Fantasy football: Manning, Jeffery head awards

In Week 1, he threw for 462 yards and 7 TDs.

After five weeks, he was averaging 377 passing yards a game and already had 21 total touchdowns.

In Weeks 13-16 — during the most important stretch of our campaigns — he averaged 372 passing yards and threw 15 more TD passes.

Yes, Peyton Manning did little to disappoint his fantasy owners during a record-breaking season, one in which he already has surpassed Tom Brady's mark for TD passes in a season.

For most readers, the choice was easy when it came to choosing this 2013 fantasy football MVP, and Manning took it home with 80 percent of the vote. He goes into the season finale with an astounding 12 300-yard games (four of which he went over 400) and nine games of 3-plus TDs.

But to me, this is the most amazing number: 196. That's how many more fantasy points Manning has in one of my leagues than Chargers QB Philip Rivers, who is in THIRD place.

So congrats to all of you who own Manning — I'm sure he brought much joy to all of you this Christmas season!

Biggest surprise

Hometown bias may have helped Bears WR Alshon Jeffery take home this award. He romped to victory with 64 percent of the vote, while Browns WR Josh Gordon received most of the other tallies and came in with 29 percent.

Jeffery certainly was deserving with 1,237 receiving yards and 7 TDs since Week 4. Gordon, however, is the second-ranked fantasy receiver going into Week 17 — and he managed that despite being suspended for Weeks 1 and 2.

Since Week 4, the top three receivers are Gordon, Calvin Johnson and Jeffery.

Biggest bust

This vote was so close that I'm giving it to two terrifically terrible tailbacks — Indy's Trent Richardson and Houston's Arian Foster.

Many people — myself included — expected big things out of Richardson, especially after a rookie campaign in which he ran for 950 yards, hauled in 51 receptions and finished with 12 TDs. This year, he has slogged his way 538 rushing yards (averaging a pathetic 2.99 yards per carry in the process) and scored a paltry 3 TDs.

“He was the No. 1 pick in our draft,” said reader Bill Moylan of Elgin.

Foster — he of 47 combined TDs the last three seasons — managed just 2 TDs in the seven games he played in. And although he was coming on a bit with nice performances in Weeks 4-6, he still only ranked eighth among RBs in fantasy points at that point.

Comeback player

LeSean McCoy was a massive fantasy disappointment last season as he followed up a 20-TD campaign with just 5 total touchdowns and 1,213 yards from scrimmage. This year, with Nick Foles running Chip Kelly's catch-us-if-you-can offense, McCoy has shredded the NFL with 2,012 yards from scrimmage and 10 TDs. McCoy appeased enough owners to take home this award with 50 percent of the vote.

Rookie of the year

With Chargers WR Keenan Allen and Rams RB Zac Stacy producing solid numbers since Week 5, I thought this would be a close race. After all, Allen has 8 TDs, averaged 80 receiving yards per game and ranks eighth among all wideouts in fantasy points since Week 5, while Stacy (87 rush ypg, 8 TDs, 8th among RBs) has also been extremely impressive.

Alas, it was not to be as Packers RB Eddie Lacy ran away with our rookie of the year award with 77 percent of the vote. Lacy has the seventh-most fantasy points among running backs. He's racked up 1,112 rushing yards and 10 TDs.

“This is the toughest call in my opinion, especially between Lacy and Allen,” wrote Mark Mahoney of Mount Prospect. “(I'm) voting for Lacy based on his performance when (Aaron) Rodgers was out. Defenses stacked the line and he still put up numbers.”

My teams: Both squads prevailed in their third-place games. Also, in the league I wrote about in which we choose players each week and then can't choose them again, that team — despite a putrid 6-9-1 record — squeaked into the postseason with a 71-65 victory (thanks Frank Gore!).

See you next year: Hard to believe another season has come and gone. Congratulations to all of you champions, and I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas. Have a Happy — and safe — New Year, and I'll see you all in 2014.

jdietz@dailyherald.com