Bills HC Sean McDermott said Monday that QB Josh Allen will start Sunday's game vs. the Patriots to keep his consecutive starts streak alive but that he won't play for long. Buffalo is locked into the AFC's No. 2 seed, so it'll be QB Mitchell Trubisky for the majority of Week 18. Don't expect the Bills' other key offensive weapons to play their usual amount either. We'll look for more information on Buffalo's exact plans, but this is probably an offense to avoid in season-long fantasy lineups.
The Rams game remains the outlier, as Shakir's other four December games have lines of: 4/30/0, 6/39/1, and 2/22/0. Buffalo simply hasn't been forced to pass all that often lately, and so while Shakir is the easy leading target, he's prone to games like this when things get out of hand. And against the Jets, they very much got out of hand. Shakir could possibly be rested in Week 18 against the Patriots. With Mitchell Trubisky likely involved how little the Bills have to play for, you can probably do better in leagues that aren't over yet.
Nice. Trubisky may get extended playing time in Week 18 if the Bills, who have nothing to play for, bench Josh Allen. Trubisky, if he plays, will likely be asked to do what he did here: throw dumpoff passes and hand the ball off. He's an unlikely source of fantasy value, though certainly not an unthinkable QB2 streamer in superflex leagues as the Bills finish off the season against the Patriots.