The 2007 fantasy football season is all but finished, and it ended much like it started: Quarterbacks continued to dominate the stat sheets.
Seven of the top 10 performances of the week came from signal-callers, one of which didn't even start for his team. On the flip side, injuries to three prominent featured backs and one stud wide receiver all but dashed the title aspirations of countless owners. With postseason seeds almost secured, some players were also rested for the second season.
Let's take a look at the best and worst performances from fantasy championship week.
Best performances
- Kurt Warner, QB, Arizona (32 points): Has there been a hotter quarterback in fantasy football than Warner? He threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-27 win over Atlanta and finished the fantasy season with 20-plus points in seven of his final eight starts. Warner, whose touchdowns came on passes of 4, 13 and 4 yards, finished as one of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL despite not being a starter to open the season. His value will fall in 2008, however, as Matt Leinart will be the favorite to start.
- Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis (30 points): Manning made like Santa Claus in fantasy championship week with 311 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-15 blowout win over Houston. The Super Bowl XLI MVP threw two scores to Dallas Clark on connections of 6 and 11 yards, and his final touchdown went to Reggie Wayne on a 7-yard strike.
T-3. Donovan McNabb, QB, Philadelphia (29 points): McNabb was one of the most inconsistent quarterbacks of the fantasy football season, but he rose to the occasion when he was needed the most. The veteran threw for 263 yards, rushed for 37 yards and tossed three touchdown passes in a 38-23 win over New Orleans on Sunday. McNabb finished with 18 touchdown passes for the fantasy season.
T-3. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh (29 points): One of the most underrated fantasy quarterbacks of the 2007 season, Roethlisberger threw for 261 yards and tossed three more touchdowns in Thursday night's 41-24 win over St. Louis. Big Ben thrived under OC Bruce Arians and finished the fantasy football season with a career-best 34 total touchdowns.
- Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona (28 points): Boldin entered this weekend with one double-digit performance on NFL.com since Week 3, but he sure did offer up some nice gifts for owners when it counted. The Florida State product caught 13 passes for 162 yards and scored twice against Atlanta in what was his best performance since late September.
Worst performances
T-1. Willie Parker, RB, Pittsburgh (0 points): Parker's statistical failure in championship week was no fault of his own, but the bottom line is that he was active in over 90 percent of NFL.com leagues on Thursday night when he went down with a fractured right fibula. Parker had minus-1 rushing yard in the contest, and that 0-point performance cost countless owners a chance at their league's title.
T-1. Plaxico Burress, WR, N.Y. Giants (0 points): The weather outside in Buffalo was frightful, so the numbers of Burress and Eli Manning (minus-4 points) were not so delightful. Burress hauled in just one pass for six yards in a 38-21 win, due in large part to the awful weather conditions at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Burress started the regular season on absolute fire, but an injured ankle caused him to lack a consistent level of production down the stretch.
T-3. Kevin Jones, RB, Detroit (1 point): Much like Parker, Jones was injured in his contest and was forced to miss most of the week as a result. The veteran out of Virginia Tech injured his right leg in the second quarter against Kansas City and failed to return, and in turn finished with 15 rushing yards and no touchdowns in a 25-20 win.
T-3. Willis McGahee, RB, Baltimore (1 point): Notice a trend this week? McGahee was one of several top-notch fantasy performers to miss most of the week due to injuries. The former Miami Hurricanes standout suffered an injured rib in the first quarter against Seattle and was ruled out for the rest of the contest. He finished with five carries, 10 yards and no touchdowns.
T-3. Marques Colston, WR, New Orleans (1 point): Colston entered fantasy championship week as one of the hottest wideouts in the NFL, but he too fell due to injuries. He suffered a chest contusion in the second quarter of a loss to Philadelphia and was forced to miss most of the contest as a result.