Fantasy football projections, Week 14: Texans-Colts featuring Lamar Miller, Andrew Luck, Donte Moncrief, more

The Week 14 matchup between the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts features division rivals facing off in a regular season rematch. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Running back Lamar Miller has been playing through a rib injury over the last couple of weeks and it’s obvious it’s affecting his production. Miller was forced to miss a series against the Green Bay Packers early in the game. Even once he returned, Miller could only manage to rush for 22 yards despite carrying the ball 14 times. The Texans are struggling offensively in general. Much of the blame for that has been placed on the shoulders of quarterback Brock Osweiler. Regardless, it’s hard to trust Miller right now even going into a generally juicy matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. Should the Texans fall behind early in the game, the rush attack will have to be pushed aside in favor of the pass. Given Miller’s current injury situation and the likely game flow, it’s hard to imagine him passing his projections this time around.

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins likely has a higher floor than Miller. Hopkins caught his fourth touchdown pass of the season against the Packers. It was the first time he was able to find the end zone in seven weeks. It’s clear now that the arrival of Mr. Osweiler has done nothing but crush Hopkins’s fantasy value in 2016. Perhaps a glimmer of hope still remains. The Colts have been nothing short of mediocre against the pass for years now. If Hopkins can string together two straight solid games, he just may provide a return on investment throughout the postseason. It wouldn’t save his entire year, but even the most irritated fantasy owner would take that.

Andrew Luck absolutely dominated the New York Jets in Week 13. His performance was such that it caused experts around the NFL to question whether or not Jets players have decided to quit on 2016. Luck finished with 22 completions for 278 passing yards and four touchdowns. The effort marked the second time this season that Luck has thrown four touchdowns in a game. A big win against the division rival Texans could be on the horizon. It would make perfect sense given that Luck is healthy, and he has his full arsenal of receivers ready to play. He’ll beat his projections in Week 14, even against a tough Texans defense.

Better play from Luck will likely keep the good fortune coming in the direction of wide receiver Donte Moncrief. Moncrief scored for the fifth straight game against the Jets last week. He’s the first Colts player to do that since Reggie Wayne in 2009. Even though Moncrief is scoring seemingly at will, he’s been held to 55 receiving yards or less in six of the seven games he’s played this year. Whether or not he can surpass his projections against the Texans is clearly a touchdown-dependent situation right now. The Texans are good enough to keep Moncrief out of the end zone in Week 14.