Hard Hat Award (Game #3, vs. San Fran)
Stiller RB Willie Parker is the winner of the weekly Hard Hat Award, given to the Stiller player who best embodies the iron-tough, hard-as-steel attitude of the steel workers inside the blast furnace of a still mill.
Parker had a strong, rugged effort in the beating of the 69ers on Sunday, rushing for 133 yards on 24 attempts and grabbing 1 pass for 9 yards. It wasn�t merely raw stats, of course, as the coveted Hard Hat is never awarded to a player based on cheese or slop stats. Parker ran with relentless authority the entire game, slashing through small creases with the burst of a thief that was running away with his newly acquired goods with the cops in close pursuit. And make no mistake about it -- Parker gained a relatively small percentage of his yards on the outside. Rather, he gained most of his yards in the area of the �big uglies�, fearlessly slashing up guard or off tackle for nice chunks of yardage, busting tackles all the while. The foolhardy notion that a RB needs to be 260 pounds to �grind out the tough yards� and �wear down the defense� was never more of a folly than in this game, when Parker did all that and much more.
Kudos to Parker for winning the Hard Hat Award. Wear the Hard Hat proudly, Wilver !
Previous 2007 Hard Hit Awardees:
Game 1, @ Clev: Jamie Harrison and Danny Sepulveda
Game 2, vs. Buffalo: Jamie Harrison