The 3-6 Broncos travel to Minnesota to take on the 7-3 Vikings for their week 11 matchup. The Vikings are favored in this game at home by ten points even with star wide receiver Adam Thielen still out of the lineup.
Broncos Seeking Bounce Back
The Denver Broncos are coming off a 24-19 win over the Cleveland Browns last week in Brandon Allen’s first start at quarterback in place of the injured Joe Flacco. With the new quarterback stepping in, playing well, and getting the win, the Broncos will look to continue pushing their season in the right direction. A win on the road against a very tough Vikings team would be huge for them.
In his first start, and win, Brandon Allen stepped up to the plate against the Browns fierce pass rush and threw for 193 yards on 20 attempts and tossed two touchdowns without an interception. It is common for a team to limit the passing game for a new quarterback like this and with Phillip Lindsay breaking off big plays in the backfield, this allowed them to keep moving the ball down field.
Lindsay finished last week with just nine carries, but he made the most out of them for 92 yards and a touchdown. With Allen in at quarterback, look for Lindsay to have a bigger role moving forward and make a big impact in this week’s game against the Vikings.
Denver is averaging just 16.6 points per game right now while allowing 18.9 on defense. They have also posted 335.8 yards of offense while giving up 320 yards per game. They have a lot to improve on and will be outmatched on paper in just about every way on the road against the Vikings, they will have to get everything out of their stars if they hope to keep this game close.
Vikings Looking to Stay Hot
The Vikings will look to keep their season going in the right direction as they are fighting for position in both the NFC North and the wildcard standings. They are coming off a win over Dallas on the road where both Dalvin Cook and Kirk Cousins played very well, keeping the offense moving without Adam Thielen.
After a slow start to the season, Kirk Cousins has turned things around and now has the offense firing on all cylinders. He has thrown for 2,437 yards, 18 touchdowns and three interceptions. He has been one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL over the past few weeks after looking like he could be done in Minnesota back in week four of the season.
Dalvin Cook has put together a nice season on the ground for the Vikings, helping them move in the right direction with the big loss of top wide receiver Adam Thielen. Cook has 203 attempts this year for 991 yards and 10 touchdowns, he has also been a big contributor in the passing game both blocking and receiving. The Vikings should be able to get the win this week, but they will need Cook to help them control the tempo once again.
What to expect
The Vikings are the clear-cut better team on paper in this game, and now that they are back at home, I do not see them dropping this game to the Broncos. Brandon Allen looked good in his first start with his limited attempts but on the road in a hostile environment against the Vikings will be a big adjustment and could lead to a very rough outing. The Broncos do have few stars on their defense and a good backfield, this could keep them within the 10-point spread.
