this offense improves, Robinson can compete for the RB1 overall.

If it does not, then he still has an RB1 profile.

The Eagles only had a 55% success rate against running back runs in Week 1 (26th) while allowing 119 yards on explosive runs (31st).

Saquon Barkley: Barkley could not have had a better debut with his new team.

He handled 26 touches for 132 yards while finding the end zone three times.

We talked about this over the summer and again last week, but this is a good player who is now going from one of the worst offenses in the NFL to one of the best.

It was just one game, but that one game showcased that an offensive environment does matter for accessing a ceiling for a running back, especially one with as much talent as Barkley.

The Eagles played a relatively sloppy game, had three turnovers, and still scored 34 points.

Did anyone catch the Giants game this weekend?

The biggest change for Barkley is he’s now running out of the gun.

88.3% of his rushes in Week 1 came out shotgun.

His rate with the Giants was 65.4%.

Barkley had 21 runs out of the shotgun, averaging 5.3 YPC on those carries.

He had a 47.6% success rate on those runs, the highest for any player with double-digit runs out of the gun.

Barkley looks poised to rival his early career output as a rusher and is back in our fantasy hearts as an upside RB1.

He did catch a touchdown in the game on a wheel route, but the one nit to pick is we do want to see more than 2 targets come his way.

The only running back who ran as many routes as Barkley and had a lower target rate in Week 1 was Kyren Williams.

Atlanta was good against the run in Week 1, posting a 69.2% success rate against running back runs (8th) while allowing a first down on 15.4% of those runs (7th).

Wide Receiver

A.J. Brown: Brown got off to a hot start, catching 5 of 10 targets for 119 yards and a 67-yard catch and run for a touchdown in Brazil.

When the Packers played man coverage, Brown had a team-high 33.3% target share, catching 2 of 3 targets and that touchdown.

Atlanta did not play man coverage in Week 1, as noted.

That said, they did have trouble with another big-bodied receiver in George Pickens.

We were waiting to see how Kellen Moore utilized Brown and DeVonta Smith in the slot to open the year.

Smith drew more slot snaps, but Brown also worked from the slot 36.6% of the time.

That would be a new career high if that holds for the season, giving Brown access to more fantasy-smoothing target opportunities.

**Brown is dealing with a hamstring injury that has him questionable for Monday Night.**

If he is able to play, he is a volatile WR1 due to the risk of aggravating his injury, but hard to get away from (similar to De’Von Achane on TNF).

If you have Brown and are waiting until kickoff, pick up Jahan Dotson or Ray-Ray McCloud as options should Brown sit out.

DeVonta Smith: Smith did not have the splash plays that both Brown and Barkley had in Brazil, but he had a solid showing in his first game in the new offense, catching 7 of 8 targets for 84 yards.

Smith was the wideout who benefited from the new system moving their good wide receivers into advantageous spots.

He played a career-high 54.1% of his snaps from the slot after a 20.1% career rate coming into the game.

From the slot, Smith caught 4 of 5 targets for 58 yards.

That role should aid Smith as a WR2 here if Atlanta plays as much zone coverage as they did in Week 1.

When the Eagles faced zone coverage in Week 1, Smith had 30% of the team targets.

If Brown does miss the game, then Smith moves into WR1 territory.

Smith has only run 115 routes the past two seasons with Brown off the field, but he has averaged a target on 27.8% of those routes with 2.49 yards per route run.

Drake London: London produced an Arthur Smith-esque line in Week 1, catching 2 of 3 targets for 15 yards.

This passing game was a disaster in Week 1 while Joey Porter Jr. gave London fits.

If taking a glass-half-full approach, London was on the field for 100% of the dropbacks.

But this passing game will need Kirk Cousins to be healthy and gel quickly for gamers who used premium capital on London.

I am hesitant to use him as more than WR3 this week, but the matchup could be solid again when facing the Eagles.

The Eagles once again struggled with wide receivers to open the season.

They were 28th in yards allowed to wide receivers in Week 1 (201), which was more yards than Atlanta had as a team.

Darnell Mooney: Mooney grabbed 1 of 3 targets for 15 yards in Week 1.

He was also on the field for 100% of the team dropbacks and drew as many targets as London, but Mooney is only an option for single-game DFS players.

The Eagles allowed 18.3 yards per catch to wide receivers in Week 1 (30th) if chasing a big play.

Ray-Ray McCloud: Do you want to gauge how good the Atlanta passing game was in Week 1 quickly?

McCloud led the team with 7 targets, a 30.4% target share.

That is the most targets McCloud has had in a game since he was with Pittsburgh in 2021.

He did that despite running a route on 70.4% of the dropback while London, Mooney, and Kyle Pitts played every passing play.

He only had 52 yards and was still only the WR45 on the week despite all of that opportunity.

I don’t know how many more games McCloud will draw targets at that rate, but if it is frequently then this passing game will not be good.

McCloud is a low-ceiling option.

Jahan Dotson: Dotson was getting cardio in during his first game with the Eagles.

He ran 24 routes (63.2%) but only received 1 target.

Dotson is just squeezed here by being the 5th-best target in his offense and is a thin option for single-game DFS.

His only value will come if Brown misses the game.

Tight End

Kyle Pitts: Pitts only had 3 catches for 26 yards in the opener, but he salvaged what he could by catching the lone touchdown pass on the team.

That was also one of the few plays that Cousins bought time on Sunday.

While the touchdown covered up a pedestrian afternoon, Pitts did play every passing snap, which is a marked improvement over his stint under Arthur Smith.

It was the first time in his career that he was on the field for 100% of the team dropbacks in a game.

We still have to place faith in this offense improving, but with tight end such a low-bar position to begin with, Pitts is still on the board as a TE1.

Dallas Goedert: After averaging his fewest yards per game in 2023 (42.3) since 2019, Goedert caught 4 of 5 targets for 31 yards in Brazil.

Goedert was on the field for 78.9% of the dropbacks (TE12).

The position’s struggles in bulk keep Goedert afloat as a fringe TE1 paired with the Eagles being a high-scoring offense, but he is the third option in his passing game.

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