HOUSTON (at Minnesota)
The Texans are 3-1, but they don't have their offense dialed in yet. They were shut out in New England, and all three of their wins came at home, with the offense scoring only 5 touchdowns. Tough to envision them doing much on the road against a Minnesota defense that's allowed only 10-16 points in every game. Dipping back into last year, the Vikings have played eight straight games without allowing more than 17 points. ... Is Brock Osweiler even as good as Brian Hoyer? It's a fair question. Osweiler has had problems with reading defenses and holding the ball too long. He's thrown interceptions in every game. Despite having great weapons around him, he's led the offense to only 5 touchdowns (all passes, at least, they don't seem to have any confidence they can muscle the ball into the end zone). Now he's got to go on the road against a defense that's about as good as any in the league. The Vikings have allowed only one touchdown pass in their last 12 quarters while facing three quarterbacks who are all better than Osweiler -- Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Eli Manning. About 240 yards and a touchdown, it seems, are the most to realistically hope for, and Osweiler isn't a factor as a runner. ... The Texans have the two great receivers, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, but the Vikings thus far have been pretty remarkable against good receivers. They've got a strong pass rush, good corners, and they confuse quarterbacks with different looks. So this is a rare week where you might think about sitting down these receivers. Tough to sit down these kind of players (especially Hopkins) but we're slotting them lower than usual.
| Wide receivers against Vikings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Yards | TD |
| Sharpe, Tenn. | 7 | 76 | 0 |
| Nelson, G.B. | 5 | 73 | 1 |
| Cobb, G.B. | 5 | 42 | 0 |
| Benjamin, Car. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ginn, Car. | 3 | 62 | 0 |
| Beckham, NYG | 3 | 23 | 0 |
| Cruz, NYG | 5 | 50 | 0 |
| Shepard, NYG | 4 | 30 | 0 |
The Texans haven't quite been able to get Lamar Miller uncorked. He's averaging 88 yards, but he's getting those yards on 23 carries per game. He's averaging only 3.8 per attempt and hasn't scored any touchdowns. He's not getting great holes, and he's not ripping off many chunk runs. The Texans have played every game without left tackle Duane Brown, who might return this week. But the ...
This report is taken from today's Week 5 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 17 pages of camp reports, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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... Vikings aren't the kind of opponent to get a running game healthy against. Setting aside quarterback scrambles, they're allowing only 64 rushing yards per game, with just one rushing touchdown (the 1-yarder by Orleans Darkwa Monday night). About 60 rushing and 20 receiving yards seems like a fair estimate, with only an outside chance of a touchdown. ... The Texans have been thinned by injuries at tight end, down now to pretty much just Ryan Griffin. He's a nominal receiving threat, but they've been working him more into the offense recently. He's gone over 50 yards two weeks in a row, on 11 catches. Previously, Griffin had been under 40 yards in all but one of his last 26 games. ... Nick Novak will have some good games this year, especially when playing against the softer defenses of the AFC South. But stay well away from him this week. The Texans haven't got their offense dialed in yet, and the Vikings haven't allowed more than 4 kicking points in any of their games. ... The Texans Defense looks like a middle-of-the-pack unit. Even without J.J. Watt, they have a good pass rush (11 sacks in four games), and the Vikings have had some problems with their offensive line. But Sam Bradford is doing a good job getting rid of the ball; he's taken only 6 sacks, and he hasn't thrown any interceptions. Houston got a punt return touchdown out of Will Fuller last week, but it appeared to be due mainly to poor coverage by the defense.