Fuamatu-Ma'afala Wins Weekly Hard Hat Award (Game #7, vs. Clev.)
Stiller RB/FB Chris Fu is the winner of my 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.
Fu played FB and served as "The Bus Driver", plowing the way for another Bettis 100-yard game. Going into the game, the entire Pittsburgh media wailed and moaned at the grim prospect of Fu having to replace the "irreplaceable" Jon Witman at FB, who had suffered a season-ending injury that was deemed "devastating" to the prospects of this offense ever again being able to run the ball more than, say, 3 inches per carry. I scoured the tape of the game, and was extremely pleased at the way Fu exploded into defenders at the point of attack. What makes Fu's effort all the more impressive, was that this was the first regular season game he'd ever played at FB, thanks to a myopic, dim-bulb coaching staff that refused to give a 252-pound bowling ball of a back any work whatsoever at FB the past 2+ years. Fu, at only 5-11", clearly showed that he gets far better leverage than Jon Witless, and he packs a better punch at the point of attack. Fu even rushed for 20 yards on his only carry, when he, lined up as a single-back, dashed around right end on a draw play -- a play Witman wouldn't have made, ever. The bad thing was the Fu hurt his ankle at the end of this play, when the tackler fell on his foot. Fu is now out for 4 weeks; perhaps more.
Kudos to Fu for winning the weekly Hard Hat Award. Wear the Hard Hat proudly, Fu !! Get well soon.
Previous Winners:
Game #6, vs. Cinci: D. Washington and Joey Porter
Game #5, vs. NYJ: Larry Tharpe
- Game #4, vs. Jax: Kimo von Oelhofen
Game #3, vs. Tenn: Shar Pourdanesh
The Still Mill