Hockenson (concussion) practiced fully Friday and doesn't have a designation for Sunday's game versus the Colts, Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio reports.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell said Friday that Mason (thumb) is listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Colts after practicing fully all week, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports.
Elliss (calf) doesn't carry an injury designation into Sunday's game against the Steelers.
Kamara (back) was limited at Friday's practice but does not have an injury designation for Week 7, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com reports.
Darrisaw (concussion) was a full participant at the Vikings practice Thursday.
Mason (thumb) practiced fully Thursday.
Hockenson (concussion) Adam Grosbard of The Orange County Register Thursday.
Jefferson (ankle) practiced in full Thursday, Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio reports.
Donaldson (shoulder) practiced without limitations Thursday.
Riley was a full participant in practice Wednesday.
The last three weeks, Aaron Jones is averaging 20 carries per game. The last two games, he’s added 4-5 receptions. Jones has totaled 105, 92 and 128 yards in the last three. The Saints’ defense is missing some key tacklers and already allows 5.1 yards per carry and ranked dead-last in rush yards allowed going into Week 5. The Vikings will find a way to get Jones the ball, especially with Justin Jefferson out.
FanDuel. Alvin Kamara has struggled on the ground this season, yielding only 3.0 yards per carry. And through the air, he’s turned 14 targets into just 47 receiving yards. So even in an elevated role without Travis Etienne, I’m very okay fading the ten-year veteran on his combined line in what is an awful matchup. The Vikings are fourth in FTN’s DVOA metric against the run, and second against running backs in the passing game. Overall, they allow the fifth fewest yards to the position. Kamara comes into this game questionable, and splitting touches as is. I’d bet this down to under 50.5.
This Minnesota Vikings defense is a stifling one and does a great job of applying constant pressure. When you look at the struggles of the Saints offense this season, it is a combination of their inability to run the ball and QB Tyler Shough's inability to operate vs pressure. That is a recipe for disaster vs Minnesota.
Veteran running back Aaron Jones has averaged 20 carries over the past three games, and he should get another big workload Sunday. He is dominating touches in Minnesota's backfield. Sunday, Jones faces a Saints defense that remains without linebackers Kaden Elliss and Anfernee Jennings. With Kyler Murray back under center the past two weeks, Jones has been targeted 14 times. Even with Minnesota's offensive line injuries, I bet on another big game from Jones.
The Minnesota Vikings' 4-0 start has been all defense, leading the NFL in scoring (12.8 PPG allowed), 5th in yards (289.3), and 7th in both rushing defense and passing defense. At the same time, the offense has been awful, ranked 31st in yards and 32nd in passing. They have scored just seven touchdowns through four games. The Saints have had their own offensive issues. New Orleans is 29th in the NFL in first half scoring, averaging 6.5 points and have trailed at half of all four games. They are fourth in passing, but only 27th in rushing, not sustaining drives. Brian Flores' defense has been effective generating pressure this season and facing a Saints OL that allowed Tyler Shough to get his 12 times Monday night.
Both Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are questionable for Sunday. There’s already questions about the productivity from the Vikings offense and now could be without their two main playmakers. The New Orleans offense has started slow every game this season, averaging 6.5 points in the first half. If the Vikings can get ahead early, it’s difficult to see how New Orleans will be able to generate points against the number one scoring defense in the league as the Vikings are holding their opponents to 16.5 points per game and shown they’re comfortable controlling lower scoring games.
The Vikings are the blitz-heaviest, most pass-rush aggressive defenses in the league. I would expect the Saints to counter that with a heavy dose of quick-game passes, particularly since their run game has struggled this year. Shough has a 73.4% completion rate when getting the ball out under 2.5 seconds, so if he throws 32 of those passes he should be over. Of course I'd bank on Shough throwing way more than 32 passes -- he's averaged 45 per game -- and he's had at least 27 completions in each game this year and at least 23 completions in 7 of his past 8 games.
With Jordan Mason out, Aaron Jones is getting over 70% of the snap share at RB, hitting 80%+ in two of the last three games. Now he goes up against a New Orleans Saints defense that is 30th in the league against the running, giving up 156 rush yards to Jahmyr Gibbs, 110 combined to Raiders RBs, and over 200 combined to Brian and Bijan Robinson last Monday night.
The Vikings are perhaps the biggest surprise through four weeks at 4-0, and it's thanks to an incredible defense that ranks first in EPA per play, success rate and scoring. The offense has been awful, scoring just one TD in the last three weeks, with Kyler Murray playing the last two games. The Saints' run defense has been abysmal, but considering the Vikings just spent three hours settling for field goals at home against the Dolphins, I'm not sure it matters. I'm going to smash Unders in Vikings games until their offense gives me a reason not to.
I'm taking a bit of a risk here with the Saints yet to play in Week 4 as of writing, but I have to get down on this number while I can. The Vikings have had the worst offense in the league, averaging 4.4 yards per play, and Kyler Murray has not been impressive on the field even with Minnesota stacking wins. They scored no touchdowns against a Miami team that had given up 11 in its previous three games and were unable to cover a big number. No matter how good the defense is playing, this is a team that should not be laying points on the road, especially with the Saints offense quietly being one of Minnesota's toughest matchups in ideal conditions.
