Week 5 Fantasy Football Awards
The 49ers looked unstoppable, the Chiefs rose from the dead and the kings of hype, Philadelphia, continued to circle the drain. Plus, two of the best fantasy quarterbacks ever in Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady had 300-plus yard games that looked routine, and dare we say, borderline ho-hum. Let's take a closer look and hand out some hardware for the performances that made the greatest impact.
1. The Real Steel Award: Not the punching robot movie, but Ben Roethlisberger and the missing Steelers passing game finally showed up. Unfortunately, about 99 percent of fantasy owners everywhere didn't get to enjoy the point explosion after dying on the vine at the starting spot with him following three TDs the first month. But now at least Big Ben owners have a glimmer of hope, because he still is a top-10 QB, and despite a showing a nasty limp at times, finally looked like one.
2. The Michael Clayton award: Tampa Bay's Mike Williams turned in another invisible performance. It's eerily similar of another former Bucs receiver who also had a good rookie season and then went poof. There's still time for Williams to turn it around, but he has yet to post 69 yards or more in a game and has 155 total on the season -- or about roughly the amount Wes Welker is putting up every two quarters this year. He's not alone, as Tampa Bay in general, has been underwhelming.
3. The Turn Back The Clock Award: Just because the Bills and Lions look great and the 49ers are relevant again, it doesn't mean the league is totally upside down. Enter the Cardinals, who look just as terrible as they used to in the old days thanks to Kevin Kolb's struggles and a shaky defense. Paying the price is Larry Fitzgerald's value, which has taken a hit as a low mid-range WR2. Who knew Beanie (when healthy) Wells would be the one to have a breakout season amidst the rubble?
4. The KC Masterpiece Award: Sure, the Colts looked like a prime matchup from the start, but it was good to see Matt Cassel blow up -- especially for Dwayne Bowe owners who broke out. The K.C. QB still doesn't seem reliable enough for a solid QB2 to use on bye week, but Bowe is making experts who picked him for their preseason bust lists eat some crow, medium well. For the fourth week in a row, Bowe has gone over 100 yards and or scored -- which, when you consider Cassel's ups and downs in the post-Jamaal Charles world this season, is no small feat.
5. The It's Raining Flags Award: To the Raiders running game. The emotional win for the late Al Davis over Houston might not have had to come down to the final play of the game -- just ask fantasy owners of Darren McFadden. Six runs came back thanks to penalty flags (many questionable) amounting to roughly 80 lost yards including a 43-yard scamper. As a result, McFadden ended up with a mediocre 51 yards in what might have been a 130-plus game.
6. The Joseph Addai Award: To ... why not, Joseph Addai, as the king of mid-game injuries strikes again. Addai looked like a fine flex play going against the soft-against-the- run Chiefs heading into Sunday. Instead, the one-time first-round fantasy pick's body again went into self-destruct mode as a right hamstring knocked him out of the lineup. Delone Carter picked up the slack and flashed just enough promise for dynasty league owners still hoping for Donald Brown to kick themselves one more time. Too bad the Colts, by and large, are mostly unstartable. No matter how encouraging Curtis Painter looks -- he's still Curtis Painter.
7. The Ben Tate Award: Otherwise known the backup RB of the day who may or may not do anything else this year. The Chiefs' Jackie Battle (who?) and the Steelers' Jonathan Dwyer both banged out 100-plus yards in out of left field performances. Both should be picked up, just as a general rule of the waiver wire because A) they're running backs; and B) they're breathing. Dwyer is on the better team, but I like Battle's chances more going forward just because of the chance he has for a serious workload. Mendenhall's hamstring is something to watch, but unlike Charles, at least he's coming back eventually.
8. The Back From The Dead Award: Don't look now, but Shonn Greene had himself a moment -- too bad no fantasy owner in their right mind benefited. The same back averaging 2.3 yards heading into Sunday finally showed something with more than 80 yards and 4.0 per clip with a TD. The Jets offensive issues are complicated, as any Santonio Holmes or Dustin Keller owner will tell you, but it's now or never for Greene to take the lead back role. It was his second score of the year, but his first time with an actual amount of carries befitting a workhorse.
Still the one: I've got all the love in the world for the star-destroying power of Adrian Peterson, but the most dynamic player in fantasy to me is still Michael Vick. Over 300 yards passing, nearly 100 rushing with two touchdowns, not to mention a third rushing score nullified on a penalty and his fantasy points were still a handful, even when factoring the interceptions. Two weeks ago, he passed for over 400 yards. He has yet to run in his first touchdown, yet the rushing numbers are a fine bonus. Sure, the mistakes and losses are piling up for the Eagles, but Vick is still the ultimate game-changer. He's still among the top-six or seven scoring players no matter the format and he hasn't even played that well. Just think what he'd be doing with an actual offensive line.
