FantasyFootball Week 15 Studs & Duds
By: David Bachman
Fantasy Football Editor For WagerOnFootball.com

Here's a quick rundown of the NFL's week 15 fantasy football stars. These guys are the WagerOnFootball.com "ALL Week 15 STUD Team". After you check out these top performers surf over to our NFL sportsbooks page and see what great sponsors we have here at Wager On Football Sportsbook Review.

A quick look at the big fantasy performers from the weekend.

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Stud Of The Week

Kerry Collins, QB, Oakland: When you're not headed to the playoffs, madly celebrating a big win late in the season becomes perfectly acceptable -- and completely necessary. The Raiders and Titans sure made it seem these fallen franchises were playing for something meaningful in late December. Collins threw for a season-high 371 yards and matched his career high with five touchdown passes, hitting Jerry Porter for three scores and outdueling Billy Volek in Oakland's 40-35 victory that sent Tennessee to its fourth straight loss. Why Collins and NOT Volek here for Stud of the Week you ask? Collins got the W.

Fantasy Player Statistics - For Sunday Fantasy Football Studs Week 15

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Sunday Notes I Scribbled Down

TO - the news that Owens has a broken leg, needs surgery and only a miracle will allow him to play in the Super Bowl is horrible. As a fantasy owner, it's not the same kind of bad, but it does stink. Owens will be passed as the best wide receiver in fantasy in Week 16. He carried your team and mine for the better part of 14 weeks. No other receiver was as consistent on a week to week basis. Only four times this season before Sunday did Owens fail to score double digits in fantasy. And all of those weeks happened since Week 9, so he was dominant the first eight weeks in building your won-loss record. Now, he's gone. Sign Drew Bennett. Sign T.J. Houshmandzadeh. While many people are following games with "real" playoff implications, many times it's those "meaningless" games between teams with losing records that make all the difference in the fantasy playoffs.

Some contenders, especially those who have sealed up playoff berths, start holding back players (which is why many leagues end at Week 16, not 17) as early as now to avoid injury and get some rest for the Super Bowl push. That means some of your studs could get fewer looks.

Meanwhile, the non-contenders, especially those playing each other, will open things up and have a little more "fun." It's a good time to throw in some plays at the back of the book that would've drawn much scrutiny when teams are in contention. It's also a good time to assess players for next year, so the better they do now, the more they'll get a look from the team (or others on the free-agent market).

Volek, a week after a wonderful Monday night outing with 426 yards and four touchdowns (35 fantasy points), topped it Sunday. And again it was in a loss! Good, most of the time QBs put up better numbers in games they're trailing, and end up losing. Volek threw four touchdowns, ran for another, had 492 yards, for 41 points. We'll find out for sure on Tuesday when Week 15 officially ends that thousands of FFL owners sat the QB they had used all season long and inserted Volek, and won their playoff matchup. Unreal. But, that's fantasy football. As for other stars, Kerry Collins has become reliable - three of the last four weeks he's been great, with 12 touchdowns. And look at his Christmas day matchup against Trent Green! All aboard! Also, the much maligned Michael Vick had the fifth-best fantasy day of the week at the position, even though the yards were fewer than Eli Manning's. As for duds, it's Drew Brees and Brian Griese. Had we known Brees would be playing in a snowstorm, we never would have recommended him. He threw six times for the game! But still he had only fewer fantasy points than Griese, who threw 22 times against the NFL's worst defense. Nice work, Brian.

The most amazing thing to me about Drew Bennett isn't that he's been the best wide receiver in fantasy football the last three weeks. It's that Bennett has done so much in three weeks (eight touchdowns, a million or so yards) that he's now the FOURTH-RANKED WR in fantasy for the season! Bennett's at 176 points, only eight behind second-place Muhsin Muhammad, and 22 behind leader Terrell Owens. Bennett remains a monster play and if he's still a free agent in your league, you're nuts if you don't sign him and play him over anyone else you have. While one can easily make the case Volek is the best fantasy player in the game right now - yes, better than Peyton Manning, who has only three touchdowns in two weeks and has to face 11-3 San Diego this week - Bennett is likewise the top pass catcher. Jerry Porter's pretty tremendous as well, and he's right with Bennett.

Top 10 Week 15 Fantasy Football Studs

1. Billy Volek, QB, Titans (40-60, 492 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT; 1 carry, 1 yard, 1 TD, 1 lost fumble): Volek has had two of the biggest fantasy performances of the season in consecutive weeks, and his team has lost both of them. However, he probably won tons of fantasy games. And now you see the big difference between fantasy and "real" football. It's not always about stats in reality. But in fantasy (and this column), it's all stats.

2. Josh McCown, QB, Cardinals (22-34, 287 yards, 2 TDs; 9 carries, 33 yards, 2 TDs, 1 lost fumble): He seems to sparkle at the end of the season with little on the line, just like last year. Maybe there's still hope he can do the job in Arizona after this whopping performance, but then again maybe some of that can be attributed to the Rams' falling apart (yet still remaining in the playoff chase).

3. Kerry Collins, QB, Raiders (21-37, 371 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT): After seeing what the Chiefs did to the Titans on Monday night, Collins had to be licking his chops for this week's game. And he made the most of the spotty defense with one huge game. He was worth the gamble this week if you decided to play him.

4. Jerry Porter, WR, Raiders (8 catches, 148 yards, 3 TDs): Porter was the lucky beneficiary of Collins' monster game, putting together his second three-touchdown game in four weeks. He could have another big game against the Chiefs on Christmas Day.

5. Daunte Culpepper, QB, Vikings (25-35, 404 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT; 4 carries, 22 yards): You know he has plenty of games like this up his sleeve, especially against the Lions. He's doing his best to recapture some of the fantasy attention that everyone is lavishing on Peyton Manning.

6. Drew Bennett, WR, Titans (13 catches, 160 yards, 2 TDs): He followed up his gigantic Monday night performance with another huge game. He may be single-handedly carrying some teams to a championship.

7. Larry Johnson, RB, Chiefs (30 carries, 151 yards, 2 TDs): It's hard to believe he had two straight 100-yard games before earning his first NFL start. But with Derrick Blaylock hurt, it was Johnson's job all to himself and he responded in a big way behind Kansas City's stellar offensive line. Priest Holmes may be done for the year, but his spirit lives on.

8. Nate Burleson, WR, Vikings (5 catches, 134 yards, 2 TDs): Just when his value was slipping a bit with Randy Moss back, Burleson erupts for a big game against the Lions and probably cements his spot as Minnesota's No. 2 guy down the stretch and maybe for the future.

9. Curtis Martin, RB, Jets (24 carries, 134 yards, 2 TDs): It's just more of the same for Martin, who's among this year's top fantasy studs. He could've had even more yards, but Lamont Jordan picked up the slack in the fourth quarter with the game being a blowout. (He'd finish with 84 yards on 15 carries.)

10. Antwaan Randle El, WR, Steelers (5 catches, 149 yards, 1 TD; 1-1, 10 yards, 1 TD): With Ben Roethlisberger finally having a big statistical day (his first 300-yard game), it only makes sense that Randle El (subbing for an injured Plaxico Burress) would see some of those numbers. Remember that this came against the Giants. The Ravens and Bills, Pittsburgh's last two opponents, probably won't be as generous.

Other top performances: LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, Chargers (26 carries, 111 yards, 2 TDs; 1 catch, -5 yards); Roy Williams, WR, Lions (7 catches, 104 yards, 2 TDs); Eddie Kennison, WR, Chiefs (7 catches, 101 yards, 2 TDs); Michael Vick, QB, Falcons (11-28, 154 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs; 8 carries, 68 yards, 1 TD, 1 lost fumble); Chad Pennington, QB, Jets (18-24, 253 yards, 3 TDs); Trent Green, QB, Chiefs (16-19, 224 yards, 3 TDs); Jerome Bettis, RB, Steelers (36 carries, 140 yards, 1 TD; 1 catch, 3 yards); Muhsin Muhammad, WR, Panthers (10 catches, 135 yards, 1 TD); Jake Delhomme, QB, Panthers (24-35, 340 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 2 lost fumbles); Warrick Dunn, RB, Falcons (28 carries, 134 yards, 1 TD); Rudi Johnson, RB, Bengals (23 carries, 130 yards, 1 TD; 1 lost fumble); Domanick Davis, RB, Texans (25 carries, 95 yards, 1 TD; 4 catches, 22 yards); Joey Harrington, QB, Lions (25-44, 361 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs); Derrick Mason, WR, Titans (9 catches, 121 yards, 1 TD); Fred Taylor, RB, Jaguars (22 carries, 165 yards, 1 TD); Jimmy Smith, WR, Jaguars (4 catches, 87 yards, 2 TDs); Brett Favre, QB, Packers (30-44, 367 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs; 1 lost fumble); Santana Moss, WR, Jets (5 catches, 79 yards, 2 TDs).

Top 10 Week 15 Fantasy Football Duds

As for duds, we cannot possibly expect Isaac Bruce to do anything with Chris Chandler and Jamie Martin the quarterbacks. Eric Moulds has clearly been overshadowed by Lee Evans. Brandon Stokley did nothing, which was kind of expected with the Ravens' D and Stokley's groin injury. But the winner is Chad Johnson. TEN yards? Inexcusable.

Chad Johnson, WR, Bengals (2 catches, 10 yards; 1 carry, 2 yards): The Bills' defense is tough, but just 10 yards receiving from an elite receiver? It didn't help that Jon Kitna also struggled (16-31, 151 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs).

Andre Johnson, WR, Texans (2 catches, 31 yards): Speaking of struggling Johnsons, Houston's stud receiver has just five catches for 65 yards over the past two games.

Marshall Faulk, RB, Rams (10 carries, 22 yards; 1 catch, 13 yards): Welcome back to the starting lineup, Marshall. Too bad you stunk it up for fantasy owners who took a chance on you against the Cardinals.

Isaac Bruce, WR, Rams (4 catches, 37 yards): He started the season well, but he's slumped badly down the stretch, and the revolving-door QBs aren't helping matters.

Alge Crumpler, TE, Falcons (3 catches, 38 yards): Over the past three games, he has just five catches for 65 yards and no scores. That comes off two 100-yard games in three weeks.

Laveranues Coles, WR, Redskins (4 catches, 39 yards): While Patrick Ramsey is heating up, it was Rod Gardner (6 catches, 111 yards), who cashed in Saturday.

Brian Griese, QB, Buccaneers (13-22, 118 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT): After such a huge game against a good Chargers defense, Griese fell flat in so many ways at home against a supposedly porous Saints defense.

David Akers, K, Eagles (0-1 XP): Even though Philadelphia won, its kicker got no points, having an extra point blocked after one TD, and the Eagles having to go for a 2-point conversion on the other to make up for the previous whiff.

Now get back to work!!!

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