The masses expected Arizona to wipe the floor with the Vikings in a home blowout on Thursday night. Well, just a reminder, we don't know nearly as much as we like to think. The NFL is always dealing us surprises, and a contest where Minnesota had a chance at the very end to take this to overtime was as unexpected an outcome as possible. The out-of-left-field outcome led to more than a few interesting fantasy performances.
Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals
Top performers:
» Teddy Bridgewater, QB: 335 passing yards, TD, 15.7 fantasy points
» Adrian Peterson, RB: 24 touches, 86 total yards, TD, 12.60 fantasy points
» Mike Wallace, WR: 3 rec, 42 yards, TD, 10.2 fantasy points
» Kyle Rudolph, TE: 6 rec, 67 yards, 6.7 fantasy points
» Carson Palmer, QB: 310 yards, 2 TD, 20.7 fantasy points
» David Johnson, RB: 22 touches, 123 total yards, 12.3 fantasy points
» Michael Floyd, WR: 5 rec, 102 yards, TD, 16.2 fantasy points
» John Brown, WR: 4 rec, 78 yards, TD, 13.8 fantasy points
» Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 5 rec, 41 yards, 4.10 fantasy points
In a total shock, Teddy Bridgewater posted one of his best games of the 2015 season. After two contests with under five fantasy points, Bridgewater threw dart after dart on way to just his second 300-plus yard passing day. His fantasy numbers would look far better had he not lost the fateful fumble that cost Minnesota a chance to tie the game. Adrian Peterson busted off several vintage, eye-popping runs in the first quarter, but was largely bottled up afterwards. Nevertheless, this proved a fine rebound performance from him, with plenty of volume to ease the concerns of over-panicked fantasy owners. Mike Wallace, after coming in with just four catches since Week 8, caught a red zone touchdown and dashed down the field on another 23-yarder. While this was a fun outlier game, we know weird occurrences take place on Thursday night. We will not recommend fully trusting any Minnesota passing game players again next week.
Carson Palmer has the best floor of any quarterback in fantasy right now, and he eclipsed 20 points for a strong ceiling tonight. The win over the Vikings marked his sixth game in a row with multiple touchdown passes. Palmer reinforced his already strong case to be neck-and-neck with Cam Newton at the top of the NFL's MVP race. His two outside threats got involved early and both made big plays. The dynamic John Brown dashed down the field on a 65-yard touchdown scamper, and Michael Floyd caught a long ball for 42 yards. Brown is the more consistent route runner and floor play in fantasy, while Floyd still committed his handful of gaffes in this game. Regardless, you are starting both players going forward through the playoffs. Good luck living with a big day from either on your bench. Larry Fitzgerald may be the one to worry about here, or at least to the point where we don't look for a high ceiling with him. This was the third consecutive game with under 70 receiving yards, and the veteran wideout doesn't have a double-digit fantasy outing in standard formats to his name since Week 10. However, we won't advise you to sit such a highly involved quality receiver in this passing offense, and the tone around Fitzgerald should be quite different going into his Week 15 date with the Eagles. After his second-straight 22-touch game as a starter, David Johnson is a locked-in RB1 the rest of the way. He did get dinged while stretching out for a near touchdown play, and again on the team's final drive. Make sure to follow reports throughout the week, and consider adding Kerwynn Williams on waivers just in case, if we have not heard anything by Tuesday evening.
Matt Harmon is an associate fantasy writer/editor for NFL.com, and the creator of #ReceptionPerception, who you can follow on Twitter _**@MattHarmonBYB**_.
