What the heck happened during championship Sunday?

As I watched the games yesterday, I found myself continually thinking about how many players were contributing to championships that either were drafted very late or were not drafted at all.  How many teams looked at guys like Ryan Grant, Fred Taylor, Kurt Warner, David Garrard, Dallas Clark, Aaron Stecker, Braylon Edwards or Jerricho Cotchery as locks this week compared to how many had even heard of these guys 4 months ago???  These guys were all in the top 25 point scorers for week 16.  Just goes to show you that you have to be active all year to pick up on guys who will produce when it matters most.  On the flip side, how many guys who were picked in the first round this year had point totals in the top 25 for week 16?  I count 3 possible guys, Manning, Maroney and possibly Portis.  And if you expand it to the second round maybe you add Jacobs and Brady. 

There were a couple of themes that I picked up on yesterday that probably carried quite a few teams to championships.  First, as always is the case, fantasy football is all about running backs.  I count 13 running backs (not including Davenport, Duckett or Bradshaw nobody started those guys I bet) that had 100 yards and a touchdown or more than 16 typical fantasy points and most had more.  Only 7 wide receivers reached this level in week 16 (not including Robinson or Washington).  So almost double the number of running backs had big weeks than receivers.  Of course this makes sense due to the weather this time of year in quite a few football towns.  The moral of the story is two-fold, make sure you are stocked up on solid running backs come playoff time and aim for warm weather or dome teams for your passing game (only Braylon Edwards and Derrick Mason made good in bad weather). 

The second point I saw was that every second counts in fantasy football.  How many matchups were impacted by "garbage time" touchdowns?  Andre Johnson, Derrick Mason, Reggie Williams, Tavaris Jackson, all scored TD's after outcomes were already decided.  Along with this the Indianapolis D, Seattle D, Jacksonville D all would have been impacted by the late scores as well.  Add this to the last second TD last week from Matt Hasselbeck to Deion Branch that cost me my semifinal matchup and it is obvious that fantasy football truly is a 60 minute contest every game.

The players that I really enjoyed watching yesterday:
 Maurice Jones-Drew, what a fun player.  He can do it all, run, catch, block, return kicks and does it all in a 5'7" package.  Who else would like to see him get 20 carries a game and see what he could do? 
Peyton Manning, in total control, it is just fun to watch someone who is so obviously better than everyone else at his position, and I am including Tom Brady in that statement. 
Brett Favre, how many guys would have been in that game in the 4th quarter, down 21 or 28 points?  It was frickin freezing, there was no chance to win, throwing was almost impossible, yet there he was trying to move the ball like it was the first drive of the game.  He is the man. I hope he doesn't retire any time soon.
Shaun Alexander, he looked pretty good yesterday, of course without Ray Lewis around to beat on him.  Seattle needs him to rip off some chunks of yardage if they are going to do anything in the playoffs.
Clinton Portis, he does it all for a running back, blocks, runs, catches and yesterday he threw a TD pass, that is always fun.
Anquan Boldin, what a stud, he has the strongest hands of any receiver out there, did anyone see his catch near the sideline in overtime?  He made the catch heading to the sideline and immediately held it out in one hand as he went to the ground so that the refs knew that he had it. 
Wes Welker, he didn't do too much in the game, but as a former quarterback I can appreciate how easy he makes the short passes by getting so much separation in tight spaces.  He just leaves guys grasping at air. 

Guys that left me scratching my head:
Derek Anderson, 4 picks that are probably going to cost his team the playoffs, bad, bad throws to receivers well covered.  I think two of them were the direct result of his receivers telling him that they were open on the previous play and he forced them the ball to keep them happy rather than telling them to shut up and take what the defense gives him.  That is what Tom Brady is so good at.
Jack Del Rio, or whomever calls the plays for Jacksonville.  How could Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones Drew both have fewer than 10 carries in a game where you are up 28-0 in the first half?  The Jags just kept throwing all game turning what could have been a huge game for both running backs into just solid outings.  I was all over these two this week and I thought they were both going for HUGE numbers.
Matt Hasselbeck, it is not good to see the home team quarterback chucking the ball downfield blindly while turning his back to the oncoming rush.  He did this 3 times and only one of them turning into an interception.  This is going to kill the hawks in the playoffs if they face a team like Washington that will blitz a lot.  Didn't help that I needed Hasselbeck and Branch to put up some good numbers yesterday either.
Adrian Peterson (MIN), I thought you were better than LT?  The last three weeks, you have been shut down pretty effectively. 
All guys that got injured, Kevin Jones, Marques Colston, Terrell Owens, Joseph Addai, Willie Parker

There is one game still to go tonight, San Diego hosting Denver.  I expect this game to be somewhat high scoring as San Diego runs on Denver and Denver throws on San Diego.  Big games from LT (as long as he plays) and Brandon Marshall.  Final score San Diego 31, Denver 24. 

I hope everyone enjoyed the championship week as much as I did!