Fantasy glory was on the line this week in many leagues and for those lucky few player still alive in their brackets, the Christmas weekend either brought a bounty of fantasy success or a stocking full of football coal.
And as for the individual players that make up your rosters, sometimes it doesn’t matter how successful a season a player has had for you, how many wins they’ve helped you rack up. If they under perform when the championship is on the line he’ll never remember them with fond feelings.
Let’s take a look at some the difference makers from Week 16.
The Stand Outs
Aaron Rodgers
283 yards passing, 5 TD
After getting stymied by and delivering a pedestrian performance against the Chiefs Rodgers returned to form on Christmas night by putting up the best fantasy output of the week. Nothing like a depleted Bears team to get the top rated NFL passer back on track.
Cam Newton
171 yards passing, 65 yards rushing, 4 TD (3 pass, 1 rush)
With his performance on Sunday Newton eclipsed Peyton Manning’s rookie passing yards record, set a franchise mark with a 91 yard touchdown pass and added to his single season record for rushing TDs by a quarterback. He continues to show why heading into next year he’ll likely be one of the top QBs taken and given his age, he’s a surefire keeper for leagues were you can carry players over to the next season.
Jared Cook, TE Titans
8 receptions, 169 receiving yards and 1 TD
Cook was a sleeper in many drafts during the preseason but hadn’t put up stellar numbers this season until he finally eclipsed 100 yards receiving last week. This week he topped that performance by going for a career day and earning any fantasy owners who started him a ton of bonus points they probably weren’t counting on.
Matthew Stafford, QB Lions
373 yards passing, 3 TD
If you were watching the first half of the Chargers-Lions game you probably would’ve thought Stafford was going to throw for 6 or 7 TDs on the day but he cooled off a bit in the second half as the Lions cruised to victory over the Bolts and secured their first playoff spot sine 1999.
Jerome Simpson, WR Bengals
42 yards receiving, 1 TD
Sure, the 41 yards receiving didn’t even lead his own team but it’s his one touchdown that gives him an honorary mention on this list. It’s too bad they don’t award style points in fantasy football but if they did Simpson would’ve earned at least 20 on this play. Check it out:
Next Page: The Floppers
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