Fantasy File

Time to hand out the hardware

Priest Holmes was a huge surprise this season, leading the NFL in all-purpose yards. Brian Bahr/Allsport

By James Quintong, CNNSI.com

Now that the regular season has come to an end, you'll be getting a flood of awards and all-star teams, so I might as well kick things off with my set of honors. Sure, you'll be getting my all-fantasy teams for the year, but I'll also be spicing it up with some other accolades and observations from the season.

Let's start with the assorted individual honors:

Best Single-Game Fantasy Performance: Shaun Alexander, RB, Seahawks
Alexander took over for Ricky Watters early in the season and ripped off two huge games in Weeks 4 and 5. However, he really set himself apart from the pack by shredding the Raiders in Week 9 on Sunday night with 266 yards and three touchdowns. He didn't have many monster games after that but he became a very consistent point scorer and one of the more valuable fantasy players of the season.

Best Clutch Fantasy Performance: Marshall Faulk, RB, Rams
The No. 1 pick in many fantasy drafts did disappoint briefly, missing two full games and most of a third with a knee injury. However, when he was healthy, he showed why he was the top pick, especially in the last three weeks of the season when teams needed him most in the playoffs. His stat lines for those three games:
Week 15 vs. Carolina: 202 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards, 2 rushing TDs
Week 16 vs. Colts: 118 rushing yards, 47 receiving yards, 4 total TDs (3 rushing, 1 receiving)
Week 17 vs. Falcons: 168 rushing yards, 58 receiving yards, 1 rushing TD

Biggest Fluke Performance: David Patten, Patriots
Patten was a nice pickup for New England as he took over the No. 2 wideout spot behind Troy Brown once Terry Glenn started to flame out. His Week 6 performance against the Colts was a great boon to anyone who had the guts to start him that week. He caught four passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns (including a 91-yarder). And to top that off he ran for a score and threw a 60-yard touchdown pass. He became the first player since Walter Payton to pull of that triple play. Unfortunately for Patten, he'd score only two more touchdowns after that, and he never had more than 65 yards in any game.

Best Closing Kick: Derrick Mason, Titans
Mason was a reasonably high draft pick this season because of last year's finishing kick. He looked to be a bust early because of injuries, but then he exploded in the second half as the Titans turned more to the passing game. In his final seven games, Mason had four 100-yard games and six touchdowns. He capped off the great finishing run with 186 yards and two scores in Week 17 against the Browns. He'll likely be a high pick next year, but be sure to have players on the team who get out of the gate quickly then put in Mason for the key November and December games.

Worst Closing Kick: Ricky Williams, Saints
The season-long numbers look solid -- 1,700 total yards, seven total TDs. However, he tanked down the stretch as did the rest of his New Orleans teammates. After going for 174 total yards against the Panthers in Week 12, he scored just one touchdown and his best single-game rushing total was just 74. In Week 17, he clinched this award by piling up just 33 rushing yards and minus-8 receiving yards to go along with three fumbles.

Biggest Draft Bust: Eddie George, Titans
This one was pretty easy. While George is a durable back, you almost wished he had a taken a week or two off to recover from injuries that slowed him down all season. His turf toe injury from last season cut into his offseason conditioning, and he also had some nagging ankle and groin ailments as well. His offensive line struggled, and George definitely missed the blocking of fullback Lorenzo Neal, who went off to Cincinnati. George had just five touchdowns this season, including two in his only 100-yard game of the season (in Week 16, too late for most players). He definitely played himself out of the early rounds of the draft for next season.

Biggest Sleeper Draft Busts: Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks; Matthew Hatchette, Jets
Hatchette was highly touted early in the summer since he was a big target and was expected to fill Keyshawn Johnson's shoes. Instead, he proved why he was always the No. 3 guy in Minnesota (it wasn't just because Moss and Carter were there) and was overtaken by Laveranues Coles and later by Kevin Swayne, the XFL/Arena League veteran.

You knew it was bad for Hasselbeck when he could barely get going in the season opener against the Browns. And it never got better as he finished with just seven TDs and eight picks. He had just one two-TD game and never passed for more than 243 yards in any week. Trent Dilfer came in and did a bang-up job, even from a fantasy perspective.

Breakout Year We Sorta Saw Coming: David Boston, Cardinals
He looked good last year in catching seven TDs and going for 1,100 yards. This year, he became the man by leading the league in receiving yards partly because of Rob Moore's injury and Jake Plummer's maturity. With those numbers, the eight touchdowns are mildly disappointing, but he's quickly rising to the elite of wide receivers.

Breakout Year We Didn't See Coming: Kordell Stewart, Steelers
A few years ago he was a first-round pick. In past years, he was either not drafted or picked up as a third quarterback. This year, he really developed his passing game, thanks in part to the emergence of both Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress. Slash can still run around, scoring five TDs on the ground. He did set a career best with 3,109 passing yards plus 14 TDs, his most since that breakout year in 1997. Remember, he nearly moved to wide receiver on a full-time basis, and players like Kent Graham were considered to take over for him under center.

Most Annoying Injury: Jerome Bettis, Steelers
I've harped on this a few times over during the season. Sometimes it's easier on fantasy owners if a player tears his ACL or suffers a very serious injury because you know you'll have to cut ties and pick up somebody else. However, when a player has a less serious injury but one bad enough to keep him out a week or two, coaches will play that "will he or won't he" game, keeping the opposition on their toes. Fred Taylor was sort of in that situation early on, but most owners gave up after a few weeks, especially knowing Taylor's injury history. Daunte Culpepper was there, too, before finally undergoing knee surgery late in the season.

However, Bettis wins the award this year, especially because he was tearing up the league in terms of yards when he went down with his injuries in December. For a couple of weeks, he was teasing owners by saying he was going to play, only to be replaced by Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, who was a solid fill-in. The Bus was driving many owners to fantasy playoffs but he stalled when it counted the most. He should be ready for the playoffs, but the rust could be a bit hard to overcome.

And while we're at it, here're my first and second all-fantasy teams for the season:

Monday's Best

Monday's Worst

James Quintong is Fantasy Sports Producer at CNNSI.com.

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