You can watch “Thursday Night Football: Rams vs. Vikings” at 8:20 p.m. ET/5:20 p.m. PT on Amazon Prime Video.

There have been a lot of rumors about the Rams and Vikings lately. The Rams are allegedly Shopping Cooper Kupp. The Vikings are allegedly tries to trade Sam Darnold to the Rams for Matthew Stafford.

So it’s ideal for these two NFC teams to face each other on Thursday Night Football in Week 8. Let’s get to the history of the tape.

Cooper Kupp (and Puka Nacua?!) are back – what can we expect?

Wayyyy, in Week 1, Cooper Kupp looked like the steal of fantasy drafts around the world. While everyone was thinking about his injury history and age-related regression, Kupp started the year with a fantasy 25-point outburst.

He seemed on track to do the same in Week 2 before suffering an ankle injury that sidelined him for the next six weeks (Rams had a bye in Week 6). But he is back in full training and is expected to start this evening. Fantasy managers undoubtedly enjoy adding him to their starting lineup like Thanos with the Time Stone. The question is: Will Kupp immediately slip back into an unearthly volume?

Well, let’s go back in time. Kupp missed two games in 2018 with an MCL sprain. In his first game back he posted statistics of 6-5-89-1. He was third in targets and second in catches behind Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks, respectively. Kupp suffered a torn ACL later that season.

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Now, with Puka Nacua likely limited in his first game back, the Rams’ receiving corps isn’t as strong as it was in 2018. Kupp’s involvement will be a necessity if the Rams have a chance against this high-powered Vikings offense. But we can’t be sure he won’t be used sparingly, as his ankle injury was much more serious than the MCL sprain in 2018 that cost him two games. For all we know, Kupp will be out there running deception routes!

Or Stafford targets Kupp from the bus and he ends up with something like 13-9-106-1.

TL;DR – You start with Kupp unless you have an embarrassment of riches at WR in your fantasy lineup and you’re hoping he’s fully healthy and running wide open cross routes like always.

Nacua, on the other hand, went from being activated from the infrared when his practice window opened and was able to play in this game in the time it takes most of us to field a lineup.

I have no idea how this will play out, but it reminds me of the age-old fantasy fear: if you start him, he’ll give you like 3-30. If you bench him he will be 6-120-1.

Imagination is sometimes hard.

Will Kyren Williams make it 10 consecutive games with a touchdown?

Remember when everyone denounced Blake Corum, saying he would eat up Kyren Williams’ workload and eventually replace him? We are convinced that Sean McVay wanted to lure Williams once he had someone who showed everything in the base game.

That seems like a million years ago.

Since then, Williams has shown nothing but a preternatural attraction to the end zone. He is fourth in half-PPR RB scoring and is tied with Derrick Henry for the most rushing touchdowns in the league (8). By the way, Williams also scored a touchdown through the air.

A few weeks ago I might have said this would be the end of Williams’ touchdown streak. But after what Jahmyr Gibbs just did to them, I have a good feeling Williams made it through these 11 games in a row. Sure, the Lions’ offensive line is light years better than the Rams’, and I think we can all agree that Gibbs is a better defender overall than Williams, especially in terms of efficiency.

But we can also all agree that a football nut like McVay was probably keeping a close eye on the Lions’ Week 7 schedule. And considering Kevin O’Connell comes from the McVay coaching line, it wouldn’t surprise me to see McVay see some run game wrinkles in this game, especially with Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua demanding defensive attention. And remember, Williams almost never leaves the field – he’s the third-ranked RBs in overall snap count percentage this season – and even if the Rams fall behind, Williams will be there for the comeback attempt.

This could be Aaron Jones’ best game of 2024

It looks like Aaron Jones will go down as one of the best picks of 2024, an RB1 in an elite offense who was drafted in the late fourth/early fifth round of the draft. The hesitation was understandable; The Vikings have had quarterback questions, and Jones turns 30 in December and has missed some time due to injuries throughout his career. He is currently in 13th place on the overall RB leaderboard (half-PPR).

I’ll keep it short and sweet: The Rams have been absolutely destroyed by opposing running backs this season. This is not an exaggeration; Both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery scored on them in Week 1. James Conner dropped 122 rushing yards and a score on them in Week 2. Jordan Mason ran for 77 yards against them in Week 3. D’Andre Swift destroyed them both through the air and on the ground in Week 4. Jones’ old team, the Green Bay Packers, beat the Rams in Week 5 with the help of Josh Jacobs, who scored and rushed for 73 yards against them. The bye week didn’t help either; Even in a win over the Raiders, the Rams allowed Alexander Mattison a total of 123 yards.

You can argue that overall the Vikings are the best offense the Rams have faced since the Lions in Week 1. Jones is up RB1 overall this week.