Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Getting healthy finally paid off for a number of our Week 9 award winners. Willis McGahee, Arian Foster, Julio Jones, Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates, who have all missed time due to injuries, showed why they are valuable fantasy properties with huge performances last Sunday.
Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay - This is Rodgers' fifth appearance in the last six weeks. If this trend continues we will simply call it the Aaron Rodgers Weekly Fantasy Quarterback Award. Rodgers had an easy time with the Chargers defense, going 21-for-26 for 247 yards and four touchdowns worth 27 fantasy points.
Philip Rivers, San Diego - Rivers threw six touchdown passes last Sunday, four to the guys with lightning bolts on their helmets and two to the guys wearing green and gold. Playing from behind, Rivers was forced to push the limits and he paid for it with three interceptions. Still, he threw for a week-high 385 yards and four scores to finish just behind Rodgers.
Running Back
Willis McGahee, Denver - If you weren't on top of this injury situation, you might have missed out on McGahee's huge day. McGahee was still a question mark heading into Sunday with a broken right hand that caused him to miss the previous game against Detroit. Head Coach John Fox had said "he wouldn't play if he had to play one-handed." Carrying the ball in his left hand, McGahee thrashed the Raiders defense for 163 yards and two touchdowns worth 36 fantasy points. Apparently his feet were in fine shape.
Arian Foster, Houston - Foster posted his third consecutive 100+ yard rushing day, scoring once, for a 27-point total. After a slow, injury-filled, start (four fantasy points through Week 3), Foster is running like the first-round pick he was back in August. The only concern is that backup Ben Tate is also running well (12-115-1) and could eat into some of the carries expected to go to Foster.
Wide Receiver
Vincent Jackson, San Diego - Jackson had limped through a couple of games, but showed early in this shootout with Green Bay that he was healthy. Less than five minutes into the game he flew past the Packers secondary on a deep post pattern for his first score of the day. Jackson finished the day with seven receptions for 141 yards and three scores worth 38 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome Rodgers and the Green Bay offense. On the other hand, the huge point total was probably enough to put you over the top for the week.
Julio Jones, Atlanta - Returning to the field for the first time since a Week 5 hamstring injury, Jones showed the fantasy world why he is a must-start fantasy talent. He only saw four targets on the day, but that was enough to be a game-changer. He caught three of the four passes and totaled 131 yards receiving and two touchdowns. With distance bonuses for the 50-yard and 80- yard touchdown catches and 33 yards rushing Jones posted a stunning 41 fantasy points.
Tight End
Rob Gronkowski, New England - Gronkowski was Tom Brady's favorite weapon on Sunday as the Patriots' QB targeted him a stunning 15 times. The second-year tight end caught eight of them for 101 yards and a score. Gronkowski's 21 fantasy points edged him closer to position leader Jimmy Graham in their race for 2011 top tight end honors.
Antonio Gates, San Diego - Gates still doesn't look like he's running very well on his bad feet, but he starting to post numbers like the top-five tight end he is when healthy. On Sunday he just missed the 100-yard bonus, ending the day with eight catches for 96 yards and a score. If he was 100-percent healthy, this would have been a 150 yard-or-more receiving day, he was that wide open.
Kicker
David Akers, San Francisco - The 49ers had trouble putting the ball into the end zone, leaving Akers to finish off the drives. He successfully did four times, including a 52-yarder in the second quarter worth a position-high 16 fantasy points.
Defense/Special Teams
Green Bay Packers - The Packers turned two of three errant throws into "pick sixes" and totaled 20 fantasy points.
And the winner of the TSN NFL Fantasy Player of the Week is...San Diego Chargers wideout Vincent Jackson. After limping through three consecutive single-digit performances, the monster Week 9 output was to his fantasy owners like a life preserver to a drowning man. He'll face a vulnerable Oakland Raiders pass defense (ranked 20th) this Thursday night.
11/08 11:11:44 ET
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