New York Giants - Fantasy News

Who to Start: Kirk Cousins or Eli Manning?

by Mike Rose

12/28/17

NFL

New York Giants

Eli Manning

Both the Washington Redskins and New York Giants were expected to make hay in the NFC East and be potential Super Bowl LII contenders in 2017. However, none of that panned out with the latter already firing the coaching staff and the former possibly thinking about making a crew change.

But there is still intrigue surrounding this game between division rivals in their final meeting of the season with Kirk Cousins set to square off against Eli Manning as a five-point Dober Fantasy road favorite.

Fantasy Matchup: Kirk Cousins (18.0 PFP) vs. Eli Manning (13.0 PFP)

The Redskins head to East Rutherford for their final game of what’s been a disappointing campaign. However, the team enters this tilt on a bit of a hot streak having won two straight against the Cardinals and Broncos. Arizona and Denver possess two of the better pass defenses in the league with the former ranked No. 15 in that department and the latter at No. 4.

As such, Cousins still went on to combine for 495 passing yards with five touchdowns and just one interception against the Cards and Broncos. Last week’s near 300-yard, three-touchdown effort netted him 22.76 DFP, and he now gets to run up against a Giants defense ranked No. 31 versus the pass, conceding an average of 7.4 yards per attempt (No. 29).

When he first faced the Giants earlier in the year, Cousins failed to surpass his Projected Fantasy Points value of 17.5 after throwing for only 242 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. When the dust cleared in that matchup, he only went for 16.08 DFP. So it is a bit surprising to see such a high projection this time around.

Meanwhile, after demolishing his PFP the previous week at home against Philadelphia, Manning grossly failed to match the feat last week in the desert against an Arizona defense that limited him to a paltry 263 passing yards and picked him off twice. In getting blanked 23-0, the Giants offense once again failed to show up, as Manning had a DFP total less than 10.0 in four of the last five weeks.

Making the prospects of him bouncing back look all the more bleak in Week 17 is the fact that he struggled mightily versus the Redskins in the first meeting on November 23. He only completed 13-of-27 passes for 113 yards, failed to throw a single touchdown, and was picked off once. The 20-10 defeat was the team’s third in four tries against its division rival.

While the Redskins defense is better suited to defend the pass with Josh Norman locking down the opposition’s best wide receivers, it still gives up an average of 345.7 yards and a hefty 24.7 points per game. Should Orleans Darkwa and Wayne Gallman have better success on the ground this time around, it will open up some juicy passing lanes for Manning to take advantage of once the ‘Skins adjust.

Many will be quick to lay the five points with Cousins in this Dober matchup due to his in-season success against the same defense paired with the fact that he’s still looking to land a huge payday this offseason. The flipside to that coin is this possibly being Manning’s last start as a member of the G-Men. It’s going to be an extremely emotional day for him and the franchise, and because of it, I’m throwing all the stats and trends out the window and firmly placing Manning on my Dober Play Card in this showdown.

Week 17 Fantasy Projection: Eli Manning (+5) vs. Kirk Cousins