The fantasy football season has concluded in many leagues, and will reach it’s denouement in other leagues shortly. And with that in mind, and a new year upon us, now seems like a good time to review, position-by-position, what went on this season, and compare it to what we thought would happen going into the year. (Note: All statistics are through Week 16)

QUARTERBACKS

BIGGEST BUST - Matt Cassel, Kansas City: After being traded to the Chiefs and signing a big new contract, Cassel came into this season as, at worst, a QB2, with some fantasy football owners considering him as a possible low-end starter, depending on the match-up. He hasn’t lived up to the contract he signed, and he wasn’t even on most fantasy radars after the beginning of the season. He is 21st in the NFL in passing yards with 2,717, tied for 20th in touchdown throws with 16, is tied for seventh in the league with 15 interceptions, and is 28th with a completion percentage of 55.0.

- Runners-Up: Jay Cutler, David Garrard

BEST VALUE - Kyle Orton, Denver Broncos: Orton was considered far down the totem pole of fantasy quarterbacks, and though he certainly wasn’t an every week starter, he was solid enough to play if the match-up was correct. He threw for 20 touchdowns, which was tied for 16th in the NFL, and 3,371 yards, which was 15th. Orton didn’t hurt his fantasy owners with negative points much, either, throwing only eight interceptions.

- Runners Up:  Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger

RUNNING BACKS

BIGGEST BUST - Darren McFadden, Oakland Raiders: While nobody had McFadden as a first-round pick, it was generally thought that he would make a solid contribution as a RB2, or flex play on most weeks. To say that hasn’t happened is an understatement. McFadden was on most waiver wires at the end of the season with numbers that were paltry even when you consider the fact that he missed four games. The former Arkansas Razorbacks star has run for 348 yards, at 3.5 per carry, and just one touchdown, with 21 catches for 245 yards. If anybody told you before the season that McFadden would have three times the amount of lost fumbles as he did touchdowns going into the season’s final week, would you have believed it?

- Runners Up: Steve Slaton, Larry Johnson

BEST VALUE - Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Steelers: This was a close call, as both Ray Rice and Ricky Williams were close, but they were likely drafted higher than Mendenhall. But considering that Mendenhall didn’t play much last season due to injury, and had all of 45 yards through the season’s first three games, he gets the nod. Mendenhall is 11th in the NFL in rushing with over 1,000 yards, and has scored seven touchdowns.

- Runners Up: Rice, Williams

WIDE RECEIVERS

BIGGEST BUST - T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Seattle Seahawks: Houshmandzadeh came to Seattle over Minnesota in part because he liked the team’s quarterback situation more. That turned out to be a great thing for the Vikings, who saw players like Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin emerge, while Houshmandzadeh struggled all season, ranking 29th in the NFL with 845 receiving yards, and, most disappointingly, just three touchdown catches, which ranks him tied for 66th in the league, and behind players like Louis Murphy and James Jones.

- Runners Up: Terrell Owens, Ted Ginn

BEST VALUE - Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys: If Austin was drafted at all in fantasy leagues, it was near the bottom of the draft. And through the season’s first four weeks, you saw why, as he caught just five passes for 81 yards in the first quarter of the season. But he caught 10 passes for 250 yard and two scores in Week 5 in Kansas City, and is now fifth in the NFL with 1,230 receiving yards and fourth with 11 touchdown catches.

- Runners Up: Sidney Rice, Mike Sims-Walker

TIGHT ENDS

BIGGEST BUST - Anthony Fasano, Miami Dolphins: After catching 34 passes for 454 yards and seven touchdowns last year, many fantasy owners believed Fasano was on his way to bigger and better things in his fourth season. Unfortunately, he’s gone backwards, and has just two touchdowns among his 29 receptions, along with 298 receiving yards, which is 29th in the NFL among tight ends.

- Runners Up: Martellus Bennett, Bo Scaife

BEST VALUE - Vernon Davis, San Francisco 49ers: Fantasy owners have been waiting for Davis to break out, but after he regressed statistically last season, many had given up hope. He was still a draftable player, but nobody believed he’d accomplish what he has so far this season. He’s more than doubled his numbers in every category from 2008 to this season, and has 72 receptions for 876 yards. More importantly, he’s caught 12 touchdown passes, which is tied for second in the NFL.

- Runners Up: Jermichael Finley, Brent Celek

Fantasy football enthusiasts around the country have started battling for supremacy in their respective leagues, allowing them a chance for either eternal glory or unceasing shame and humiliation. Okay, that may be stretching things a bit, but the fact remains that these final weeks of the season are do-or-die time, and even the smallest of mistakes can flitter away your chances at taking home a championship. To help guide you on your way, here are a few things to keep in mind.

- Dance With the Girl That Brought You: In this instance, the girl that brought you is actually a large man wearing a helmet, but the point remains - your stars are the ones who got you into the fantasy playoffs in the first place - don’t abandon them now. Match-ups are important, but don’t let them completely overrule your instinct. For example, if you own both Tony Gonzalez and Dante Rosario, don’t start Rosario this week just because the Vikings have been much softer on opposing tight ends this season than the Jets have. To put it simply, don’t over-think things.

- Remember the Defense: Fantasy football owners pay plenty of attention to their quarterbacks, tight ends, wide receivers and especially running backs, but just kind of ignore their defense, or leave it as is because, well, that’s the easy thing to do, right? Yes, but in the fantasy playoffs, every point counts. And though we just said to leave well enough alone in the paragraph above, there is a big difference between individual stars and entire teams. We’re not saying go out and pick up the Chiefs’ defense just because they’re playing the Browns, but we are saying it’s not the smartest move to stick with the Cowboys’ defense against the Saints this week. Dallas, who is sixth in scoring defense so far this year, hasn’t been an upper echelon defensive unit in fantasy football this season, and they wouldn’t have been an especially significant contributor to getting you into the fantasy playoffs, but they were a defense you could win with. However, you just can’t use them this week against New Orleans and expect to win.

- Enjoy it: It is a game, remember? So have some fun, no matter what happens the next couple of weeks (But not too much fun, at least in the company of certain people. There is a little bit of etiquette involved. If you’re in a league with, say, your boss, and you beat him to win the championship, maybe you want to hold back on the gloating just, you know, a smidge. That is, unless you want to get transferred to Alaska; but we hear it’s just a wee bit nippy there this time of year).

With all games having been played this week, and Week 14 starting on Thursday, it’s time to get going on our weekly routine of looking at targets from the previous week’s NFL action.

- Terrell Owens, Buffalo Bills: Owens got nine targets last Thursday night in the Bills’ loss to the Jets, but due to the Darrelle Revis Factor (go ahead and steal that name for your band), Owens caught only three passes for 31 yards. He is one of many receivers, both elite and ordinary, who have been otherwise shut down by Revis. But the amount of looks Owens gets tells you that quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is hell-bent on throwing the ball his way no matter what.

- Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons: With Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Michael Jenkins each out last week against the Eagles, the Atlanta offense was focused on two players – White and tight end Tony Gonzalez. And while Gonzalez got a healthy 13 targets, White got even more opportunities, and saw 20 passes thrown his way by Chris Redman. White ended up with nine catches for 104 yards and one score, and with Ryan, Turner and Jenkins all questionable for this week, we may see White get a similar number of looks.

- Chad Ochocinco, Cincinnati Bengals: The Detroit Lions have the worst pass defense in the NFL, and as such, Carson Palmer made a point of exploiting that match-up last week and threw 14 passes to Ochocinco, resulting in nine catches for 137 yards and one touchdown. No other player wearing a Bengals uniform got more than four, and Ochocinco is now sixth in the AFC, and 11th in the NFL, with 104 targets.

- Kenny Britt, Tennessee Titans: While Britt’s nine targets and three receptions last week against the Colts were second on the team to Nate Washington’s 10 targets and four catches, Britt compiled 46 yards and caught a touchdown, while Washington accumulated 44 yards and was shut out of the end zone. And while the catches and yards don’t make any difference, the touchdown does. That’s because Britt has now traversed into the end zone in three consecutive games, while Washington has not scored in that time.

- Wes Welker, New England Patriots: Welker was targeted 13 times by Tom Brady last week as the Patriots lost to the Dolphins, and he caught 10 passes for 167 yards. Welker had more than double the amount of targets as any other New England player, including Randy Moss, who got just five looks from Brady. As an extension of the running game, Welker catches shorter passes, which enables him to catch almost everything thrown his way. With 95 receptions on 22 targets, Welker has caught an excellent 78 percent of the passes thrown to him. Comparatively, Moss has caught only 59 percent of the passes thrown to him, as he goes out on deeper routes.

Other Week 13 target numbers of interest: Andre Johnson, 17; Sidney Rice, 16; Davone Bess, 14; Steve Smith (NYG), 13; Michael Crabtree, Miles Austin, Bobby Wade, 12; Antonio Bryant, Calvin Johnson, 11; Roy Williams, Robert Meachem, Pierre Garcon, Nate Washington, Todd Heap, 10; Santonio Holmes, 9; Josh Morgan, Donnie Avery, 8; Percy Harvin, Devin Thomas, 7; Louis Murphy, 6; Vincent Jackson, 4; Steve Breaston, 2.

In the preseason, everyone who plays fantasy football is a prognosticator. We have our own opinions, of course, and we scour the internet and magazine rack to see what everyone else is thinking. And like any sort of auguring, sometimes we get things right, and sometimes, well, not so much. So with the fantasy playoffs right around that proverbial corner, let’s take a look at the leader in fantasy points at each position so far, to see how the fantasy football soothsayer’s did.

Quarterback

- Overview: Aaron Rodgers leads NFL signal-callers in fantasy points despite being fourth in the league in both passing yards and touchdown passes. The reasons for his lofty status are that A) he doesn’t turn the ball over, having thrown just five interceptions, and B) rushing yards. Rodgers has run for 247 yards this season, which is already more than he had all of last year, and he also has three touchdown runs, which is just one behind his total from last season. Comparatively, the three players who have thrown for more touchdown passes than Rodgers – Drew Brees, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning – have a combined total of 19 rushing yards and two scores, both of which came from Brees.

- Surprise: There really aren’t many shockers at the top of the list, so the biggest surprise would probably have to be how low Jay Cutler is. After all, he threw for over 4,500 yards and 25 touchdowns last season. But 20 interceptions equal a lot of lost fantasy points.

Running Back

- Overview: Chris Johnson leads the way, and though most probably didn’t think he’d be the top fantasy running back, he was definitely among the preseason elite. As were Adrian Peterson and Maurice Jones-Drew, obviously. Ray Rice was something of a question mark because of how Baltimore utilized their running backs last season, but he was being touted as a sleeper candidate fairly early on. Michael Turner has been a bit of a disappointment after some thought there was an argument to be made that he could be the No. 1 overall pick in fantasy drafts, but he’s nearly seven full points per week off of Johnson’s pace.

- Surprise: There are a few very clear eye-openers among this group, with Ricky Williams at the forefront. He wouldn’t be as high up if Ronnie Brown wasn’t lost for the season, but at 32 years of age, nobody believed he would be as effective as he has been in a full-time role. Thomas Jones is another surprising case. He was universally being thought of as someone whose numbers would drop off precipitously due to his age and the amount of carries he got last year, but it hasn’t happened.

Wide Receiver

- Overview: The three wideouts with the most points – Reggie Wayne, Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald – are pretty much the players most everybody believed would be at the top, even though some had believed that Wayne might take a small step backwards. And though there are many recognizable names after that, this is still a fairly interesting group with a few players seemingly coming out of nowhere.

- Surprise: Where do you really start? If you said Miles Austin was a top-five fantasy football wideout before the season, you were pretty much along. Austin getting more involved with the Cowboys’ passing game? Sure. But an explosion of huge numbers was not in the forecast. Neither was the presence of two Vikings receivers that are in the top-15 – Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin. Bernard Berrian was the Minnesota wideout most thought would see the greatest benefit from Brett Favre’s arrival, but his numbers are down from last season instead of up.

Tight End

- Overview: Of the top four tight ends in points, three of them – Dallas Clark, Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates – were certainly in the top four in the preseason rankings, and they’ve lived up to that billing. Kellen Winslow might have actually outperformed expectations for him, and if Owen Daniels hadn’t gotten injured, he might head this list. As it is, he’s still eighth, despite having not played since Week 8.

- Surprise: We all knew Vernon Davis had it in him, but most of the fantasy football world was sick of waiting for him. Godot didn’t take this long to arrive. But Davis has finally arrived, and leads tight ends in fantasy points due to his NFL co-leading nine touchdown catches (he’s tied with Larry Fitzgerald and Reggie Wayne). On the other end of the surprise spectrum, Jason Witten has about half the fantasy points that Davis has. Witten was many people’s No. 1 tight end, but he didn’t have a 100 receiving yard game until Week 12, and his only touchdown reception came in Week 2.

It’s Tuesday, and with all games having been played, it’s time to get going on our weekly routine of looking at targets from the previous day’s NFL action.

- T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Seattle Seahawks: As our graph shows, Houshmandzadeh has been the recipient of 97 targets this season, including a team-high six in Seattle’s win over the Rams last week. However, he hasn’t done much considering only seven players have gotten more looks than he has. He caught a measly two passes for 14 yards last week, and has only 56 receptions for 632 yards so far in the ’09 campaign. The high number of targets he’s received is just another reason to count him among the biggest disappointments of the fantasy football season.

- Michael Jenkins, Atlanta Falcons: Jenkins received eight targets last week in Atlanta’s win over the Buccaneers, and he came down with seven receptions for 80 yards. While Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White got more looks (12 and 13, respectively), and will continue to do so, Jenkins’ production over his last two games should not be ignored; he had six receptions for 76 yards two weeks ago. His catch totals in each of his past two games have each been season-highs, and his 80 receiving yards are a season-high.

- Terrell Owens, Buffalo Bills: The wideout with the most targets for the Bills last week wasn’t Owens, it was Lee Evans. Evans received six targets, and Owens had five, yet T.O. had far more success, catching all five of the passes thrown his way for 96 yards and a touchdown, while Evans had only two catches for 40 yards. Beware of getting caught in the trap that is Owens’ big numbers of late – he faces the Jets this weekend, and Darrelle Revis has shut nearly every big-time wide receiver down this season.

- Pierre Garcon, Indianapolis Colts: Garcon received seven targets from Peyton Manning last week in the Colts’ come-from-behind win over the Texans. That included a number of red zone looks, and Garcon responded with five receptions for 63 yards and one touchdown. His seven targets were the second-most on the team behind Dallas Clark, and were one more than Reggie Wayne.

- Chris Chambers, Kansas City Chiefs: Chambers was targeted eight times last week as the Chiefs got blown out by Chambers’ old team, the Chargers. He led the team in targets, and wound up with seven catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. He’s unquestionably the No. 1 wideout for K.C. with Dwayne Bowe out due to suspension, and his targets should reflect that.

- Other Week 10 target numbers of interest: Kenny Britt, 11; Sidney Rice, Mark Clayton, Sam Aiken, 10; Laveranues Coles, 9; Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Chansi Stuckey, 8; Jeremy Maclin, Chaz Schilens, Sammie Stroughter, Brian Hartline, 7; Robert Meachem, 6; Chad Ochocinco, 5; Roy Williams, 4; Devin Hester, 2.

It’s Tuesday, and with all games having been played, it’s time to get going on our weekly routine of looking at targets from the previous day’s NFL action.

- Michael Crabtree, San Francisco 49ers: Early in the game between the 49ers and the Bears, it looked like Crabtree was going to have a monster contest, as San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith seemed intent on pumping the ball into Crabtree as often as possible. But that plan soon dissipated and Crabtree received just seven targets fr the game. Still, it’s an indicator of what the 49ers think of their young first-round pick, and how big a part of the game plan he’ll be moving forward.

- Nate Washington, Tennessee Titans: With Justin Gage hurt, it’s tempting to want to look towards Washington as a viable fantasy option, especially since he caught a touchdown pass last week. But he was only targeted twice by Vince Young, though Washington caught both. In fact, of the 25 passes Young threw in the Titans’ win over the Bills, just nine throws were meant for wide receivers.

- Brandon Gibson, St. Louis Rams: Gibson saw his first extended NFL action in the Rams’ loss to the Saints, and he was targeted nine times, which was tops among St. Louis wideouts. He wound up with seven catches for 93 yards, and now that Keenan Burton is out for the year, Gibson likely becomes a starter.

- Jerricho Cotchery, New York Jets: Cotchery was targeted 11 times, which is notable because it was more than double the amount of looks Mark Sanchez gave to Braylon Edwards, who received just five targets. And Cotchery was productive as usual, catching six passes, including one for a touchdown.

- T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Seattle Seahawks: Houshmandzadeh had wanted the ball more often, and he certainly got his opportunities last week. He was targeted 17 times by Matt Hasselbeck, and was productive with nine receptions for 165 yards. You just have to wonder how much that hurt Nate Burleson, who killed fantasy owners by failing to catch a single pass on just five targets.

Other Week 10 target numbers of interest: DeSean Jackson, 16; Devin Hester, Santonio Holmes, 14; Dwayne Bowe, Brent Celek, 11; Anquan Boldin, 10; Pierre Garcon, 9; Bernard Berrian, Muhsin Muhammad, 8; Terrell Owens, Davone Bess, Roy Williams, 7; Dallas Clark, 5; Mohamed Massaquoi, Vincent Jackson, 3; Marques Colston, 2.

Now that we’re about at the halfway point of the NFL and fantasy football season – if there is such a thing in a 17-week season – it seems like a good time to take a look at the leaders at each position in terms of fantasy points to see how things have shaped up to this point. We’ll start, naturally, at the quarterback position.

QUARTERBACKS

Aaron Rodgers is tied for third in touchdown passes in the league, and just sixth in the NFL in passing yards, so how could he be the No. 1 player at his position in fantasy points? The answer is really quite simple: running the ball. His 214 rushing yards are more than any other quarterback, and his two rushing scores are tied for first. As far as surprises go, seeing Kurt Warner below the likes of Carson Palmer and just ahead of Eli Manning qualifies, as most fantasy owners figured he’d be much further up in the rankings. But Warner wouldn’t even be that high up if not for his 30-point game last week – his first of the season with more than 20 points.

RUNNING BACKS

The cluster at the top of the running back position is among players that everyone figured would be there. Maurice Jones-Drew has almost 200 fewer rushing yards than Chris Johnson, but with 11 touchdowns, he also has nearly double Johnson’s total of six. There’s no need to look far if you’re searching for surprises. Ray Rice is fourth in large part due to his 436 receiving yards – which is over 100 yards more than any other running back in the NFL. And Ricky Williams in the top-10? Who’d of thunk it?

WIDE RECEIVERS

The wideout position is the one where things have pretty much gone according to plan. Vincent Jackson’s ascendance to the top shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise considering his career arc up until this season, and the giant steps forward he had been progressively making. Miles Austin is really the only name you’ll see on this leader board that was not projected to be there. Many fantasy owners thought he had a chance to make headway into fantasy relevance this season, but to explode the way he has in just the last few games is a unique occurrence.

TIGHT ENDS

Many fantasy owners had about given up on Vernon Davis, and for good reason. He was a top-10 pick with phenomenal physical abilities who was underachieving. But that all changed this season, and he’s the No. 1 scorer in fantasy points at his position, due mostly to his seven touchdowns, which leads all tight ends. Brent Celek was a very solid sleeper before the season, and that’s paid off for those who heeded that advice. Someone who hasn’t paid off, however – Jason Witten, who is actually tied with Chris Cooley for 15th in fantasy points, because he hasn’t found the end zone often enough. Or found it at all, really, as he has just one touchdown reception on the season.

It’s Monday, so it’s time to get going on our weekly routine of looking at targets from the previous day’s NFL action.

- Laveranues Coles, Cincinnati Bengals: Coles was targeted nine times in Cincinnati’s win over the Ravens this weekend. He came up with six receptions for 72 yards in what was his most productive day in a Bengals uniform. His nine targets tied Chad Ochocinco for the team high, and were four more than Andre Caldwell received. It was the most targets Coles had received in any one contest this season, and tied his total from the last three games combined.

- Dallas Clark, Indianapolis Colts: Clark had a whopping 16 targets en route to 14 receptions for 119 yards as Indianapolis eked by the Houston Texans on Sunday. Peyton Manning put the ball in the air 50 times during the contest, and nearly one out of every three of those throws was intended for Clark. The former Iowa tight end vaulted to fourth in the AFC and seventh in the NFL in total targets.

- James Jones, Green Bay Packers: With six targets in Green Bay’s debilitating loss to Tampa Bay, Jones now has 11 total targets in his last two contests, which is easily his highest two-game total of the season. Jones collected season highs with four catches and 103 yards in the game, along with a touchdown. With Jordy Nelson out of the lineup, Jones has taken advantage, and now has a touchdown reception in three of his last four games.

- Davone Bess, Miami Dolphins: Bess’s 14 targets were double the amount any other Dolphins player received in the team’s loss to the Patriots on Sunday. Still, he managed just six catches for 56 yards, and his lack of big-play ability is evident in the fact that he didn’t even have the most receiving yards on the team – Greg Camarillo did, with 71, despite getting the ball thrown his way just seven times.

- Lance Long, Kansas City Chiefs: If you haven’t heard of Long, don’t be alarmed; Sunday’s game was just the third time he suited up all season, and just the second time for the Chiefs. He was with Arizona in Week 1 before getting cut. But people will start to hear more about him now, considering the fact that he was targeted a team-high 11 times by Matt Cassel in K.C.’s loss to the Jags. Long wound up with eight catches for 74 yards in the game.

Other Week 9 target numbers of interest: Derrick Mason, 13; Earl Bennett, Casey Fitzsimmons, 11; Torry Holt, Pierre Garcon, Jeremy Maclin, 9; Michael Crabtree, 8; Maurice Stovall, Dwayne Jarrett, Malcolm Floyd, 7; Kevin Walter, Robert Meacham, 6; Chris Chambers, 4.

It’s Monday, so it’s time to get going on our weekly routine of looking at targets from the previous day’s NFL action.

- Nate Burleson, Seattle Seahawks: Matt Hasselbeck looked Burleson’s way 12 times in the Seahawks’ loss to the Cowboys on Sunday; he caught six of those throws for 89 yards. Burleson’s 12 targets were double the amount T.J. Houshmandzadeh received, and it vaulted Burleson past Housh in targets for the season. Burleson is now sixth in the NFL and third in the NFC with 66 targets.

- Michael Crabtree, San Francisco 49ers: A week after getting targeted a total of six times, which was the most (tied with Isaac Bruce) among San Francisco wideouts but was fewer than tight end Vernon Davis, Crabtree received nine targets to lead the entire team in the 49ers’ loss to the Colts. He thusly went on to lead the team with six catches and 89 receiving yards. Clearly, it’s only a matter of time before he forays into the end zone.

- Terrell Owens, Buffalo Bills: Owens was targeted eight times by Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick on Sunday, and the formerly potent wideout wound up with five catches, but for just 39 yards. Those eight targets were four more than any other Bills receiver got, and six more than Lee Evans. As for Owens, yes, he scored a touchdown, but that was on a running play; he’s still scored just one time on a reception all season, and that was back in Week 2.

- Dustin Keller, New York Jets: Mark Sanchez looked in Keller’s direction 13 times in the Jets’ loss to the Dolphins on Sunday. Of those looks, Keller came up with a team-high eight catches for 76 yards with a touchdown. Keller had five more targets than both Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery, and the tight end is now tied for 18th in the AFC with 49 targets, which is just one fewer than Edwards has, though some of Edwards’ looks came with the Browns.

- Justin Gage, Tennessee Titans: With Vince Young behind center, Gage received a team-leading five targets as Tennessee won their first game of the season over the Jaguars. Gage wound up with three catches for a team-high 41 yards. He was basically a forgotten man with Kerry Collins at the helm, so we’ll see if his fantasy value gets restored now that Young is at the helm.

Other Week 8 target numbers of interest: Reggie Wayne, 20; Steve Smith (NYG), Vincent Jackson, Greg Jennings, 12; Kevin Boss, 9; Eddie Royal, Bryant Johnson, Austin Collie, 8; Percy Harvin, Zach Miller, 7; Mike Thomas, Keenan Burton, 6; Sidney Rice, 5; Ted Ginn Jr., 1.

It’s Monday, so it’s time to get going on our weekly routine of looking at targets from the previous day’s NFL action.

- Owen Daniels, Houston Texans: Daniels was targeted nine times in Houston’s 24-21 win over the 49ers on Sunday, and he caught seven of those throws for 124 yards and one score. Daniels has been targeted 56 times this season, which is ninth in the NFL and more than any other tight end in the league.

- Sidney Rice, Minnesota Vikings: Rice was mentioned in this space last week when he had seven targets. He deserves special mention this week for getting double that amount, 14, and catching 11 of those passes for 136 yards. Percy Harvin was targeted 10 times but caught just three of those passes, and Bernard Berrian was targeted only three times. Rice has now crept past Berrian in targets for the season, and is 11th in the NFC with 48.

- Michael Crabtree, San Francisco 49ers: Crabtree was targeted six times in San Fran’s loss to the Texans, and he came up with five catches for 56 yards. Vernon Davis led the way for the Niners with 11 targets, but Crabtree’s six were tied with Isaac Bruce for the second-most on the team, and two more than fellow wideout Josh Morgan.

- Devin Hester, Chicago Bears: Hester was targeted nine times on Sunday as Chicago was blown out by the Bengals, 45-10. He wound up with eight catches for 101 yards and one touchdown. Hester has received 18 targets over his last two contests after not getting more than seven looks in any other game this season.

Other Week 6 target numbers of interest: Larry Fitzgerald, 13; Roddy White, 11; Antonio Bryant, Lee Evans, 9; Ted Ginn Jr., Miles Austin, Mohamed Massaquoi, Bobby Wade, Pierre Garcon, Sammie Stroughter, 8; Hakeem Nicks, 7; Bernard Berrian, 3; Braylon Edwards, 2.