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The Atlanta Falcons are hopeful of getting one of their star players back on the field, while Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon seems frustrated with NFL rules. These teams will meet in a Week 16 clash, and here are bold predictions for the contest.
Both teams are looking toward 2026. The Falcons enter with a record of 5-9, while the Cardinals have lost six in a row and sit at 3-11.
But there are still numbers to put up, so let’s take a look at who should do what.
Cousins found his old game against the Buccaneers last week, tossing for 373 yards and three scores. He should do well again this week, but temper expectations somewhat. That’s because the Falcons should get things done on the ground. More on that later.
Because of Michael Penix Jr.’s injury, Cousins could be auditioning to be the Falcons’ starting quarterback in 2026, according to a post on X by Terrin Waack.
“Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on whether Kirk Cousins could be the starting quarterback come Week 1 of 2026 if Michael Penix Jr. is not fully back from his injury: “Everything is on the table. Obviously, we all sit down at the end of the season. And we’ll have all those discussions. We’ll talk about all those things. That certainly will be a part of it.
“When we went down the journey of Kirk Cousins, we planned on the amount of years that we put in his contract, and hopefully, we were able to potentially get more. So, we’ll see where that goes and all those types of things. But that’s definitely up for discussion once we get to the end of the season. We know we’ll get Mike back next year. But that’ll definitely be up for discussion.”
This could give Cousins a boost of hope. Clearly, he wasn’t happy being saddled as a No. 2 quarterback when he still felt he had starting days left in his arm.
And Cousins has proved some things to Morris already, according to another post by Waack.
“Quite honestly, I never thought he wasn’t a valuable starting quarterback. He just didn’t play like that at the end of last year when we needed him to most.”
However, first up are the Cardinals. And they will have trouble defending Cousins with the new-look tight end Kyle Pitts, young sensation running back Bijan Robinson, and the potential return of star wide receiver Drake London.
That may seem like a high total, but Robinson has reached that level seven times this season. And with the Cardinals being equally marginal on defense against both the run and pass, look for Robinson to split his attack about 60-40 in favor of the running game.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said the Cardinals will see something his team hasn’t prepared for this season, according to NFL.com via Yahoo.com.
“Not...
