The Week 8 matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the Carolina Panthers features two teams leading their respective divisions while one looks way more dominant than the other. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 8: Colts-Panthers featuring Andrew Luck, Frank Gore and Jonathan Stewart
We break down the Week 8 matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the Carolina Panthers.
Indianapolis Colts
At 3-4, the Indianapolis Colts would almost certainly be in the middle of the pack in their division if they were anywhere else besides the AFC South. Nevertheless, a win against the Carolina Panthers is a necessity as it would hopefully give them some breathing room. Quarterback Andrew Luck’s performance against a stout Panthers defense will go a long way toward a victory. Not only has he taken a loss in each of the last two games, but Luck also hasn’t given fantasy owners the numbers they were used to seeing last year. A high yardage total may be tough to come by this week, but hopefully Luck prevails.
If he struggles then running back Frank Gore will try to even things out by dominating in the running game. That will also be a tall task against Carolina. Ahmad Bradshaw is back with the team but hasn’t had a ton of action yet, so for now the ground game belongs to Gore. While Gore is no longer a top fantasy option, he still has RB2 value even at his advanced age. He’ll be in tough against the Panthers much like his quarterback, but maybe Gore breaks a big run or two to help his stats.
Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton has been getting a ton of credit for leading the Panthers to a perfect 6-0 record. Few would have predicted the team would be that good and he definitely deserves the praise. At the same time, over the last two games in particular, Newton’s fantasy owners have been lucky to walk away with the win. He has five interceptions and just two touchdown passes over that span. While he has also rushed for scores recently, those interception totals need to come down. The good news is the Colts don’t exactly possess the most intimidating secondary unit. This week may be a good one to start Newton.
Perhaps some of Newton’s lack of fantasy production lately has to do with Jonathan Stewart’s solid play over the last two weeks. He rushed for a season-high 125 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles last week, and two weeks ago he carried the ball 20 times for 78 yards and found the end zone twice. Stewart should be a good bet to score against the Colts, who’ve been generous to running games for the last number of years.
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