As the fantasy football season sadly comes to an end, it’s time to hand out my first Fantasy Awards. If your team is still active in the playoffs, I wish you all the best luck; I too will be fighting for my life in the coming weeks. If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that we really know nothing about this whole thing. We could play according to the matchups, and sometimes it doesn’t work. We could count on a guy’s consistency only to see him suddenly vanish from the fantasy radar. The only advice I can give you in your playoff weeks is to do your best regarding the aforementioned difficulties and pay close attention to team circumstances. Teams fighting for playoff spots or high seeds will use their guys more, but if you own, say, any Colts players, they are traditionally rested toward the end of the season, so watch out. Above all, don’t be stupid; you’ve gotten this far, so you must be doing something right. And if your season didn’t go as well as you had planned, it’s time to wait the agonizing eight months until you can start thinking about it again. (Statistics are based on ESPN standard scoring league.)

BEST QUARTERBACK — Aaron Rodgers — No, I didn’t pick him because he’s No. 1 in points. I chose him because he has just one week with fewer than 18 points (and that came in Week 1). Brees has five, Manning has six, Brady has six … you get the idea. Rodgers has found a way to get points all season long, even without fully utilizing his talented top wide receiver Greg Jennings. The other thing I like about Rodgers I realized in Weeks 9 and 10. He had rough days passing (three picks in the former, just 189 yards in the latter), but rushed for a touchdown in both weeks to salvage a good final stat line. There are many reasons I came to dislike my Sports Illustrated fantasy publication (Steve Slaton, fourth-best RB my ass), but they ranked Rodgers No. 2 before the season, and they got that one right. I’m glad I listened.

BEST RUNNING BACK — Chris Johnson — Hands down the top back in fantasy. He produced the single-best fantasy performance of any player in the NFL in Week 2 with 284 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. With four games left, he has 1,509 rushing yards and a legitimate shot at the NFL single-season rushing record held by Eric Dickerson (2,105). Johnson has been a freak of nature lately as well, setting up his owners for a sick playoff run with seven straight 100-yard games.

BEST WIDE RECEIVER — Larry Fitzgerald — He’s not the highest ranked as far as points go right now, but Fitz was by far the most consistent of the receivers, and also has the most touchdowns (10). He only had one really awful week, and that was when Matt Leinart was starting. When Fitz went off, it was beautiful, and when he didn’t, he still scored you points.

BEST TIGHT END — Vernon Davis — Davis isn’t just here because he’s got 17 more points than the next closest TE; he’s here because of the transformation he’s undergone. Once a selfish, underachieving player, he has morphed into the best TE by far. I almost chose Dallas Clark, but teams have been able to shut down Clark after his hot start, but Davis appears to be unstoppable.

BEST KICKER — David Akers — Who cares about kickers? If I have Akers, I do. He was the amazing matchup-proof kicker, scoring fewer than eight points just once all year long. People forget about kickers because they’re clearly not important at all, but just for some perspective, do you know how many RBs and WRs have at least six points in every single week this year? Two: Ricky Williams and Steven Jackson. You’ll never get more than 16 points from a kicker, but you can’t overlook his value in consistency.

BEST DEFENSE — New Orleans — Popular opinion says the Saints’ D is the most surprising squad of 2009. The unit has 26 more points than the next closest defense and twice as many total return touchdowns (eight) than any other team in the entire league. Defenses are another thing you shouldn’t be worrying too much about, but I wonder how many people won their Week 4 matchup because the defense dropped 28 points. Only one player had more points in that week.

BEST SLEEPER PICK — Miles Austin — Most people didn’t draft him, but if you did, I commend you. Austin was a semi-popular sleeper choice before he exploded onto the scene in Week 5 with a 37-point performance, the highest single-week total for any WR in 2009. Since then, he’s had double-digit points in six of eight games and jumped up to the No. 4 positional ranking. He has saved my matchup on multiple occasions, and I’m glad I have him in all three of my leagues.

BIGGEST BUSTS — Jason Witten and Greg Jennings — Through 11 weeks, Witten had not had a single double-digit fantasy performance; he STILL only has one touchdown so far this year. Jennings is here because although he’s had a great week here and there, he is playing with the No. 1 fantasy quarterback, and the fact that it doesn’t translate into beautiful numbers for Jennings is both mind-boggling and bust-worthy.

BIGGEST SURPRISE — Cedric Benson — Seemingly a joke on fantasy draft day, Benson was a top-five back before getting hurt. Who saw that coming? He destroyed everyone’s low expectations and established himself as a fantasy force.

RYAN’S TEAM MVPs (TAKE 1) — Randy Moss, Fitzgerald and Austin — In one league, I currently have the league’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 wide receivers. How filthy is that? My diesel WRs teamed up with Drew Brees and Antonio Gates to get me a No. 1 playoff seed.

RYAN’S TEAM MVPs (TAKE 2) — Rodgers and Ryan Grant — In my other important league, picking Slaton and Brian Westbrook as my first two picks was a horrible decision. The waiver wire has helped me quite a bit, but when I was in trouble with a matchup, I could count on two guys to come through, and they both wore a Packers jersey: Rodgers and Grant. Grant was a workhorse every week; despite playing with the top fantasy QB, he got his touches and always got you points. He had at least seven points in every game save one; not even Chris Johnson pulled that one off. Thanks to these two and the waiver wire, I pulled off a No. 2 playoff seed in a very competitive league after my top two draft picks vanished into fantasy irrelevance.