Vikings vs Cowboys Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 10

• Including Sunday’s loss to Kansas City, Kirk Cousins’s teams are now 6-28 in his career against teams with a winning record. 
• Since the start of last season, the Cowboys are 11-2 at home, trailing only New England (13-0) over that span. 
• Dallas has scored a touchdown on 36.4% of their drives at home, the second-highest rate in the league.
• Amari Cooper is averaging 26.2 points per game at home, trailing only Michael Thomas (27.3) among wide receivers.
• Minnesota is second in the league in points per play (.496) at home, but ranks 17th in points per play (.361) on the road.
• The Cowboys are first in the league in yards per passing play (8.4) while the Vikings are third (8.2).
• Dallas is first in the league in non-passing fantasy points scored per game (87.9) while Minnesota is eighth in non-passing points allowed per game (70.7).

Trust (spike production for that player)

• Dalvin Cook: Cook has been so good this season he made a 116-yard game last week feel like a disappointment. With those 116 yards, Cook has now cleared 100 total yards in seven games this season, the most in the league. The Cowboys have allowed just two backs to reach 100 total yards against them this season (Saquon Barkley and Aaron Jones) but Cook is in that weight class.

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

• Ezekiel Elliott: Elliott has gotten rolling on the ground, with three straight 100-yard rushing games. Last week was the first time he wasn’t targeted in a game all season after his target share was 16.4% over his previous four games played. Two of Elliott’s 100-yard games on this streak have come against strong run defenses in the Jets and Eagles, which is what Minnesota is bringing into Dallas this week. The Vikings rank seventh in expected points added via their rush defense while they are fifth in rushing points allowed per game (9.9) to opposing backfields. 
• Dak Prescott: Prescott has just one week lower than QB13 on the season. Prescott has only faced a Mike Zimmer-led defense once in his career as a rookie, completing just 12-of-18 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. This version of the Vikings pass defense hasn’t been as unforgiving ranking 18th in passing points allowed per game (15.1) and has allowed 7.9 yards per pass attempt over their past four games after 6.2 yards per attempt over their opening five games.
• Amari Cooper: Cooper is dealing with a knee injury that ha sis status in doubt. If active, Cooper’s target share the past two weeks has been 18.5% and 20.0%, which is down from his 24.5% rate through his first five full games played. But Cooper is at home, where he has thrived since joining the Cowboys. Cooper runs 86% of his routes on the perimeter (41% at LWR and 45% at RWR), where he’ll match up with Xavier Rhodes and Tre Waynes. Wayne is tied for allowing the third-most receptions in his coverage (42) while Rhodes is seventh (38).
• Stefon Diggs: Just when we thought Diggs was a locked-in target vacuum WR1 with Adam Thielen sidelined, he has just four yards on one catch (four targets) with Thielen playing just seven snaps, matching his career-low for receiving yards in a game. Thielen is out this week with a hamstring injury, leaving Diggs as the feature wideout once again, but like last week with the Chiefs, Dallas is strong to boundary wideouts. Opposing wideouts have scored just 41.5% of the fantasy points against Dallas (fourth-lowest) and have accounted for just 46.8% of the receptions (third-lowest). With Thielen inactive, Diggs still carries upside, but he is more of a mid-WR2 option this week than a locked-in WR1 play. Given how good Dallas has been to wideouts, chasing Laquon Treadwell or Olabisi Johnson isn’t warranted.

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

• Kirk Cousins: Cousins had an inverse of his Week 8 game, completing just 50% of his passes for 5.8 yards per attempt last week, but bailed out his inefficiency with three touchdown passes. Cousins has had a comfy slate so far, facing just one team that ranks in the top-15 in the league in passing points allowed per game (Green Bay) and he was the QB28 that week in scoring (8.9 points). Dallas ranks fifth in passing points allowed per game (12.2) and hasn’t allowed more than two touchdown passes in any game with one or fewer in six of those games. They have also gotten off light to start, facing only Aaron Rodgers and Carson Wentz as top-12 passes this season, but held each to QB22 and QB25 scoring weeks.

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

• Michael Gallup: Gallup has just nine catches for 115 yards over the past three games with 48 or fewer yards in each of those games. His target share has sagged down to 16.5% those weeks as opposed to the 26.8% target rate he had through his first three games of the season. Gallup runs 85% of his routes on the outside (53% LWR and 32% RWR) giving him a similar matchup outlook as Cooper. If Cooper doesn’t play, then Gallup gets a bump.
• Jason Witten: The year is 2019 and Witten is seeing his usage expand. Witten’s three highest games in team target share have come over his past three, catching 17-of-20 targets for 148 yards in those games with two TE1-scoring weeks. Witten still has limited upside, averaging 9.4 yards per catch, but the Vikings are 30th in receptions allowed per game to tight ends (6.6).
• Kyle Rudolph: Rudolph has had 14.3% of the team targets the past three weeks with Thielen largely missing those games compared to a 7.7% rate prior. He’s still been a touchdown-dependent fantasy play, though, catching just six passes for 40 yards the past two weeks. Dallas is 27th in receptions allowed per game to tight ends (6.1), but Rudolph takes a step of faith even larger than Witten.