Redskins vs Vikings Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 8

The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 8 Washington Redskins vs Minnesota Vikings Thursday Night Football game on October 24, 2019 at 8:20 pm ET.

Washington	Rank	@	Minnesota	Rank
16		Spread	-16
13		Implied Total	29
12.9	30	Points/Gm	27.4	6
25.1	21	Points All./Gm	17.6	6
54.4	31	Plays/Gm	60.9	24
66.7	24	Opp. Plays/Gm	65	21
38.6%	22	Rush%	52.8%	2
61.4%	11	Pass%	47.2%	31
45.6%	26	Opp. Rush %	36.3%	6
54.4%	7	Opp. Pass %	63.7%	27

Just 13.3% (10-of-75) of Washington’s possessions have ended up inside of the red zone, the lowest rate in the league.
Washington averages 3.8 yards per play on first down, the fewest in the league.
Washington ranks 32nd in the league in third down conversion rate (24.7%) and 31st in defensive third down conversion rate (49.5%).
The Vikings have scored a touchdown on 33.3% of their offensive possessions, the highest rate in the league.
Minnesota ranks 29th in average yardage to gain on third downs (8.3 yards), but rank eighth in the league in third down conversion rate (46.1%).
Over the past three weeks, Kirk Cousins has used play-action a league-high 45.8% of the time.
On those dropbacks, Cousins has completed 76.2% (32-of-42) of his passes for 14.1 yards per pass attempt with seven touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Cousins leads the league in rating (124.1) and yards per pass attempt (9.1) on first and second down while ranking fourth in completion rate (72.3%).

Trust (spike production for that player)

Kirk Cousins: He’s been the QB9 (20.2 points), QB6 (27.3), and the QB2 (29.2) over the past three weeks in strong matchups entering the week and he gets another one here in a #RevengeGame against his former team. Narratives aside, Cousins now leads all quarterbacks in passing points per pass attempt (.606) on the season. Washington is 21st in passing points allowed per game (15.7) while they have allowed QB1-scoring weeks to all of the quality passers (Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, and Carson Wentz) they have faced on the season.
Dalvin Cook: Cook leads the NFL in rushing with five 100-yard rushing games and a touchdown in every game but one. Washington ranks 26th in points allowed per game (26.6) and 25th in yards from scrimmage per game (153.0) to the position.
Stefon Diggs: Diggs leads the league with 370 air yards the past two weeks — 78 more than the next player — and he hasn’t wasted them, catching 14-of-19 targets for 309 yards and three touchdowns. He also has now reached 100-yards in three of his past four games. With Adam Thielen out this week, expect Diggs to be jammed with opportunities once again against a Washington defense allowing 2.19 points per target (28th) to opposing wideouts.

On the Cusp (proxy of a player’s average)

Terry McLaurin: McLaurin was literally washed out a week ago (1-11 on two targets), but had at least seven targets in each of his first five games played this season. Trae Waynes has allowed the most receptions in coverage (33) this season while Xavier Rhodes has allowed 30 (tied for fifth-most), leaving the opportunity for McLaurin on the perimeter, where he runs 82% of his routes.

Bust (down-week production for that player’s standards)

Adrian Peterson: Peterson has 25 and 20 touches the past two weeks as Bill Callahan has kept his word on establishing the run. The hang-up here, however, is that game script has yet to test the new commitment to the run while Peterson is still reliant on finding the end zone for fantasy. Minnesota has allowed just one rushing touchdown so far this season while ranking fourth in rushing points allowed per game (8.8) to backfields.
Case Keenum: The Vikings have given up big yardage to both Carson Wentz (306 yards) and Matthew Stafford (364) the past two weeks, but this is not an objectively strong spot to pursue points as the Vikings have allowed just six top-12 scoring weeks to opposing quarterbacks at home since Mike Zimmer took over in 2014.

If You Must (intriguing bench option or deeper league play)

Vikings TEs: With Thielen out of the game, both Kyle Rudolph (5-58-1) and Irv Smith (5-60) each received a season-high six targets. Both options cannibalize us from having a true streaming option to bank on (while Washington is unlikely to push the scoreboard like Detroit did a week ago) but many teams in fantasy are grasping at the position already. Rudolph had the end zone target. With no Thielen this week and Cousins playing so well in another positive matchup, both Minnesota tight ends are TE2 options with upside.
Olabisi Johnson: Johnson ran 25 pass routes and received eight targets last week in relief of Thielen. He turned in a 4-40-1 line with an end zone target. As mentioned with Diggs, Washington is poor per target to opposing wideouts while allowing 10 touchdowns to the position, tied for the fourth-most in the league.