Minnesota Vikings vs Carolina Panthers: Win some, lose some

Taking the back seat

Carolina was without several key players last week, among whom were also Christian McCaffrey and Teddy Bridgewater. XFL standout PJ Walker got an opportunity to start and probably did better then many have expected. He led the team to a 20-0 in over the Lions, but was helped by the defense in that effort quite a bit. Although his performance was quite impressive, it wasn't spotless. It showed that he lacks some experience at this level, throwing two interceptions in the endzone, which would probably be costly, have they not played against the Lions.

That was probably one of the reasons why Carolina's decision to start Teddy Bridgewater again as soon as he's ready, was not that difficult. Teddy is back, but they'll be still without CMC and Donta Jackson, their top cornerback. There's also few O-linemen questionable. Daley is out for sure, while Okung and Miller are questionable. Having three of their starters on the Ol out would make things pretty difficult for this Carolina team offensively, against always aggressive Zimmer's defense.

Air yards

But luckily for Bridgewater, he does have 3 really good receivers that are capable of beating the coverage quickly, and allowing their Qb to get the ball out of his hands quickly. Considering the youth and inexperience (Vikings starting two rookies at corner) in Minnesota's secondary, that matchup is slightly worrisome for the Vikings. Especially because of Anderson's, Moore's and Samuel's ability to gain yards after the catch. It will be key for them to be in good position and make those tackles in the open field.

Speaking of receivers, Minnesoa has a couple exciting specimens at that position as well. Justin Jefferson has an amazing rookie season so far and is probably in conversation for the rookie of the year right now. Adam Thielen is a special player in his own right, but he seems to be on the wrong side of a questionable tag tonight, after having a positive Covid test a couple days ago. There were some rumors that the test was false, but according to the protocol, he still needs two negative tests to be able to play, and it doesn't seem he'll be cleared in time.

Vikings vs Panthers betting tips

Considering that the Panthers looked like a team that will go through a rebuild phase, I think they exceeded expectations this season. They are 4-7, which is not great, but very rarely where they completely out of the game. I think they have a legitimate chance to be competitive in this game and possibly even cover that spread, but with all these questions surrounding their OL, I'm probably gonna wait on that one and maybe make a play later on, if Okung and Miller get declared fit to play.

For now, I'm going to place a couple of player props. I was already mentioning Carolina's receivers earlier. I think this is a good matchup for all of them. Robby Anderson is an interesting player. His fantasy owners might be frustrated with the lack of scores he had this season, but he's targeted almost 30% of the time in this offense. That target share is pretty steady and consistent and I believe that he is going to turn it into some good yardage today. Second bet is Mike Davis under receiving yards. This line is set pretty high, because he opened the season with some solid work on passing downs, but that didn't last long. It' a tough matchup here vs Minnesota that has Eric Kendrics at middle linebacker, one of the best cover linebackers in the league. And a couple of very good safeties like Harrison Smith that love to play near the LOS and make those tackles in the open field, making it difficult for running backs to get many YAC vs Minnesota

Also, don't forget to check out our new feature for comparing outright odds. These two opponents are both part of the NFC conference. Odds for winning it can be found with this link: https://theplayer.com/odds/american-football/usa/nfl/nfl-nfc-conference-winner