MINNESOTA (at Oakland):
The Vikings are 6-2, but their offense thus far has been a disappointment, with only 14 TDs -- an average of under 2 per game. But it has a good chance to get up to 3 this week. The Raiders are having all kinds of problems on defense. They’ve allowed 20 touchdowns in eight games. Only eight teams have allowed more points, and only two have allowed more yards. ... Teddy Bridgewater was knocked out cold last week, but he says he’s feeling good, and Mike Zimmer says he expects Bridgewater will pass through the league’s concussion protocol. That will need to be confirmed on Friday, but assuming Bridgewater is cleared, this could be a week where he posts above-average fantasy numbers. He’s been a huge disappointment thus far, averaging only 209 yards per game, with 6 TDs. He’s been under 190 yards in half of his games. But Oakland’s defense is historically bad against the pass right now. It’s allowing a league-worst 325 passing yards per game, and it’s allowed multiple touchdown passes in all but one game. So this is a game where the Vikings could open up their offense significantly, letting ...
This report is taken from today's Week 10 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 18 pages of camp reports, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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... Bridgewater pass for 270-plus yards and multiple touchdowns. Thus far every team that’s played against Oakland has thrown for over 265 yards. ... We’re putting Kyle Rudolph way higher than usual on our board. He’s a good red zone player; he’s caught half of the team’s 6 TD passes. And the Raiders are incredibly bad against tight ends, allowing a league-high 9 TDs to that position. Oakland has allowed over twice as many touchdowns to tight ends as wide receivers, which hardly even seems possible. So if the Vikings throw a couple of touchdowns in this game (and they probably will) it will be a surprise if Rudolph doesn’t catch at least one of them. Not a high-volume receiver, though. He’s averaging only 22 yards, and he’s gone seven straight games without more than 30 yards. ... Oakland’s defense has been far better against the run. Only seven teams have allowed fewer rushing yards, and the Raiders have allowed rushing touchdowns in only three games. They’ve allowed three times as many touchdowns on passes. But probably best to avoid trying to get too cute with Adrian Peterson. While the Raiders have been statistically good against the run, they haven’t faced a lot of good backs. Peterson, meanwhile, is still the focal point of what Minnesota is trying to do on offense. He’s gone over 100 yards in half of his games, and the ground game has been picking up lately, with over 140 yards in three straight games. For the year, he’s averaging 95 rushing and 16 receiving yards. He doesn’t look great this week as a scoring prospect. He’s scored only 4 TDs, while the Raiders have allowed only 5 on the ground. The Vikings sometimes use Zach Line on the fullback dive, and Teddy Bridgewater has some running ability, so Peterson has scored only half of Minnesota’s 8 rushing touchdowns. ... Stefon Diggs comes off a down game (3 catches for 42 yards) but he was in play to maybe catch a touchdown in that game -- the defensive back pulled it away in the end zone. Considering the leakiness of Oakland’s secondary and how well Diggs has been playing, he looks like a must-start kind of guy. Oakland keeps giving up games with 300-plus yards passing and multiple touchdown passes. Diggs in his first four starts caught 25 passes for 419 yards and 2 TDs. The Raiders have somehow allowed only 4 TDs to wide receivers all year, but Antonio Brown put up 284 yards against this secondary last week. ... As Diggs has ascended, Mike Wallace has fizzled away -- under 40 yards four weeks in a row. The matchup is good, but tough to justify using Wallace at this point. ... Blair Walsh was having problems with accuracy earlier in the year, but he seems to have settled down, and he looks like one of the top half-dozen kickers this week. He’s averaging 8.8 points per game, while the Raiders are allowing 9.9 -- 2nd-most in the league. ... The Vikings Defense has been tough. Only two teams have allowed fewer points. But it hasn’t been as good for fantasy purposes. It’s generating a good pass rush, but it’s only average in sacks and has only 4 interceptions. It’s facing Derek Carr this week, and he’s been notoriously good at avoiding mistakes this year, with just 8 sacks and 4 interceptions in a little more than seven games. In Cordarrelle Patterson and Marcus Sherels, Minnesota has one of the best one-two punches of kickoffs and punt returners.
