Fantasy football projections, Week 13: Texans-Packers featuring Lamar Miller, Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, more

The Week 13 matchup between the Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers features a strong defense against a potent offense. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Running back Lamar Miller limped off the field in the team’s Week 12 loss to the San Diego Chargers. Coach Bill O’Brien expects him to be fine and expects him to play against the Packers. Prior to exiting the game last week, Miller finished with 57 rushing yards on 19 carries. The Texans’ offense has struggled throughout the season. Miller has been held to under 65 rushing yards in four of the last seven games. The games in-between have been solid efforts but it’s hard as a fantasy owner to know which Miller will show up on any given Sunday. The Packers’ run defense ranks seventh in the NFL. It might be hard for Miller to surpass his projections in Week 13 as a result. Fantasy owners in deeper leagues may not have a choice but to start him this week, but other options might be better if available.

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins might be a better bet to surpass his projections against Green Bay. Hopkins caught five out of 10 targets for 70 yards against the Chargers. The effort marked just the third time this season that Hopkins has amassed at least 70 receiving yards. It’s been a disappointing 2016 for him to say the least. The good news is that the Packers are in the bottom third of the league at defending opposing fantasy receivers. Hopkins has also caught at least five passes in six of the last seven games. He will surpass his projections in Week 13. Keep in mind however that he hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 5.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers finally got his Packers their fifth win of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12. He did so by tossing for 313 yards and two touchdown passes. Rodgers has now thrown for at least 300 yards in three straight games and he has 17 touchdown passes over the last six games. He may not be leading the Packers to the playoffs in 2016, but Rodgers may lead fantasy owners to a championship by the time the NFL’s regular season comes to a close. He’s up against a tough Texans’ secondary in Week 13, but it’s hard to imagine Rodgers falling below his projections even with an ailing hamstring.

Rodgers will look to get his top wide receiver back into the end zone against the Texans. Jordy Nelson caught eight passes for 91 yards against Philadelphia last week but didn’t score. Still he’s seen at least 12 targets in three of the last four games. Add to that the fact that Nelson had scored in four straight contest leading up to the game against Philadelphia and it’s obvious he is back in top form. Only two teams are better at defending opposing fantasy receivers than Houston, but Green Bay’s offense is operating at full force, at least when it comes to the passing game. For that reason fantasy owners should rightfully expect Nelson to surpass his projections in Week 13.