David Johnson is one fo the few running backs fantasy owners can count on for consistent production.

Second Round Fantasy Playoff Heroes

Simply Cam-Tastic!

Those of us who have been following professional/fantasy football for a long time have seen quarterbacks whose play in December is so good that it not only elevates their NFL team, but also leads the way for fantasy championships everywhere. Cam Newton is the latest QB to fit this mold...and then some. Newton threw for 300-plus yards on Sunday, ran for 100 more, and delivered five TD passes. Do you think Ted Ginn Jr. is suddenly an elite fantasy WR on his own merit alone? Of course not. Newton is carrying the Panthers offense. He is carrying many a fantasy team on his back as well. All that's left to do is wonder if Ron Rivera will begin to rest the starters. That reality could make Newton a riskier play in Week 16 but Rivera doesn't seem the type to take his foot off the pedal, which for you Newton owners means there could be one magical Sunday ride left.

The Revenge of Emmanuel Sanders/The Brilliance of Antonio Brown

Apparently, Sanders didn't like being listed in our “goat” category last week (see below) because he responded to that label with 200-plua yards and a TD vs. the Steelers. Sometimes playing against former teams brings out the best in players (Sanders, Week 15) and sometimes it doesn't (LeSean McCoy, Week 14). Truth be told, playing against the Steelers brings out the best in everybody including Demaryius Thomas, whose two TDs represented his first multi-TD game of the 2015 season. Antonio Brown has, in my opinion, been fantasy football's best player hands down the past two seasons. Against a supposedly unbeatable Denver secondary, he hauled in 16 catches on Sunday for nearly 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Much like Newton, Brown is more than a fantasy playoff hero. He's a rock on which a fantasy championship can be built. If you started Sanders, you guessed right on Sunday. If you started Brown, you guessed right way back in August.

David and Danny

I mean no disrespect to Chris Johnson, but when CJ2K was a top ten running back in terms of fantasy points six weeks ago, I wondered how much of that had to do with him playing in an offense that creates such massive running lanes. David Johnson has been confirming my suspicions the past couple of weeks and Sunday, he put in a performance that likely lifted many fortunate owners to the brink of a championship. Johnson made plenty of good runs on the way to 229 yards and 3 TDs, but he also often went untouched until he was 5-7 yards downfield. On a day where the demise of the RB in fantasy football was again painfully obvious, only two RBs had performances worthy of hero status. The other was the recently invisible Danny Woodhead, who became visible again thanks to four touchdowns. Woodhead might fit better in the Head-Scratcher category (below), but truth be told, he probably drew plenty of starts because of how decimated the RB position is. It was only his fourth week of the year to actually score a touchdown of any kind, so you probably started him hoping for 6-8 fantasy points. Instead, you got 30. To reference Jeff Foxworthy...if you started David Johnson or Danny Woodhead in Week 15, you might just be playing for a championship on Christmas weekend.

The Loved and the Neglected

We've been pointing out here at the Buzz for a number of weeks that guys like Blake Bortles and Sammy Watkins were on serious rolls that weren't likely to be curbed during the month of December. As such, we hope you had them in your lineups Sunday as they just kept rolling in the right direction. That being said, there are a couple of players who have been on similar rolls that have been neglected here at TMB. So...it's time for some recognition. First, there's Kirk Cousins who has passed for 300-plus yards three of the past four weeks and thrown for seven combined TDs over that stretch while running for three more. Cousins' numbers have been helped by the return of DeSean Jackson (153 rec. yards, 1 TD on Sunday) and the incredible play of Jordan Reed (204 yards, 3 TDs the last two weeks) to be sure, but Cousins deserves some credit, too. At home, he's been fantasy gold. The second player who has been rolling along under the radar is Delanie Walker, who has 574 yards receiving and 5 TDs over the past seven games. Along with Reed, Walker is performing at a higher level than even the great Gronkowski. So...kudos to neglected heroes Cousins and Walker. We're lovin' you now…

Second Round Fantasy Playoff Head-Scratchers

This category is reserved for guys that would have been “heroes” in Week 15…but very few if anyone probably had them in a starting lineup…meaning their great performances didn’t make much of an impact. They are as follows:

Teddy Bridgewater

Sometimes, Bridgewater has the fewest points of any starting QB in the league. On Sunday, however, he threw for four touchdowns and ran for another. It was the first time all season that he had thrown for more than two scores in a game. And, that's why his great performance came from the “bench” so to speak on rosters in which he is a member.

Jordan Matthews

It is conceivable that a few people out there could have started Matthews. After all, he has had a few decent games but, I doubt that many benefited from his 8 catches for 159 yards and a TD. Matthews has largely disappointed this season, but Sunday's game demonstrated what he can do when he is more heavily involved in the offense. Or, what happens when a defensive backfield completely blows a coverage allowing for a long, easy score.

Ameer Abdullah/Joique Bell

Maybe a few very astute owners figured that even Abdullah and/or Bell were worth a start against the Saints defense. If you rolled the dice, you got your reward...but like Isaiah Crowell (see last week), don't bank on lightning striking twice.

Second Round Fantasy Playoff Goats

MegaFlop, Part Two

Maybe you survived Calvin Johnson's disappearing act last weekend, but I'd be surprised if many survived this one. On a night in which Matthew Stafford completed 25 passes to nine different receivers, Johnson only caught one ball for 19 yards. That's not going to advance you to any title games most likely unless your supporting cast included some of the heroes noted above. It's been a disappointing season for Megatron owners for the most part sans that terrific game on Thanksgiving Day. Calvin's either playing hurt right now or he's lost a step or two. The former seems more likely. A.J Green owners can tell you all about that based on what happened in Week 15 as well.

Putrid Packer Performers

It wouldn't be the Buzz if we didn't dig into the weekly fantasy soap opera that is the Green Bay Packers. A week after Eddie Lacy and James Starks restored some hope in the Packer running game, everything went south in Oakland sans a solid effort from James Jones. Aaron Rodgers had one of the worst weeks of any starting QB in terms of fantasy production and Lacy, Starks, and tight end, Richard Rodgers came crashing back down to earth. At least Randall Cobb didn't tease last week and then disappoint this week. His 58 yards without a TD is what owners have grown accustomed to in a season that has been highly disappointing.

McCoy and Miller

Top ten running backs are supposed to produce at least double-digit points in December as the weather becomes colder and teams turn to...wait a minute. What's that you say? Teams are no longer running the ball with any sort of commitment this time of year? McCoy and Miller are just the scapegoats in a paradigm shift that is now full-blown this season. Teams simply aren't running the ball as often as they used to and as was noted above, David Johnson represents about the only team that did go down that road on Sunday, which again made his performance that much more meaningful. LeSean McCoy and Lamar Miller only netted two fantasy points apiece in most scoring formats and while McCoy's injury (sprained MCL) cut his day short, not much was happening prior including three straight failures to score from the one-yard line in the third quarter. Other running backs you were counting on like Adrian Peterson, Chris Ivory, and Javorius Allen also fell prey to the new rules of December. It's a scary new world out there...and in PPR leagues, it's even scarier just how far down the list of priorities a top RB is found.

Doctor Beckham and Mister Hyde

This is a brief nod to the “goat-like” performance of Odell Beckham. Not for what he produced or didn't produce on Sunday. But, because if you've got him on your roster and you're still alive in the hunt for a championship, it appears that he won't be part of the Week 16 equation after completely losing his mind on Sunday afternoon vs. the Panthers.

Next week, we'll wrap up the season here at the Buzz with some special awards, a review of Fantasy's Super Bowl weekend, and the annual list of biggest surprises and disappointments in fantasy football. If you're in a PPR league and you were counting on Saints WRs last night, I hope those 20 combined catches from Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead put you over the top. Merry Christmas to all and to all...a Good Morning from TMB!