Adrian Peterson knew what the football game meant when he took the field on Sunday.  He knew of its importance.  He knew that he needed to pull out a victory, that the playoffs could be on the line.  No, not for the Minnesota Vikings, but for your fantasy football team.  For the men and women who drafted him early when everyone else said that he couldn’t recover from that ACL tear in his knee.  AP was surely thinking of these fantasy owners when he suited up in purple and gold to take on the Packers.  And he delivered.  Big time.

Who else helped you reach the fantasy promise land this past week?

QUARTERBACKS

QB CHAMPS

In a week of beastly fantasy outings, it’s unlikely that any QB carried you all the way to victory.  Still, these four signal callers did enough to merit Week 13 champ honors.

Andrew Luck: 391 pass yds, 4 pass TDs, 3 INTs, 33 rush yds

Cam Newton: 232 pass yds, 3 pass TDs, 78 rush yds

Tony Romo: 303 pass yds, 3 pass TDs, 14 rush yds

Russell Wilson: 293 pass yds, 2 pass TDs, 71 rush yds

While the four above QBs probably didn’t do enough to single-handedly secure you a win, there was one quarterback that owners have relied on all season who failed to deliver.

QB CHUMP

Drew Brees: 341 pass yds, 5 INTs

Brees decided to have his worst game ever with the fantasy playoffs on the line, dooming many of his fantasy owners and ensuring that he’ll have plenty more free time to star in commercials in January.
RUNNING BACKS

RB CHAMPS

Adrian Peterson’s stat lines from the Vikings’ past six games:

Week 7: 153 rush yds, rush TD, 6 rec yds

Week 8: 123 rush yds, rush TD, 4 rec yds

Week 9: 182 rush yds, 2 rush TDs, 11 rec yds

Week 10: 171 rush yds, rush TD, 5 rec yds

Week 12: 108 rush yds, 6 rec yds

Week 13: 210 rush yds, rush TD, 10 rec yds

If AP isn’t the fantasy champ of the 2012 season I don’t know who is.

Another RB champ of the week:

Bryce Brown: 169 rush yds, 2 rush TDs, 14 rec yds, fumble lost

That’s two insanely good fantasy performances in two weeks and two games he’s cost the Eagles any chance of winning by fumbling the football late.

RB CHUMPS

Not many AWFUL running back outings, so we’ll have to give this week’s chump statuses to two below-average performances.

Chris Johnson: 51 rush yds, 20 rec yds, fumble lost

Ryan Mathews: 26 rush yds, 25 rec yds

WIDE RECEIVERS

WR CHAMPS

Week 13 truly was the Week of the Receiver.  Eleven 

different WRs had at least 100 yards receiving.

Calvin Johnson: 171 rec yds, rec TD

Brandon Marshall: 165 rec yds

Lance Moore: 123 rec yds

Steve Smith: 120 rec yds, rec TD

Josh Gordon: 116 rec yds, rec TD

Pierre Garcon: 106 rec yds, rec TD

Victor Cruz: 104 rec yds

Wes Welker: 103 rec yds, rec TD

Danario Alexander: 102 rec yds

Michael Crabtree: 101 rec yds

T.Y. Hilton: 100 rec yds

Seven other wideouts had between 90 and 100 yards with at least one TD: Demaryius Thomas (2 TDs), Sidney Rice, Dez Bryant (2 TDs), Rod Streater, Golden Tate, Mike Williams, Donnie Avery (2 TDs)

We’ll give champ honors to Megatron, Demaryius Thomas, and Dez Bryant.  If you’re in a PPR league though, Brandon Marshall and Wes Welker were both also most certainly champs.

WR CHUMPS

In a week of such great fantasy output, it’s surprising that these three didn’t live up to expectations:

Andre Johnson: 56 rec yds

Vincent Jackson: 55 rec yds

Reggie Wayne: 51 rec yds

TIGHT ENDS

TE CHAMPS

13 different tight ends caught a touchdown pass in Week 13: Brandon Myers, Heath Miller, Tony Gonzalez, Brandon Pettigrew, Martellus Bennett, Greg Olsen, Kyle Rudolph, Scott Chandler, Tony Moeaki, Dallas Clark, Coby Fleener, Jermaine Gresham, and Jeff Cumberland. Jason Witten didn’t record a touchdown, but he did catch 6 passes for an impressive 108 yards.

So which TEs were the cream of the crop?

Brandon Myers: 130 rec yds, rec TD

Heath Miller: 97 rec yds, rec TD

Martellus Bennett: 82 rec yds, rec TD

TE CHUMPS

As with wide receiver chumps, there were some unexpected chumps for tight ends too.

Jimmy Graham: 59 rec yds

Antonio Gates: 49 rec yds

Owen Daniels: 43 rec yds

Vernon Davis: 15 rec yds

The views and content in this article are not necessarily the opinion of Fantasy Football Champs, www.FFChamps.com, and its in-house experts.