The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 15 matchup between the Cowboys and Vikings on Sunday Night Football.
Find a breakdown of every Week 15 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Minnesota | Rank | @ | Dallas | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Spread | -6.0 | ||
| 21.0 | Implied Total | 27.0 | ||
| 19.6 | 26 | Points/Gm | 29.3 | 3 |
| 21.6 | 12 | Points All./Gm | 29.7 | 31 |
| 56.1 | 31 | Plays/Gm | 65.7 | 3 |
| 61.1 | 13 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 63.0 | 22 |
| 4.9 | 27 | Off. Yards/Play | 6.0 | 6 |
| 4.9 | 7 | Def. Yards/Play | 6 | 28 |
| 40.05% | 27 | Rush% | 39.70% | 28 |
| 59.95% | 6 | Pass% | 60.30% | 5 |
| 51.01% | 31 | Opp. Rush % | 41.88% | 13 |
| 48.99% | 2 | Opp. Pass % | 58.12% | 20 |
- Dallas has 28 plays of 30 or more yards on offense, the most in the NFL.
- Minnesota has 10 plays of 30 or more yards this season, ahead of the Saints and Titans (8 each).
- The Vikings have allowed the fewest plays of 20 or more yards per game (2.3).
- Minnesota is allowing 4.4 yards per play over their past six games, 4th in the league.
- The Cowboys have a 37.6% success rate on rushing plays over their past five games (26th) after a 43.2% rate prior (8th).
- The Vikings have allowed a 46.2% (18 of 39) touchdown rate in the red zone, 3rd in the league.
- Dallas has allowed a 72% (36 of 50) touchdown rate in the red zone, 31st in the league.
- 68.7% (46 of 67) of the scoring plays against Dallas have been touchdowns, the 3rd-highest rate in the league.
- 47.2% (25 of 53) of the scoring plays allowed by Minnesota have been touchdowns, the 2nd-lowest rate in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Dak Prescott: Dak did not play a great game last Thursday, but he was able to accumulate enough volume to get by for fantasy.
He ended the week as the QB13 (18.4 points), completing 31 of 47 passes for 376 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
This was the third game in a row Prescott has thrown for 300 yards, and the fourth game in a row he has thrown for 8.0 yards per pass attempt or better.
This is going to be a clash of two strengths.
The Minnesota pass defense is as hot as this Dallas passing offense.
Over their past six games, the Vikings are allowing a 57.6% completion rate (5th), 6.1 yards per pass attempt (7th), and a league-low 1.8% touchdown rate.
They have not allowed a passing touchdown since Week 10.
The Vikings play two-high coverage at the highest rate in the league (66.8%).
Against two-high looks, Prescott is 26th in fantasy points per dropback (0.41) compared to ranking second in points per dropback against single-high (0.59).
Prescott has QB1-scoring weeks at home against the Chiefs (20.6 points) and the Eagles (27.1 points), so we do not have to hide when the Cowboys are home favorites with a 27-point total, but he is more of a back-end QB1 here.
J.J. McCarthy: McCarthy has scored fantasy points in mediocre games already, but Sunday was his best game as a quarterback, which came through as a strong fantasy line.
He completed a season-high 69.6% (16 of 23) of his passes for only 163 yards, but his 7.1 yards per pass attempt were his most since returning in Week 9.
He also threw a season-high 3 touchdowns.
He ended the week as the QB9 (20.4 points).
McCarthy had his fastest time to throw of the season on Sunday (2.78 seconds), generating 1.0 EPA or more on 34.5% of his dropbacks.
His previous high in a game was 29%.
It was good to see McCarthy take advantage of a favorable matchup, bringing back some confidence in him heading into another solid setup where points will be needed.
McCarthy has a favorable matchup here against a Dallas defense that remains weaker against the pass after their changes.
Dallas is allowing a league-high 19.4 passing points per game and 5.1 rushing points per game to quarterbacks (31st).
Those rates put McCarthy on the board as a matchup-based QB2.
Dallas has had a tough slate of late, drawing Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes over the past two weeks, but they have been solid against streaming types like Geno Smith (12.9 points) since returning from the bye.
McCarthy could still be challenged here since Dallas can get pressure.
The Cowboys are seventh in pressure rate (40%).
When pressured, McCarthy is completing 45.8% of his passes (20th) for 5.3 yards per pass attempt (24th).
Running Back
Javonte Williams: Williams turned 19 touches into only 67 yards on Thursday against the Lions, but he was able to get into the end zone to elevate his fantasy night.
Williams caught 2 passes for 0 yards and is now averaging only 3.9 yards per catch.
He has not had an RB1 scoring week since Week 8.
Williams runs into another tough matchup as a volume-based RB2, but he is attached to a home favorite to help his cause.
The Vikings are allowing the fewest fantasy points per touch (0.68) to running backs, but since they have been so rough in terms of game scripts, they have faced a league-high 29.9 backfield touches per game.
Vikings RBs: Aaron Jones held an edge in this backfield on Sunday, but the split was tighter than we have seen in recent weeks.
I brought this up last week, as it felt like we were headed towards this, but there was some minor concern that, since Jones has picked up a few bumps and bruises in recent weeks on an extended workload and Jordan Mason was running better, we could see things get closer to even.
Jones handled 14 touches for 76 yards on Sunday, while Mason had 11 touches for 52 yards.
In the first half, Jones had 9 touches to Mason’s 8, so this was split early on.
Zavier Scott had 4 touches, but they all came in the fourth quarter of a blowout.
Jones still had an edge in the passing game, running 10 routes to Mason’s 4.
That passing game role gives Jones more of a floor as a road underdog, putting him on the RB2/FLEX line.
Mason is a touchdown-dependent FLEX.
The Dallas run defense has been sturdy since getting healthier and adding Quinnen Williams.
They did allow 4 touchdowns to Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery on Thursday, but they did let one of those touchdowns happen to preserve clock, while Montgomery’s 35-yard touchdown came with Williams off the field.
They did still limit Gibbs to 3.6 yards per carry and have allowed 55.0 rushing yards per game over the past four weeks (2nd).
They are 30th in receiving points allowed to backs (11.6 per game), which is where Jones gets a lift.
Wide Receiver
More Week 15 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:
| Matchup | Time |
|---|---|
| Falcons @ Bucs | Thursday Night Football |
| Browns @ Bears | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Ravens @ Bengals | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Chargers @ Chiefs | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bills @ Patriots | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Commanders @ Giants | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Raiders @ Eagles | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Jets @ Jaguars | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Cardinals @ Texans | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Packers @ Broncos | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Lions @ Rams | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Panthers @ Saints | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Titans @ 49ers | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Colts @ Seahawks | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Vikings @ Cowboys | Sunday Night Football |
| Dolphins @ Steelers | Monday Night Football |
