The Minnesota Vikings, winners in five of their last six games, will take on the rested Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday.
The Vikings (6-6) struggled at home with the hapless Jaguars last week but ultimately came away with a 27-24 triumph in overtime.
Running back Dalvin Cook was every bit the workhorse as he handled a career-high 38 touches and gained 179 of his team’s 275 total yards. The Vikings’ star wide receivers, Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson, both got into the end zone. Thielen returned from the COVID-19 list to catch eight passes for 75 yards. Jefferson hauled in nine passes for 121 yards, marking his fifth week this season with more than 100 yards. All of that benefited quarterback Kirk Cousins as he exceeded 300 passing yards and threw for three scores for a third consecutive game.
The Buccaneers (7-5) entered their Week 13 bye as losers in three of their past four games. Their 27-24 loss to the Chiefs in Week 12 was much more lopsided than the score suggests. Quarterback Tom Brady had to play catch-up all afternoon long and finished with three touchdown passes — two to Mike Evans and one to running back Ronald Jones II. Jones also ran for 66 yards on nine carries. Evans’ two scores came on a day where he caught just three passes for 50 total yards. Brady found Chris Godwin and tight end Rob Gronkowski much more often. The former hauled in eight balls for 97 yards, and the latter caught six passes for a season-high 106 yards.
TV Info
Date: Sunday, Dec. 13
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Channel: FOX
Broadcast map
Notable Statistical rankings (Football Outsiders)
Vikings: #15 Overall — #13 offense, #9 defense, #31 special teams
Bucs: #3 Overall — #6 Offense, #3 defense, #24 special teams
DraftKings Sportsbook odds
Vikings: +6.5, +250
Bucs: -6.5, -295
Total: 51.5
Fantasy football start/sit advice
Vikings
Adam Thielen, WR, $7,000
Justin Jefferson ($7,400) is more expensive than Thielen on DraftKings for the first time all season. Understandably so considering how well the rookie has played. But while Jefferson’s price has gone up by $500, Thielen’s has been cut by $300. This is true despite the fact that Thielen has scored five times in the past three games and remains Cousins’ go-to man in the red zone. The Bucs have allowed eight receiving touchdowns to wideouts in the last four games and their secondary has swiss cheese-like integrity right now.
Dalvin Cook, RB, $9,400
Strength versus strength. Cook versus the Buccaneers’ run defense. The stud RB is the highest-priced player on the slate, but Tampa Bay’s front has given up the second-fewest fantasy points to running backs and a league-low 646 rushing yards to the position. Something has to give.
Bucs
Chris Godwin, WR, $6,300
Minnesota’s pass defense isn’t as much of a sieve these days compared to what it looked like early in the year. But it’s still very young, very susceptible and leading the league in most receiving TDs allowed to wide receivers (19). Godwin has scored just once in his last four games, but he has piled up at least 15 DraftKings points in each of his last three. He’s a strong option here.
Rob Gronkowski, TE, $4,800
After his sluggish beginning to this season, Gronkowski has accumulated double-digit fantasy points in five of his last seven games. The same can be said about tight ends who have faced the Vikings over their last seven games. The future Hall of Famer should be able to hit value at his price.