Vikings vs. Texans Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 3

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 3 matchup between the Texans and Vikings.

Find a breakdown of every Week 3 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

C.J. Stroud: Stroud opened up Week 2 on fire, connecting on 14-of-19 passes for 9.1 yards per pass attempt and a touchdown on Sunday Night.

The second half was not as strong as the offense struggled against a good Chicago defense.

Stroud was 9-of-17 for 5.1 yards per attempt in the second half.

The Bears were able to put pressure on 36.8% of Stroud’s dropbacks after the half.

Because the league was down in general, Stroud was able to still close the week as QB12 (14.3 points).

That middle-to-back QB1 range is where Stroud will be this week against a creative Minnesota defense.

The Vikings have allowed more than two touchdown passes in just two games under Brian Flores and have held 13-of-20 passers they faced over that span to one-or-fewer passing scores.

They did allow 319 yards and 8.9 yards per attempt to Brock Purdy last weekend, so there is yardage upside still on the table for Stroud.

Minnesota has created havoc in both weeks this season, however. Pressuring Purdy 35.7% of the time in Week 2 (9th) and Daniel Jones 42.6% of the time (2nd) in the opener.

Flores blitzed on 45.2% of the passing snaps last week.

Against the blitz this season, Stroud is 16-of-19 for 8.3 Y/A with a touchdown.

As a rookie, Stroud was 6th among all passers against the blitz, passing for 8.9 Y/A with 10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

With Minnesota, you are also going to get a ton of Cover-2 and Cover-4 played behind those exotic blitzes.

Stroud has been a Cover-3 killer to open his career, but those two high looks have given Stroud light problems on his small sample this season.

Against those coverages, Stroud is averaging 6.1 Y/A to open this season. 

As a rookie, he only threw 2 touchdown passes against those looks but did average 8.3 Y/A.

Sam Darnold: Darnold was the best bet to make if gamers were looking for a quarterback to be this year’s Geno Smith or Baker Mayfield from previous seasons, and he has delivered through two games.

Darnold was excellent again on Sunday against a strong San Francisco defense, ending the week as QB4 (19.9 points).

Darnold threw for 10.3 yards per pass attempt, anchored by a 97-yard touchdown to Justin Jefferson.

Two weeks into the season, Darnold has completed 72.0%of his passes (9th) for 9.5 Y/A (3rd).

While the start has been strong, and his output against San Francisco warrants faith in using him as a fringe QB1, I still prefer to use Darnold as floor-based QB2 in 2 QB formats as his optimal spot in Week 3.

From a clean pocket, Darnold has completed 30-of-36 (83.3%) passes for a league-high 11.6 Y/A and three touchdowns.

When pressured, he has connected on only 6-of-14 (42.9%) of his passes for 4.2 Y/A with a touchdown and an interception.

Getting pressure has been the key to the early season for Houston’s pass defense.

When they have pressured the opposing passer, those passers have completed 35.7% (6-of-16) passes, 4th in the league.

Darnold is more seasoned than Anthony Richardson and Caleb Williams, but he also cannot escape pressure like those two can.

Running Back

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