![\"kirk.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/kirk.jpg\")
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Getty Images<\/p>\n
One of the most important games of NFL<\/a> Week 18 takes place in Atlanta, as the Falcons<\/a> host Tyler Shough<\/a> and the rival\u00a0New Orleans Saints<\/a>. Both teams have been eliminated from playoff contention, but the winner of this game decides whether the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> or Carolina Panthers<\/a> make the postseason. If the Falcons win, the Panthers are kings in the NFC South. If the Saints win, Baker Mayfield<\/a> is headed back to the playoffs.<\/p>\n The Falcons are listed as 4.5-point favorites over at DraftKings<\/a> Sportsbook, but one of their most important players is ill. On Sunday morning, the team announced that quarterback Kirk Cousins<\/a> woke up feeling sick. However, he was not given a game designation, and will start against the Saints. Atlanta’s backup quarterback is Easton Stick<\/a> with Michael Penix Jr<\/a>. on injured reserve.<\/p>\n This season, Cousins is 4-3 as a starter, and has thrown 1,541 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions in nine games played. Atlanta is coming off a dramatic 27-24 upset victory over the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> on Monday night, in which Cousins threw for 126 yards and one touchdown. Running back\u00a0Bijan Robinson<\/a> was the star of the show, as he rushed for 195 yards and a touchdown, and added 34 yards receiving and another touchdown on five receptions. With Cousins feeling ill, it’s fair to expect that Robinson will again be asked to carry the offense on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images One of the most important games of NFL Week 18 takes place in Atlanta, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[223,254,1842,4127,211,235,260,2567,4760,224,7,294,58,1879,55,6,236,1293,704,250,283],"class_list":["post-653811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-panthers","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-buccaneers","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carolinapanthers","tag-easton-stick","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-michael-penix-jr","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfl","tag-panthers","tag-qb","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tyler-shough"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115838119856719700","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}