The Minnesota Vikings were killed in Week 5 on Thursday night and that left Cordarrelle Patterson as a fantasy football bust after he was banged up, while Jerick McKinnon, Matt Asiata and Greg Jennings were all disappointments after Teddy Bridgewater was held out with an injury and Christian Ponder got the start for the Vikes, who lost by over 30 points to the Packers.
The Vikings came into the game with solid expectations fantasy-wise, as Patterson, McKinnon and Asiata all had solid days last week. Clearly, things did not turn out that well for the Vikings on Thursday, as they went down 42-0 at one point and could not get anything going on offense. Patterson was banged up in the game and finished with a bad stat line, while McKinnon and Asiata did not do much either. McKinnon had 24 yards in the game while Asiata had a solid 72 yards, but he did not get a TD and ended up with a low amount of fantasy points overall.
The Vikings obviously were hurt by not having Teddy Bridgewater in the game after he injured his ankle last week and that hurt the other players fantasy-wise. Christian Ponder was not good on Thursday and now the Vikings are hoping that Bridgewater can return healthy next week. Patterson left the game with a hip injury and he finished the day with just two catches and while he did not have a good game here, he is still a solid option moving forward. Patterson is taking over as the playmaker of the offense with Percy Harvin gone and he could be the top target for Bridgewater moving forward.
Patterson has 15 catches this season for 189 yards and no touchdowns receiving, but he has a rushing TD and he could get used more in the ground game moving forward. Last season Patterson gave the Vikings a spark late in the season and he ended the year with 45 catches for 469 yards and four touchdowns. Last year Patterson also scored three times on 12 rushes for 158 yards and he can be an impact player if he comes back healthy next week.
McKinnon had a big game last week against the Falcons with over 130 yards rushing and many saw him as a sleeper this week against a Packers team that was giving up the most rushing yards per game in the league. McKinnon ended up with 10 touches for 46 yards in the game and he was on the field for about a third of the offensive snaps behind Asiata. With Adrian Peterson out, McKinnon is worth hanging on to in deeper leagues, but right now Asiata is the better choice since he is starting.
Asiata has 231 yards this season in five games and he has scored three touchdowns and he has continued to get the most amount of touches at the RB position with Peterson gone. Asiata is a solid number two or three back for the time being and he should be getting plenty of wok going forward even when Bridgewater comes back. Bridgewater is the future and with a long week coming, he has the chance to step back in and get the Vikings back on track.
