Unexpected crunchtime heroes

These guys have produced of late and will continue to do so in Week 16

BOB HARRIS Back Page Lee Evans has five TDs in his last four games. Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

Crunchtime is upon up and championships will be determined all across Fantasy Nation this weekend. Many of those champions will owe debts of gratitude to a handful of unexpected -- if not downright unlikely -- heroes.

The list of those who have stepped up to surpass preseason expectations includes, but is by not means limited to, the players listed below. These are, however, my favorites based on the way they've delivered down the crucial stretch run to the playoffs.

Better yet, all are in prime position to help their owners get the job done again this weekend.

• Lee Evans, WR Buffalo Bills
Evans tied a Bills rookie record with his seventh touchdown catch last. Elbert Dubenion also had seven in 1960.

Evans also became the first rookie and sixth Bill with touchdown catches in four straight games. The last Bills player with TDs in four straight games (via any method) was Travis Henry in 2002.

Evans, Joe Cribbs and Sammy Morris are the only Bills rookies to score touchdowns of any kind in four straight contests. Cribbs owns the team record with five straight games in 1980.

So, how come nobody predicted Evans breaking out before the season started? Oh. ... That's right. Somebody did. 

Anyhow, don't be surprised if Drew Bledsoe and Evans come up big this weekend. Given the lack of healthy/proven talent at halfback, the Bills are likely to open up the passing game against a suspect San Francisco secondary. 

• Muhsin Muhammad, WR Carolina Panthers
Muhammad tied the franchise record for touchdown receptions in a season during last Saturday's loss in Atlanta, scoring his 12th on a six-yard catch in the second quarter. The veteran wideout heads into Week 16 sharing the record with Patrick Jeffers and Wesley Walls, who each scored 12 in 1999.

Not that he's especially worried about the totals.

"Personal stats mean nothing," Muhammad said. "I'm playing for Super Bowls. Anything short of that now is meaningless."

Nonetheless, those personal stats continue to pile up. Muhammad has five 100-yard receiving games and 10 touchdowns in his last eight games and based on his play against the Falcons last weekend, I'm not sure anybody -- not even a Tampa defense that ranks first in the league when it comes to defending the pass -- can stop him.

• Larry Johnson, RB Kansas City Chiefs
Johnson comes off an impressive Week 15 effort in which he pounded out a career-high 151 yards and two touchdowns in a career-high 30 carries against a Denver defense rated fifth against the run.

Along the way, he joined Priest Holmes, Joe Delaney and Christian Okoye as the only backs in franchise history with at least three consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

In victories over Oakland, Tennessee and Denver, Johnson had 57 carries for 373 yards and scored five touchdowns. He averaged an impressive 6.5 yards per carry during that span and broke off runs of 34, 46, 41 and 32 yards.

In fact, Johnson now owns three of the Chiefs' four longest runs this season -- and he was making his first career start last Sunday.

The notion of their guy going up against an Oakland defense that ranks 24th in the league against the run should certainly warm the cockles of Johnson owners heading into championship contests this weekend.

• Kerry Collins, QB; Jerry Porter, WR Oakland Raiders
Collins threw for a season-high 371 yards and matched his career high with five touchdown passes against the Titans last Sunday, hitting Porter for three scores.

Now, with 3,136 yards passing, Collins ranks 12th on the Raiders' list for most in a single season. In addition, he needs only 480 yards in Oakland's final two games to jump to fifth place -- not bad considering he didn't move into the starting spot until Rich Gannon went down with a season-ending neck injury in Week 3.

Porter re-emerged as Collins' official go-to-guy when Ronald Curry suffered a season-ending Achilles' tendon injury Dec. 5 against Kansas City.

"We've got something going," Porter said.

He added that head coach Norv Turner is "calling plays that Kerry likes. And when you like the plays, it just works out a lot better. Kerry is playing great ball right now and he has a lot of confidence in himself."

And of course, the two men will be going up against the league's worst pass defense in the Chiefs, who have given up 28 touchdown passes this season. I'm not saying it's time to engrave the trophy just yet, but owners relying on Oakland's dynamic duo this weekend have to like their chances.

• Billy Volek, QB; Drew Bennett, WR Tennessee Titans
A quick review is in order: Coming out of last Sunday's game against Oakland with 10 touchdowns, Bennett became the first Titans/Oilers receiver since Drew Hill in 1988 to record a double-digit TD season. He also became the first since Hill -- also in 1988 -- to post three consecutive 100-yard receiving games.

It was the sixth 100-yard receiving game of Bennett's career -- a game in which he also tied the franchise single-game record with 13 receptions.

Oh yeah. ... Bennett also tied Jerry Rice (1987, '93) for the most touchdown receptions (eight) in NFL history over a three-game span.

Meanwhile, Volek's 918 passing yards total over two weeks were the second most in NFL history in consecutive games (Phil Simms had 945 in 1985).

Last Sunday, Volek posted his third 300-yard plus passing game of the season, the most by a Titans quarterback since 1993 when Warren Moon had four 300-yard passing games.

As you can see, we're talking about a tandem that's on a serious enough roll to get past most any defense -- including the Broncos, who have struggled to stop big-play threats this season and gave up three TD passes in Kansas City last weekend.