Bills at Vikings on Monday Night Football: the NFL's Top Offense Meets Its Stingiest Defense in a 6-1 Showdown
Buffalo brings a 33.3-points-a-game offense to U.S. Bank Stadium tonight; Minnesota answers with a defense allowing 13.3 a game - and with Carson Wentz at quarterback, because Kyler Murray is out. Kickoff is 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Week 9 ends with the kind of Monday night the schedule-makers dream about: the 6-1 Buffalo Bills at the 6-1 Minnesota Vikings, the NFL's highest-scoring offense against its stingiest defense. Buffalo averages 33.3 points a game. Minnesota allows 13.3. Something bends tonight at U.S. Bank Stadium, and the kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. Eastern.
Buffalo's engine is Josh Allen, who arrives as the first player in NFL history, NFL Research found, to record at least eight passing touchdowns and eight rushing touchdowns in his team's first seven games of a season - he has 11 of the first and nine of the second, DAZN reports. James Cook gives the offense its floor: 707 rushing yards, seven touchdowns, and a rushing score in each of his last six games. The Bills have won three straight, and their pass rush travels, too - Greg Rousseau already has seven sacks. The worry is up front: left tackle Dion Dawkins did not practice all week with a rib injury and left guard Alec Anderson only returned Saturday from an ankle injury; both are questionable against a Minnesota front built to exploit exactly that.
Minnesota's quarterback news is the week's twist. Kyler Murray has been ruled out with a hamstring strain, so Carson Wentz makes his second start of the season - and the Vikings won both games Wentz played earlier this year, including the Week 1 comeback against Green Bay in which Justin Jefferson caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Jefferson, at 335 receiving yards through six games, is on course for the lowest total of his career, and his frustration with the offense has become obvious; Wentz is also without receiver Jauan Jennings, ruled out with a calf injury. What Minnesota trusts instead is its defense: Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner have combined for 12.5 sacks, Byron Murphy has three interceptions, the Vikings blitz more than any team in the league, they have forced at least one takeaway in every game - 12 in all - and they own the league's best red-zone defense.
The Vikings lost for the first time last week, 19-15 to Detroit, which is how a 6-1 team comes home angry. Halftime carries its own ceremony: Adrian Peterson will be inducted into the Vikings Ring of Honor, its 29th member. DAZN's Jason Abbey picks Buffalo, 23-16, figuring Flores will make Allen uncomfortable but Minnesota's 29th-ranked offense cannot keep pace. The Texans, who play at Cleveland on Sunday, get to watch two 6-1 teams set the week's final measuring stick from the couch.
