Sometimes, you've just got to take the names out of it and assess a situation for what it is. And that can lend a hand in our pursuit for weirdness this week.
For example, in one situation, you have a team playing in a dome, which we always love. They're numberFire's 11th-ranked passing offense, and they're facing the 30th-ranked pass defense. Potentially due to this, the over/under on the game has risen 1.5 points since it opened, and the team's implied total has gone up a full point. This is a team we'd want to use, right?
That's what the Minnesota Vikings have going for them in Week 15. And yes, we want to invest despite our perceptions of their offense.
We've been allowed to forget this recently, but the Indianapolis Colts' pass defense is truly not great, Bob. From Week 4 through Week 12, they allowed every quarterback they faced to throw at least two touchdowns against them, and they had just two interceptions over that time.
The reason we may have forgotten this is their past two matchups have come against the league's 29th- and 30th-ranked pass offenses, respectively, but they're back in play this week.
In looking at Sam Bradford as a fantasy asset, there has hardly been any upside this entire season. His highest single-game output is 19.28 points, and that's not a ceiling we want on our tournament rosters. That doesn't mean his upside is non-existent, though, and we may be starting to see glimpses of that.
Two weeks ago, Bradford expressed a bit of a critique of the Vikings' offense.
Sam Bradford said the Vikings need to take more deep shots. They could find opportunities to do so against Dallas: https://t.co/q3VFxek98N
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) November 28, 2016
This didn't shine through in that game against Dallas, but it did in Week 14 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings have just seven completions of at least 40 yards this year, but three of them came last week. Before that, they had only one 40-yard completion in the five games since Pat Shurmur took over as offensive coordinator.
They found success with the deep ball against a talented Jaguars secondary; they might be able to do so against the Colts, as well.
This isn't to say Bradford is your only low-cost option here. The aforementioned Trevor Siemian has already had high-upside games this year, his matchup is great, and he's $100 cheaper than Bradford. He may be the best true, low-cost route, but Bradford has some kick, too.
Even if you're not using Bradford, you'll want exposure to Kyle Rudolph. He has a 25.64% target market share the past three games, and it's at 21.35% for the entire season. Those are top-end numbers for a tight end, and he'll be facing a Colts defense that has already allowed seven tight ends to rack up at least 60 receiving yards against them.
Rudolph can do that, and he has the touchdown upside, making him a tremendous choice at the position this week.
Choosing between Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen isn't easy if you decide to go away from Rudolph. Thielen has been eating into Diggs' role recently, and it means that he, himself, has viability this week. The advantage in Diggs is a price tag that has sunk all the way to $6,300, a mark from which he could obliterate value if he restores his role.
Prior to his most recent injury, Diggs' target market share in games he had played was 28.21%. His snap rate has been below 80% in each of his two games since, so it would appear that he's not quite back to tip-top shape just yet.
But if giving him an extra week of space from the injury can get him there, we could be getting a target monster in a great matchup for a bargain price, and that's not a bad gamble to take.