Four weeks of the NFL are in the books and coronavirus is steadily making its way through the league, threatening the future of the 2020 season everything is great! We still have start or sit decisions to make, just like Nero just had to get off a sweet fiddle riff. Let’s take a look at which quarterbacks we should start or sit that are just at the edge of startability on a week-to-week basis. This week, we figure out if we should start or sit Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, or Teddy “2 Gloves” Bridgewater.
Start or Sit Jared Goff at Washington
There’s a new sheriff in town and it’s… Kyle Allen! That’s right, the same Kyle Allen who the Panthers benched for Will Grier last season. This week, Washington Team Football (hat tip to Mike Valverde) takes on the Los Angeles Rams, and Jared Goff. Goff currently averages 18.4 fantasy points per game, and is QB19 on the season. That’s a bit of a misleading stat, as Goff whiffed hard week one, and wasn’t asked to do much last week. In fact, he’s done much less this season, overall. He’s throwing 14% fewer passes per game (about 5) and it’s decreasing numbers across the board.
Still, Goff showed in weeks two and three that the Rams call on him, as he threw for 588 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception against the Eagles and the Bills. That’s something the Rams should do this week. Through 25% of the season, the WTF is top-ten in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks, and bottom-ten in fantasy points allowed to running backs. Cam Akers’ inevitable return might throw a kink in the plans, but for now, Jared Goff has a great matchup and has taken advantage of those so far this season. You can start Jared Goff as a backend desperation QB1. The biggest pitfall to Goff is the Rams just turning Cam Akers/Darrell Henderson/Malcolm Brown loose and he only throws the ball 20 times. With Washington’s mess of a team on the docket, that might be enough for 300 yards and three touchdowns.
Start or Sit Kirk Cousins at Seattle
I’m starting to really think that the “start every QB against the Seahawks” feels more like a trope than anything else at this point in the season. They allowed a ton of everything to a lot of guys, but they’ve also played Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Dak Prescott, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. They aren’t all world-beaters, but they are all consistently guys who score at least a decent amount of fantasy points. Through four weeks, only one QB has their season-high in fantasy points against the Seahawks, and that’s from Cam Newton’s two rushing touchdowns in week two. Despite the trope, Ryan, Dak, and Fitzpatrick all had good games, but not their best games of the season. Let’s assume that trend continues.
Kirk Cousins has two games of over 20 fantasy points, posting 20.8 in week one, and 21.4 in week three. He likely ends somewhere in that range this week. Would you be surprised to turn around and see he turned in 250 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a couple of picks? That sounds about right. That’s 20 fantasy points. Cousins has a narrow band of outcomes this week, and is unlikely to poop the bed. He’s also not likely to smash the Seahawks secondary, so let’s call it a tenuous start Kirk Cousins this week, but only out of desperation, and only if you just need to get some safe points.
Start or Sit Teddy Bridgewater versus Atlanta
With 5:24 left in the third quarter of the Packers-Falcons MNF tilt last week, Robert Tonyan had already scored two of the three Green Bay touchdowns. He was clearly Aaron Rodgers’ guy that night, with Davante Adams sidelined. In this play, the defender guarding Robert Tonyan fell over. Also, Robert Tonyan fell over. Because the Falcons display a thorough ineptitude at every level, Tonyan got back up, and stood all alone at the one-yard line, catching an easy pass and waltzing into the end zone. The Falcons failed to account for the guy who beat them all game long. So yea, I think that’s a team I am going to pick on this week.
Bridgewater has been effective, completing at least 70% of his passes in three-straight games (and nearly 80% in weeks two and three). He’s humming right now, despite the Panthers asking him to not do much in and around the end zone. It really feels like Teddy Bridgewater will accidentally end up with 300 yards and 3+ touchdowns off of the sheer power of Atlanta’s ineptitude. Go ahead and start Teddy Bridgewater this week in literally the best possible matchup in the league: the Falcons allow the most fantasy points to opposing QBs at the 25% mark of the season.
The Verdict
These three guys are all decent back-end starters, but if you need to know who to start or sit, I would go in the following order: Teddy Bridgewater, Kirk Cousins, then Jared Goff.
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