We may have bathed in a food coma and football yesterday, but football has actually just begun. Sunday will hand us another (11) NFL games, on top of Monday Night Football. We still have many players to analyze and decision to make when making one last surge towards the Fantasy Football playoffs. Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em decisions can be difficult, so I will try to help you out. Today, we breakdown Darnell Mooney vs Alec Pierce.

Fantasy Sports On SI Week 13 Ranking: WR32

Mooney has played 9 Games for the Falcons this season. He has 43 Targets (14% Target Share), 19 Receptions, 298 Yards, a 1 Touchdown. Mooney is the WR80, well underperforming his ADP. Luckily, he trends upwards in Week 13.

The Falcons are going to be without Drake London for the second game in a row. This elevates Mooney is WR1 status as he also gets Kirk Cousins at Quarterback, a situation that suggests much better chemistry.

Kirk Cousins on Darnell Mooney:

“I’d love to see him really be able to take off here in the last stretch of the year.” pic.twitter.com/fiPkEJa4h5

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) November 21, 2025

In Week 12, this depth chart was the same as it will be this week. Mooney had (3) Targets of (23) Pass Attempts, or a 13% Target Share. He did catch all of his targets for (74) Yards and (1) Touchdown. The Falcons did rely heavily on their run game in that game, which may imply moderate risk for Mooney, despite being the WR1.

The Falcons will take on the Jets this week. The Jets are 15th versus Wide Receivers, much improved on their early season form. The Jets do play have heavier-than-average man coverage rate. Mooney has (0.17) Fantasy Points per Route Run against man-coverage — awful numbers, to be honest.

Fantasy Sports On SI Week 13 Ranking: WR37

Pierce has recently come into a bigger role on the Colts. He is now the #2 pass-catcher on this team. Pierce has played 9 Games this season, marking up 52 Targets (16% Target Share), 29 Receptions, 611 Yards, and 1 Touchdown. Pierce is the WR39, but trending upwards.

When we look at the NFL leaders in Yards per Reception, Pierce is #1 at (21.1) Yards per Reception. Jameson Williams is second at (18.6) Yards per Reception. Pierce has been the most explosive receiver in football for some time. Volume has lacked to put it on full display, but now it has come to the forefront.

103 seconds of Alec Pierce being good at football pic.twitter.com/oldNuTgbIV

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) November 20, 2025

The Chiefs were on the defensive task last week, making it a difficult one for Pierce as they are an elite unit. This resulted in (2) Targets, but maintaining a team lead of 96% of snaps played. Over the four prior games, Pierce had averaged (8.3) Targets per Game.

The Colts will face the Texans in Week 13. The Texans are the best defense in the NFL and they stand 3rd versus Wide Receivers. They will prove a second consecutive tough matchup for this receiving core.

Truth be honest, both players are stepped into very tough games here. For this reason, we must consider two factors — volume and touchdown opportunity.

It appears that the Falcons are going run-heavy with Cousins at Quarterback. If they fall behind, and they are unlikely to do so against the Jets, they could go pass-heavy, but they will very likely lean back on Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. For that reason, Mooney will still have a Target Share around 15-20 with 25% upside. This will likely not result in more than (5) Receptions, especially given his very low catch-rate (19-of-43).

Even though the matchup is tough, Pierce does offer big-play ability that few other receivers can offer up. The Colts are midpack in pass-rate (58%) and they are likely to be in a battle with the Texans for much of this game. We will not be swayed by game script.

The main concern with Pierce will be his (3) Red Zone Targets on the season. If he scores, it will be on a big play. This matchup will make that difficult.

This provides for a very difficult decision to make. Ultimately, I like going with the better player when I expect everything else too close to call. Pierce is highly explosive and clearly the better player.

Start Alec Pierce for highly explosive upside, despite a tough defensive matchup.