Week 9 of the NFL season concludes on Monday night with a game that could serve as a Super Bowl preview, as the 6-1 Minnesota Vikings host the 6-1 Buffalo Bills at 8:15 p.m. ET on 'Monday Night Football.'
The two teams have arrived at identical records by very different routes. Minnesota has leaned on what is arguably the league's top defense, while Buffalo enters the week leading the NFL in both scoring and total offense.
The Vikings will be without quarterback Kyler Murray, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, so Carson Wentz will start under center for Minnesota.
For daily Fantasy players building single-game NFL DFS lineups on sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings, many rosters are likely to be constructed around the Bills. Even so, Buffalo has been vulnerable defensively, which opens the door for some potentially undervalued Vikings to deliver strong returns.
SportsLine daily Fantasy expert Mike McClure has locked in his picks for the game. McClure is a professional DFS player with more than $2 million in career winnings, and he relies on a prediction model that simulates every snap of NFL action while taking matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account. His methodology has produced major results on both leading platforms, including finishing tied for first in the DraftKings Millionaire Maker twice and winning the FanDuel Million once.
One of McClure's top selections for the game is Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen, one of the NFL's premier dual-threat players at the position, able to pile up Fantasy production through the air and on the ground. A difficult matchup against Minnesota's blitz-heavy defense could keep Allen out of some lineups, but McClure is banking on him producing regardless. Tough defenses can force quarterbacks to run, and the Vikings' reliance on the blitz could also create opportunities for big plays.
McClure is also building around Minnesota running back Jordan Mason. Aaron Jones owns the better season-long numbers in the Vikings' backfield, but Mason may be in the process of becoming the team's RB1. Mason has taken more carries than Jones over the past two weeks, 23 compared with 13, and the Bills have not defended the run particularly well in recent weeks.
McClure is also targeting another undervalued player who he believes could go off for huge numbers on Monday night, a selection he says could be the difference between winning tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. His complete picks and analysis are available at SportsLine.
