The Week 2 matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings features division rivals both coming off of losses. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 2: Lions-Vikings featuring Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford and Adrian Peterson
We break down the Week 2 matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings.
Detroit Lions
The Lions looked to be in good shape last week against the San Diego Chargers. The team got to halftime with a 21-10 lead. Unfortunately Detroit was unable to win the game and quarterback Matthew Stafford finished with 246 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He’ll certainly need to be better against the Vikings, but fantasy owners should definitely start Stafford as he can put up monster numbers on any given Sunday.
Some of his big time plays will undoubtedly fall into the hands of wide receiver Calvin Johnson, despite Johnson catching just two passes in the opening game of the season. It wasn’t an ideal result for his fantasy owners, but he’s just too big, too strong and too talented to ever be on the bench, no matter what the league format is. He should be back to his old self against Minnesota.
Minnesota Vikings
Football fans all across the country eagerly watched last week’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers as running back Adrian Peterson made his return from a year-long suspension. Nobody expected that he would put together a dud performance, but that’s exactly what happened. Peterson posted just 52 total yards on 13 touches. It’s obvious that it might take a while for him to get his timing back, but his ability is too amazing to warrant putting him on the bench. Hopefully Peterson is back to being the Purple Jesus of old in Week 2.
Maybe an improved performance from teammate Charles Johnson will help open things up on the ground for Peterson on Sunday. The second-year wide receiver is expected to break out as a fantasy star this season. Week 1 wasn’t a good start, though. He was only targeted three times against the 49ers, catching two passes for 27 yards. Fantasy owners who were hoping to make Johnson a regular starter this season should probably hold off against the Lions, but that doesn’t mean the potential for a big game isn’t there.
