We are officially past the halfway point of the season and the race to the fantasy playoffs is heating up. Your margin for error is getting smaller. The degree of difficulty is getting bigger. The Fantasy Football Audibles are here for you.
I have an irrational fantasy man crush on Dwayne Allen and I frequently implored you to join me in this crush. He has Andrew Luck's trust and more importantly is seeing targets around the goal line. That's invaulable. But ... Jimmy Graham. In last week's second half, he started to look like the guy you spent a first-round pick on and he's continuing to get healthier. Plus, he's traditionally torched the Panthers -- averaging 71 yards per game with seven touchdowns in eight games. It's safe to roll with the big Saint.
The Panthers didn't give up huge rushing totals to the Seahawks last week, but Seattle still averaged 4.6 yards per rush. Enter Mark Ingram, who picked up right where he left off after his injury. At this point, it's hard to deny him a spot in your lineup every week. Granted, you might be able to say the same about Hillman ... and he's done it against some stout run defenses with the Jets, 49ers and Chargers feeling his wrath. That's encouraging against a Patriots run defense that has leaked a little oil in recent weeks. In what could be a pretty high-scoring affair, Hillman gets the nod.
Few fantasy quarterbacks have been as consistent as Drew Brees. But consistent isn't always good. His career outings against the Panthers have been fairly mediocre (29 TD, 14 INT in 16 games). And Brees is consistently underwhelming on the road. Meanwhile, road teams on Thursday night consistently struggle. Russell Wilson hasn't been particularly consistent, but he has a decent matchup at home. That might be enough for him to have the edge.
Marcas Grant is a fantasy editor for NFL.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarcasG.
