I hope you have enjoyed the weekly attempts the Buzz has made to recap all things fantasy football on Tuesday mornings this year. For most of you, Week 14 means fantasy playoffs so we’re going to go with a different format to try to better sum up the storylines as they relate to playoff fantasy football.

One great game from a marginal starter can win you a championship this time of year. In contrast, when a star lays an egg, it can cost you dearly. So, who came up big and small this weekend? Who did what they were expected to do? What does it all mean for the next two weeks? And, how do you sum up what happened on Monday night in Green Bay?? The Buzz is here and ready to rock and recap…

Fantasy stars who played like stars…

The list is fairly extensive, but we’ll start at quarterback and proceed with the other skill positions. First off, Ben Roethlisberger (350 yards passing, 3 TDs) has made a tremendous impact this season as a starting fantasy QB and the trend continued when owners needed it most. Andrew Luck and Tom Brady both performed well this weekend, but Roethlisberger was one guy at quarterback who was supposed to bring it and did just that. Congrats to you if you drafted Ben this year and have reaped the rather significant benefits.

Le'Veon Bell: With 235 yards and 3 TDs, the Steelers RB was king of fantasy running backs in Week 14.

At running back, we’ll stay with the Steelers and give major props to Le’Veon Bell (235 total yards, 3 TDs). Since LeGarrette Blount was released, Bell has been the best running back in the league bar none and is starting to look like the top overall pick in 2015 redrafts. The only guy who might give Bell a run for his money with respect to that honor is DeMarco Murray. Murray gained 228 yards of his own vs. the Bears on Thursday night to go along with a touchdown. He also had nine receptions for those of you in PPR leagues. Honorable mention in this category goes to Jamaal Charles (111 yards, 2 TDs) and Arian Foster (148 yards, 1 TD), but Bell and Murray have become the superstars in the NFL/fantasy football and this weekend they played like it for sure.

Wide receiver can be a difficult position to predict as matchups with cornerbacks can impact production as much as anything else. That being said, even with Joe Haden shadowing him all day, T.Y. Hilton showed on Sunday that he’s not just a very good wide receiver with respect to fantasy implications; he’s a bona fide star. Hilton (150 rec yards, 2 TDs) should be a top ten wide receiver for years to come with a QB he can trust to get him the ball. Two other stars who came up huge on Sunday were two guys who have spent time this season nursing injuries, but now appear to be operating at full capacity. I’m talking about A.J. Green (224 rec yards, 1 TD) and Calvin Johnson (158 rec yards, 1 TD). If you were fortunate enough to make your league’s playoffs without the services of one or both guys during the middle of this season, you are sitting pretty now. Both are surging back to the top of weekly WR rankings and that trend is set to continue in the weeks to come. Finally, a nod to Odell Beckham Jr. as he put up another big stat line on Sunday (9 rec, 130 rec yards, 1 TD). Beckham is not a future fantasy star…he’s one right now and he’s paving the way for a career that will find him on this list again and again.

We won’t spend an entire paragraph looking at the premier tight ends who came up big when it mattered most, but we will mention Rob Gronkowski, Martellus Bennett, and Greg Olsen as the guys that fit that bill. Hope you have one of them on your roster and had one of them in the lineup on Sunday. You got what you wanted/needed.

Marginal starters who played above their heads…

Cam Newton may have been a star in past seasons, but he’s not been relied on much this year due to his inconsistency and inability to score points on the ground as in past seasons. That being said, if you rolled the dice on him Sunday because your usual starter had a tougher matchup, you got the Newton of years past. 226 passing yards, 83 rushing yards, 3 passing TDs and 1 rushing TD is a sure-fire recipe for fantasy playoff success and Newton delivered the goods on Sunday. Also at quarterback and also coming in with a rushing TD in addition to big passing numbers was Andy Dalton. Like Newton, Dalton is maddeningly inconsistent, but if you plugged him in on Sunday, his numbers (302 passing yards, 2 TDs plus the rushing TD) were easily top ten. I doubt if anyone put their fate in the hands of guys like Kyle Orton, Teddy Bridgewater, or Derek Carr in an elimination game but if you did for some crazy reason, hats off to you as well.

One marginal starter at running back who had a big game on Sunday did so without us batting an eye here at the Buzz. If you have watched Joique Bell run of late, you knew that he had big games in front of him especially with an opponent like Tampa Bay on the horizon. Bell (133 yards, 2 TDs) cemented the Bell name as the brand to own on Sunday and likely led a lot of fantasy owners to victories in the process. The other marginal starter who came up big did, however, surprise us here and probably you as well. Jonathan Stewart has largely been a fantasy disappointment over the course of his seven-year career, but on Sunday he was Mr. Clutch with 155 rushing yards and a TD. As long as DeAngelo Williams stays sidelined, Stewart may be a RB2 to be utilized as we head into fantasy championship weekends. In addition, much like Odell Beckham, it’s hard to declare C.J. Anderson as anything other than a fantasy star, but THREE rushing TDs? On a team with the best passer of all-time from a fantasy perspective, who could have seen that coming? Finally , if you plugged in Andre Williams (147 yards, 1 TD) when you heard that Rashad Jennings was going to be far less than 100%, you got the rookie’s best performance of the year. Cha-ching!

Concerning the wide receiver position, it was a day for quick receivers who operate best out of the slot. Maybe you thought inserting Julian Edelman or Percy Harvin as a WR3 or even a WR2 might pay dividends. You were right. Edelman (8-141-1) and Harvin (6-124-1) were the marginal starting WRs who came up the biggest on Sunday and maybe, just maybe…you won your playoff game as a result. In the obscure “I started these guys because my options were so limited, I didn’t know what to do” category, we give you Jarius Wright and Charles Johnson of the Minnesota Vikings. 251 yards and 2 touchdowns combined made Wright and Johnson the most unlikely stars on a fantasy playoff weekend in recent memory.

Looking for additional fantasy heroes in Week 14 that came from nowhere? How about tight ends Jared Cook (Rams) and Mychal Rivera (Raiders)? Multiple TDs from Cook and 100+ yards and a TD from Rivera spelled jackpot for the desperate fantasy owner who rolled the dice on them…

And, then there’s fantasy stars that crashed and burned…

This list begins and ends essentially with members of the Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints (excluding C.J. Anderson). No two quarterbacks failed to meet expectations more in Week 14 than Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Manning and Brees have led countless teams to fantasy football titles over the years, but their presence in lineups this past weekend was a hindrance rather than a help. Their performances were shocking to say the least. If you had told me last week that the two would combine for only 408 passing yards and 1 TD, I would have called you certifiably insane. Now, it is what it is. And, if you’re still alive after having one of those two in your lineup on Sunday, you got lucky.

I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of Alfred Morris as a fantasy “star”, but I have little doubt that many owners were counting on him on Sunday to produce his usual 60-90 yards and a touchdown. What you got instead was 17 total yards and no trips to the end zone. For a running back, those numbers are the kiss of death. LeSean McCoy also had a shaky day for a guy that had been running well, but a lot of that had to do with playing Seattle and hopefully you saw it coming and made other arrangements. Most of the stud running backs came to play on Sunday, but certainly there were a few other disappointments for owners including Rashad Jennings (not 100%), Giovani Bernard (2 fantasy points), and Mark Ingram (Saints fell behind early phasing him out of the game plan). Our condolences at the Buzz if any of these names appeared in your lineup and cost you a championship season.

If Peyton Manning was indeed the biggest “crash and burn” of the week, then his battery-mate, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas wasn’t far behind. Thomas’s abysmal 2 catches for 11 yards was reminiscent of Week 15 last season when he laid an egg, except this one was even worse. If you start a host of wide receivers, you may have been able to overcome Thomas’s disappearing act, but if you coupled him with, say, Josh Gordon (15 rec yards), Keenan Allen (3 rec yards), Andre Johnson (17 rec yards), or Kenny Stills (23 rec yards), that cocktail was poison. Those who held on to Gordon for the entire season looking to unleash him come “playoff” time had to feel most miserable on Sunday. Those who have been watching Keenan Allen trend up for weeks watched in horror as Darrelle Revis shut him down on Sunday night. Of all these noted, Thomas has the best shot at bouncing back strong in Week 15. But, it will be too late for those counting on him just two short days ago…

Finally, at tight end, the late season disappearing act of Jimmy Graham reached its pinnacle on Sunday as Graham could only muster 2 fantasy points despite the Saints playing from behind against a prevent defense. If you invested a first round pick on Graham this year, you probably weren’t in the playoffs to begin with…but, if for some reason you made it in spite of his ups and downs, you’re probably not around for anything further.

Finally, it was Monday Night Madness…

Last night was so wild, it deserved its own paragraph. Want stars to put up unbelievable stats to lift victory from the jaws of defeat? How about Aaron Rodgers (327 passing yards, 30 rushing yards, 3 TDs ), Matt Ryan (375 passing yards, 23 rushing yards, 4 TDs), Eddie Lacy (106 total yards, 2 TDs), Julio Jones (11 rec, 259 yards, 1 TD), and Jordy Nelson (8 rec, 146 yards, 2 TDs) . It was a game that changed everything most likely in some leagues and one that will be remembered for years to come. An offensive explosion to put it mildly. Wow. Again, wow…

So, there you have it for Week 14. It was a memorable week in terms of what did and didn’t take place. We’ll be here to break down Week 15 for you come next Tuesday morning…once again, playoff-style! Here’s hoping your lineup consisted of all things Bell this past week and lacked anyone with the last name Thomas. Buzz out.