NFL Wild Card Monday Fantasy Recap: Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua and More Help Rams Over Vikings

After a weekend of mostly one-sided games, the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams finished up the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs Monday night. They didn’t add much drama to the slate, as the Rams took the lead early and cruised through most of the second half to a 27-9 victory.

Let’s look at the best offensive and defensive performers from each team and what’s next moving forward for both the advancing and the eliminated.

The Game

Los Angeles started with the ball and drove down for a touchdown in less than five minutes. They never relinquished the lead, going up by double digits before the end of the first quarter and leading 24-3 at halftime.

Minnesota never made a real push in the second half. When they scored their only touchdown 10 minutes into the third quarter, they missed the two-point conversion, an outcome that seemed to end their last hopes of a comeback.

Rams Offense

Stafford’s 209 yards were modest, but he did it on just 27 attempts while his team was leading, averaging 7.7 yards per throw. He had two touchdowns and no interceptions, finishing with close to 16 fantasy points.

Kyren Williams led the backfield, as he usually does, turning 16 carries into 76 yards (4.8 per attempt). He also caught three passes for 16 yards and a touchdown, making for a big real and fantasy day (around 15 standard fantasy points and 18 PPR).

Cooper Kupp had an anonymous game, catching his only target for 29 yards. Puka Nacua saw nine targets, catching five for 44 yards. The only other wide receiver to receive a target was Demarcus Robinson, who caught one pass for 23 yards.

Tight end Tyler Higbee started the day hot, catching five passes for 58 yards in the first half. He left with a chest injury, though, and his status is uncertain moving forward. Fellow TEs Colby Parkinson, Hunter Long, and Davis Allen combined for four catches and 39 yards, with Allen scoring a touchdown.

Rams Defense

There’s a lot to like here:

• The Rams sacked Sam Darnold nine times, tied for the record in a playoff game. Those sacks accumulated 82 lost yards.
• LA scored a touchdown on a fumble by Darnold in the second quarter.
• After a penalty for roughing the punter extended a Minnesota drive, Los Angeles intercepted a pass three plays later.
• Darnold averaged just 6.1 yards per pass attempt, never finding a consistent groove. He held onto the ball way too long multiple times because he couldn’t find an open man, leading to a few of those sacks.

Neville Gallimore and Byron Young had 1.5 sacks each. Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant, and Desjuan Johnson all recorded one sack, and Michael Hoecht and Braden Fiske each had half a sack. Kobie Turner led the team with two full sacks.

Young and Turner each had two tackles for loss; Quentin Lake, Darious Williams, Gallimore, Witherspoon, Durant, and Johnson each had one. The Rams were able to stuff the stat sheet against Minnesota.

Durant rounded out his huge day by recording the only interception. Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Jared Verse missed out on those stats, but he was the one that scooped up the fumble and took it for a touchdown.

Vikings Offense

Speaking of Darnold, he’s not the only one to blame for the team losing in the first round (and to Detroit last week in the battle for the top seed), but he’s going to take a brunt of the burden because of his status as the quarterback and because his contract is about to expire. First-round pick J.J. McCarthy will be returning from injury.

Darnold had an OK day, racking up 245 yards, though again, at a below-average 6.1 yards per attempt (league average is near 7.0). His lost fumble and 19 rushing yards cancel each other out from a fantasy football perspective, so one touchdown and one interception put him right around 12 fantasy points.

Top back Aaron Jones couldn’t get going, averaging just 3.7 yards per attempt on the way to 48 rush yards. He did add three catches and 12 yards, but Jones was outplayed by Cam Akers (five carries for 39 yards) from an efficiency standpoint.

Justin Jefferson put up a few numbers, as he always does, catching five passes for 58 yards. Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor were both near three receptions and 30 yards, not picking up the slack left by Jefferson’s middling day.

T.J. Hockenson scored his first touchdown of the season while catching five balls for 64 yards. Hockenson’s fantasy value will be a hot topic heading into 2025 after another full offseason removed from major knee surgery.

Vikings Defense

There is a lot less to talk about here than there was in LA’s defensive section. Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkel had one sack apiece, and Van Ginkel, Byron Murphy Jr., and Ivan Pace Jr. (two) each had tackles for loss.

Minnesota failed to force a turnover, and their two sacks took away only seven yards from the Rams. The Vikings’ offense failed them, but the defense also didn’t make any big plays to turn the game.

Cashman thought he had a touchdown in the first half when he picked up a loose ball and ran it in, but replay showed that Stafford flipped the ball forward near Nacua, making it an incomplete pass.

What’s Next?

Los Angeles Rams

The Rams travel to Philadelphia to play the Eagles at 3 p.m. EST on Sunday. Philly will be a tougher test than Minnesota, as the Eagles have one of the strongest running games in the league and a top-line defense.

If they can pull off the upset (Philadelphia is favored by 6.5), LA would have a chance to host the NFC Championship Game if Washington could also upset the Detroit Lions.

Minnesota Vikings

A big decision looms at quarterback. Darnold had by far the best season of his career, and while not just ANYONE can run the offense, I’d bet that Minnesota believes they can get a similar level of play from their first-round pick at a fraction of Darnold’s eventual free agent price.

Other than that, this season showed that while the Vikings were a good team, they were a step below Detroit and the rest of the top squads. Minnesota needs to figure out what moves they can make to improve their ceiling because they already have a solid roster.