In a down week for quarterbacks, Tom Brady stood above the crowd with 400-plus yards on MNF.

Packer and Bronco Wide Receivers

We’ll explore the vast number of veteran wide receivers who disappeared in Week 14, but before we do, a nod to a few that didn’t. For a couple of years, the duo of Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb was as safe as it came during playoff time. The preface remains the same, but Davante Adams has replaced Cobb as the 1B to Nelson’s 1A and both were everything you needed them to be on Sunday with Adams going for big yardage (104 ) and a TD while Nelson found the end zone twice. Another duo from the same NFL team who succeeded big-time in Week 14 was Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas (100-plus yards each). Both remain elite receivers in the real-world, but it generally has taken a weaker secondary to bring out the good in Trevor Siemian this year. Thus, with the Patriots and Chiefs ahead on the schedule, here’s hoping you got what you needed out of Sanders or Thomas this go around, because yards will be harder to find in those matchups.

The Patient GM’s Poster Boy: Tyler Eifert

We all do it. We stash a player who is injured at the onset of the season in the hopes that his potential will prove to be an asset come fantasy playoff time. Sometimes, it works out and often times, that potential never materializes. But, in the case of Tyler Eifert, the roster hoarder found hope on Sunday as Eifert put up the best numbers of the week for any player at his position. On a week where touchdowns were hard to come by for players not named Le’Veon Bell, Eifert scored two to make those who kept him rostered all year very happy. Patience is indeed a virtue…even in fantasy football.

Murray & Murray, Inc.

Neither DeMarco nor Latavius Murray set the world on fire this weekend, but if you were counting on them to put forth strong, productive performances, it came to pass. While their QBs (Mariota, Carr) floundered, the two lead runners on two of the AFC’s better teams produced 90-plus yards and a rushing TD. The irony in that is that both were featured in Week 14 last year for performances that fell on the opposite side of the spectrum. Both guys have overcome challenges all year from other backfield mates to post a dozen touchdowns apiece. In a world where stability at RB is hard to find in December, look for both to continue to be top-shelf options at the position in the two weeks to come.

First Round Fantasy Playoff Head-Scratchers

This category is reserved for guys that would have been “heroes” in Week 14…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:

Bilal Powell

It would make for quite a fascinating story if somebody did actually start Bilal Powell this past weekend. It's plausible, I suppose, as the 49ers came in as having the worst rushing defense in the league. Still, no one could have foreseen Powell gaining 179 yards and 2 TDs. It was a great effort by a player playing the right team at the right time. Powell's success may have brought joy to the one or two people that actually started him, but there's a flip side to this story that we'll touch on in a moment...

J.J. Nelson/Chris Hogan

Also fitting snugly into the “Awesome game, but hey, no one started you” category, we give you J.J. Nelson of the Arizona Cardinals and Chris Hogan of the Patriots. Both have shown flashes of potential this season as fantasy producers, but Hogan averages less than 3 catches per game and Nelson only catches two per contest. Not exactly the kind of hit-or-miss guys you want in your lineup at crunch time. Still, to those brave few who got 18 and 17 points respectively from one of these two young receivers, we salute you. All four of you. Nation Wide. Really...congrats.

First Round Fantasy Playoff Goats

Brees and Big Ben

In the last two weeks, Drew Brees has thrown for zero touchdowns and six interceptions. That is not a misprint. Brees' sudden collapse makes little sense on paper, but his offensive line is hurting at present and teams are dropping safeties into coverage to keep him off balance. As for Ben, it was just a case of the game script calling for more rushing than passing. Like Brees, Ben's totals included nary a touchdown and multiple interceptions. Unlike Powell, Nelson, and Hogans, LOTS of guys were counting on one of these two quarterbacks on Sunday. To say they didn't deliver would be the grossest of understatements...

The Misery That Was Melvin and Matt

Even worse than little production is no production. As in my guy was hurt in the early stages of the first quarter and never returned to the field of play. Melvin Gordon and Matt Forte only got 3 carries apiece on Sunday before bowing out for the remainder of the day due to injuries. Neither even reached 10 yards gained. You can't fault a player for getting hurt, but there's no denying that many a good team with Gordon or Forte bowed out of the playoffs due to the injuries that impacted both. You never like to see this and if you faced Gordon or Forte, you almost feel a little guilty for pulling out the win considering both were likely going to have big days against suspect defenses. Sigh.

Devonta and Devontae

Maybe you didn't start Brees or Roethlisbeger at QB and maybe your running back didn't get hurt right off the bat on Sunday. But, if you started Devonta Freeman or Devontae Booker, it was basically the same thing as starting an injured player. Freeman's lack of production came out of nowhere as none of his stat lines to date had even resembled 8 touches for 18 yards. Booker, on the other hand, is looking like a guy much better suited for spot duty than a full-time workload. If you were counting on him to be the second coming of C.J. Anderson, please understand it isn't going to come about and furthermore, we could see his role continue to shrink in the weeks to come. A bounce back from Devonta is likely in Weeks 15 and 16, but color me skeptical on Booker being worthy of starter status again.

More “D’s” (Dak and Dez)

The Cowboys are 11-0 against teams that don't hail from New York. Somehow, the Giants have been able to stymie their offense both times out this season, but particularly Bryant who has caught two balls for 18 yards in the two games vs. the Giants. It's hard to know what to make of Bryant this season. Amidst mostly solid performances, there have been three absolute clunkers including this one. And, when Dez tanks, Dak normally follows suit unless Jason Witten is enjoying a blast from the past game (see Week 9). Most saw Cowboys-Giants as having shoot-out potential. Instead, it finished as a 10-7 game with lots of fantasy casualties. I hope you survived the Dak and Dez funk intact, but I fear many did not.

Honorable Mention: Numerous Wide Receivers

While the Chris Hogan’s and J.J. Nelson’s of the world were racking up solid totals, there were a ton of veteran wide receivers whose poor performances brought pain and misery. The list includes Allen Robinson, Larry Fitzgerald, Kelvin Benjamin, Amari Cooper, Mike Evans, Brandon Marshall, and Doug Baldwin. What do they all have in common? No touchdowns. Less than 50 yards gained. Not what you want from your starting WR on the second weekend of December.

That'll do it for this week. Hope you had more heroes than goats in your starting lineup this time around. Oh, and a late Monday night edit: That Tom Brady guy...well, he belongs in the playoff hero category, too. Good morning everybody and keep the faith as the playoffs move forward!