If we're being 100 percent honest with ourselves, the Indianapolis Colts (3-4) haven't looked consistently good in a single game this year. I know that's hard to wrap your head around after they made an impressive run to the AFC Championship game last year and added a slew of solid veterans this offseason. But Andrew Luck has missed two games with a shoulder injury and struggled in others (his recent back-to-back 300-yard/multi-TD games were both losses, for what it's worth).
Has this spread to Indy's pass-catchers? It's hard to say. From a fantasy football perspective, both T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief have been solid this year. Hilton has 37 receptions for 606 yards and three touchdowns while Moncrief has 34 catches for 381 yards and five touchdowns. However, they haven't really both "gone off" in a game together; it's been more of an either/or situation.
So which one should you trust in Week 8 against the Carolina Panthers' rough defense? Maybe Moncrief as ESPN Senior Fantasy analyst Matthew Berry is down on Hilton this week.
"You probably don't have a better option, but I'd lower expectations and avoid [Hilton] in daily," Berry wrote in his weekly Love/Hate column. "The 'WR1' of the opposing team has yet to score against the Panthers this season and is averaging less than 40 yards a game. The Panthers have allowed the lowest completion percentage on deep passes (15-plus yards) this season and they can get after the QB. The Panthers have a top-10 pass rush and when under pressure, Andrew Luck is dead last in accuracy among 30 qualifiers this season. Hilton has the speed to take one to the house any time he touches it, but with that pass rush, it will be hard to let deep plays develop."
Carolina ranks eighth in the NFL in sacks (18.0) and both Kawann Short and Kony Ealy rank in the top 20 for QB hurries so far. That can be an effective tool against Indy's mismatched offensive line. What's more is that Carolina's top cover corner Josh Norman is in the midst of a breakout season. His stellar play has helped the Panthers allow just the fourth-fewest yards and third-fewest fantasy poins to opposing wide receivers this year.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that Hilton owners shouldn't expect much this week and if an Indy WR does go off, it will probably be Moncrief.
