NFL DFS game by game breakdown: Week 2

NFL DFS: Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings

If you had seen that Kirk Cousins had only attempted 10 passes in a game without knowing the score, would you guess that the Vikings put up 28 points in a route of the Falcons? Yeah, me neither. The Vikings relied heavily on the ground game last week as Dalvin Cook rushed 21 times for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns. While the Packers limited the bears rushing attack, they had the 27th ranked defensive line last season in terms of run blocking. With another heavy dose of usage on the way, Cook lines up as a solid play once again.

Due to the lack of pass attempts, we saw down games from both Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. Thielen was still able to assert himself as he recorded a 23-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. While there were only a total of 10 passing attempts, it’s encouraging to see both Thielen (30%) and Diggs (20%) garner the majority of the targets. It’s hard for me to hang my hat on the Packers defensive showing against the Bears in week 2 because of how inept that offense can be, as the Packers were still 28th in pas DVOA last season. I expect Cousins to need far more than 10 attempts to win this game, making both of them viable in tournaments at the very least.

While Kirk Cousins has a respectable ceiling, there’s too many other mid-tier quarterbacks with a higher floor/ceiling combo to make him viable in either cash or GPP contests.

Cash Plays: Cook

GPP Plays: Thielen, Diggs

Green Bay Packers

The Packers had 95 seconds of impressive offense in week 1 and that was about all. During their 4-play, 74-yard touchdown drive in the 2nd quarter, we saw vintage Rodgers and even more interesting, a vintage Jimmy Graham, who saw a healthy 20% of Rodgers’ targets. While Aaron Rodgers is typically someone I would consider in cash games, his performance last week makes me want to hold on a wait-and-see approach against another stout defense.

Davante Adams predictably saw the bulk of the targets (26.7%), while Marquez Valdes-Scantling showed that the WR2 spot is his to lose, recording a 4-52 line on 6 targets. Adams faces another tough test with Xavier Rhodes, who held Julio Jones to a 6-31-1 line and the touchdown came on a backdoor route in garbage time. He always has the ceiling in GPPs, but there are better places to spend your salary at the WR position in cash games. With that being said, I think there can be a case made to play MVS. Not only did he establish himself as the clear-cut WR2 in Green Bay, out-snapping Geronimo Allison 42-32 and out-catching him 4-0. Trae Waynes got burned a handful of times by Calvin Ridley last week, making it worth taking a stab on Valdes-Scantling this week in tournaments.

Aaron Jones saw 13 carries in week 1, which look nice when you compare the carry count to Jamaal Williams (5), but was only able to muster up 39 rushing yards. The Bears front-7 is arguably the best in football, but the Vikings aren’t much worse. They ranked 11th in DVOA last season and only allowed 4.3 yards per carry in week one against the Falcons, limiting Jones to GPP formats.

Cash Plays: none

GPP Plays: Rodgers, Adams, Valdes-Scantling, Jones