Vikings vs Packers Props: Graham To Catch More Than Rudolph, Rodgers To Outdo Cousins

• The Minnesota Vikings threw the ball just 10 times in Week 1
• Kyle Rudolph failed to catch a single pass in the Vikings opener
• As a team, Minnesota ran the ball 39 times with Dalvin Cook getting 21 carries and a pair of touchdowns.

With the Chicago Bears losing, the Detroit Lions tying and the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers both winning, the Week 2 showdown between the latter two sets up for an early first-place battle in the NFC North. With the Minnesota Vikings vs Green Bay Packers odds being tough to call, let’s see if we can find some value with player props:

Prop #1: Jimmy Graham More Receptions Than Kyle Rudolph

*Odds taken 09/13/19

It’s become clear that the Minnesota Vikings – now that they have Gary Kubiak as an offensive assistant – are planning to run the ball as much as possible and avoid putting the game on Kirk Cousins’ shoulder. One of the early losers in that change has been Kyle Rudolph, who didn’t register a single catch in Week 1.

Graham was used sparingly in the Packers opened as he caught just three passes for 30 yards, but he did catch the game-winning touchdown. I’m expecting Aaron Rodgers to use him more and more as he doesn’t have any reliable options outside of Davante Adams. Graham should finish the day with more grabs here.

Prop #2: Dalvin Cook To Have 18+ Carries, 73+ Rushing Yards, 1+ Rushing TD

As mentioned, the Vikings have made an ideological change over the summer to run the ball a lot more and not make the passing game do everything. We saw that in Week 1 when Cousins had just 10 pass attempts in the entire game, while the Vikings ran the ball a whopping 38 times.

I like this treble here as it’s a little parlay of Dalvin Cook prop, all essentially assuming that he has a decent day. He had 21 carries in the opener and I’m expecting around that number once again. While I don’t think he crosses 100 yards on Sunday, I do think he’s around 75-80 yards and gets into the end zone.

This is a road game and the Vikings can’t go on the road and expect to win without running it and maintaining balance.

Prop #3: Aaron Rodgers More Completions than Kirk Cousins

Sticking with the same theme that we’ve been running with, it sets up well for this Rodgers versus Cousins completions prop. The Vikings are going to be emphasizing the ground game in this spot as they already know that airing it out with Cousins is something that has to be done sparingly. It can’t be the focal point.

As mentioned, Cousins had just 10 attempts in Week 1 and he completed eight of those passes. To put that in perspective, he had less than 28 attempts just twice last season (both blowout wins). He averaged 37.9 attempts per game. With the significant shift, Rodgers should win this prop.

The Packers also want to run the ball more but it still resulted in Rodgers putting it up 30 times in Week 1. That’s in a close, low-scoring game. I don’t think the game flow will be significantly different here. At any rate, he should have more attempts and more completions than Cousins in Week 2.