Though he has scored a touchdown in back-to-back games and has shown a knack for making big plays, Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson could be in for a tough time Week 16 at Cincinnati. The Bengals rank seventh against the pass, allowing 219.6 yards per game, and have given up the 11th-fewest Fantasy points to wide receivers.
Patterson has proven to be risky regardless of the matchup. Though he scored a touchdown in an extremely favorable one last week against the Eagles, he had only 35 yards on five catches. Only twice this season has he exceeded 50 receiving yards in a game. It just so happens the best of those games came Week 14 at Baltimore, when he caught five passes for 141 yards.
With a more favorable matchup, maybe you roll the dice on Patterson with the Vikings' passing game performing so well in recent weeks, but with this one, it's too risky outside of points-per-reception leagues. It's not like he's the go-to guy Greg Jennings is.
Of the three CBSSports.com Fantasy Football analysts, Dave Richard is willing to rank Patterson 23rd among wide receivers for this week, but I'm inclined to agree with Jamey Eisenberg and Nathan Zegura, who rank him 31st and 35th, respectively.