What We Saw: Week 6

Minnesota Vikings vs Philadelphia Eagles

 

Minnesota Vikings

 

Quarterback

 

• Kirk Cousins: 22/29, 333 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT

 

Kirk Cousins crushed it.

He started the game relatively conservative. The early first quarter was filled with lots of screen passes and short dump-offs to mitigate the pressure of the Eagles’ strong defensive line. Once the defense started to play closer and eased up on the deep ball, Cousins began to toss mid-range lobs to Adam Thielen in the end zone. Thielen was able to haul one in and barely missed getting both feet in for a second. Cousins wasn’t expected to make huge plays early and instead was called on to put his guys in position to make plays. This start allowed them to maintain possession for a whopping 10 minutes and 53 seconds in the first quarter, barely allowing the Eagles to even touch the ball.

However, once the Vikings had taken advantage of the short plays to maintain possession and keep the defense honest, they opened up the playbook and absolutely abused the weak Eagles secondary. Cousins threw two deep TDs to Stefon Diggs in the first half (and barely overthrew a third) and showed incredible arm strength and deep accuracy. That kind of play is sure to keep Diggs (and fantasy owners) satisfied. The Vikings aren’t going to be playing an injury-ridden Eagles secondary every week, but there’s some serious potential here for fantasy points if the coaching staff continues to utilize the strength of their passing game.

 

Running Backs

 

• Dalvin Cook:  16 carries, 41 yards, 1 TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 13 yards
• Alexander Mattison: 14 carries, 63 yards

 

Dalvin Cook did well considering the strength of the Eagles run defense. His performance was certainly overshadowed by the stellar numbers put up in the passing game. He did have a nice 16-yard run called back due to penalty in the third quarter and was still able to show off his incredible shiftiness on numerous occasions in the contest. He’s certainly one of the best running backs in the league and should continue to return RB1 value moving forward.

Alexander Mattison saw some touches to relieve Cook and looked explosive. He tore off a great 35 yard run in the fourth quarter that he capped with a hurdle over a defender and saw some goal-line touches. The immediate reaction to the statline may be that Dalvin Cook is destined for an RBBC, but it’s important to keep in mind that the Vikings held the lead from the moment they scored their first touchdown. Game script afforded the Vikings the opportunity to spell Cook simply because their passing offense was firing on all cylinders and they didn’t need him to score points. The increased usage of Mattison is still reassuring and speaks to their confidence in him, but he’s likely to have limited fantasy upside moving forward unless Cook misses time.

 

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

 

• Stefon Diggs:  11 targets. 7 receptions, 167 yards, 3 TDs
• Adam Thielen: 8 targets, 6 receptions, 57 yards, 1 TD
• Kyle Rudolph: 3 targets, 3 receptions, 36 yards 
• Irv Smith Jr.: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 29 yards
• Laquon Treadwell:  1 target, 1 reception, 15 yards

 

Adam Thielen showcased his route running ability on the first TD grab of the game. He put a double move on Sidney Jones to create a ton of separation before snagging the lob in the corner of the endzone for six. Thielen got plenty of other endzone looks in the first quarter, including an overthrown lob and a nice snag on which he was unable to bring both feet inbounds. Cousins’ willingness to lackluster lobs to give Thielen opportunities in the contest speaks volumes about the trust that both Cousins and the coaching staff have in him to put the ball in the endzone. 

Despite Thielen’s great early showing, Stefon Diggs stole the show as the game went on. He absolutely smoked Rasul Douglas and brought in a beautiful deep throw from Kirk Cousins for an easy score with 11:39 left in the second quarter. He grabbed another deep ball for a second TD in the first half and took an 11-yarder down in the back of the endzone for a third late in the third quarter.  This certainly shouldn’t be expected to be the norm for Diggs moving forward, but he reminded everyone why he was so highly drafted at the beginning of the season and brought the “Diggs or Thielen” debate back to the table with Sunday’s performance.

While none of the Vikings Tight Ends truly stood out in the contest, Irv Smith tallied a 34-yard pass play early in the fourth quarter. He was an intriguing prospect coming into the league, but he’ll likely continue to be overshadowed by Kyle Rudolph.

 

Philadelphia Eagles

 

Quarterback

 

• Carson Wentz: 26/40, 306 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT | 2 carries, 23 yards

 

Carson Wentz was the victim of constant pressure, smothering coverage, and receiver drops. It’s honestly surprising that he surpassed 300 yards in the contest considering the lack of flash in the passing game. The team relied on a lot of short passes and chunk yardage while failing to connect on big plays. Wentz is a safe floor fantasy QB, but he’s not going to outright win you any weeks until either Desean Jackson returns or the Eagles mitigate their pass drops.

 

Running Backs

 

• Jordan Howard: 13 carries, 49 yards 
• Miles Sanders: 3 carries, 6 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 86 yards, 1 TD
• Boston Scott: 4 carries, 30 yards

 

The Eagles have made it apparent over the past few weeks that they have a desire to give Miles Sanders opportunities to make big scoring plays, and it finally came to fruition midway through the second quarter in Sunday’s contest. Sanders took advantage of soft linebacker coverage to tear downfield and take a nice pass to the house for his first NFL touchdown. He also had another big 45-yard catch on the Eagles’ first drive of the third quarter to put the Eagles in good scoring position. It’s comforting to see big play aspirations come to fruition for the rookie running back, but the continuation of rushing inefficiency means he’ll continue to forfeit considerable touches to Jordan Howard.

Howard continued doing what he does best: banging it up the middle. He’ll continue to get rushing volume so long as he continues his no-nonsense rushing style.

Both backs predictably split reps and saw a fairly even share of action. This has been a trend that is likely to continue considering what each brings to the table.

Boston Scott came onto the scene in the absence of Darren Sproles. He’s likely to see limited work in a role similar to Sproles’ and could potentially carve out his own role in an already crowded backfield.

 

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

 

•  Zach Ertz: 9 targets, 4 receptions, 54 yards
• Alshon Jeffrey:  12 targets, 10 receptions, 76 yards
• Nelson Agholor: 7 targets, 4 receptions, 42 yards
• Dallas Goedert: 8 targets, 5 receptions, 48 yards

 

The Eagles are sorely missing Desean Jackson. They tried to utilize Nelson Agholor as a deep threat option multiple times, but Wentz often failed to make the downfield connection.

Four of Carson Wentz’s first five completions were to Alshon Jeffrey. He’s still the go-to guy in the receiving corps and is the most consistent option they have outside of Zach Ertz. He didn’t steal the show with any incredible plays, but he quietly turned in a respectable performance and is a PPR value off of volume alone. 

Nelson Agholor continued to frustrate. The Eagles tried to give him deep-ball looks in the absence of Desean Jackson, but he often came up just short. There’s definitely little reason to be excited about Agholor as a fantasy option, though if he continues to see the kind of looks he saw in Sunday’s contest he’s bound to have a big game eventually.

Zach Ertz’s first catch came with 28 seconds left in the first half. It was certainly a strange performance considering the past reliance on Ertz in the passing game, but he somewhat came back to life after halftime. It certainly wasn’t his best performance, but that could be said about any of the receiving options. Dallas Goedert saw a surprising amount of volume and seems to be growing rapport with Wentz, though his upside is obviously limited with Ertz on the roster.

 

-Marshal Hickman