�
Hard Hat Award (Game #9, @ Clev)
Stiller LB James Harrison 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.
Harrison was pressed into his first-ever NFL start when starting OLB Joey Porter was ejected in pregame warm-ups due to the fracas with William Green.� So here you have Harrison, a 2nd-year man who has never even sniffed starting work in the NFL, nor has he ever practiced with the 1st team, and suddenly, 15 minutes prior to game time, he's tasked to start in lieu of 1 of the best OLBs in Stiller history.�
What seemed like a recipe for disaster turned into a recipe for a smash debut.� Harrison played the game the way defensive football was meant to be played -- with the passion, desire, intensity, and nastiness of a junkyard dog.� Harrison, in fact, led all Stillers with 6 solos in his gutty performance.� He stuffed a running play on the 2nd Clev play from scrimmage, and from there, he played like a demon possessed.� Throughout the game, he applied pressure; took on blocks; and hit ballcarriers.� He had a near safety of Garcia in the 2Q, and even on the A. Smith strip of Garcia in the 4Q, it was Harrison who was being held around the helmet by a Brownie blocker.�
Oddly enough, Harrison showed every Hard Hat attribute -- hitting, intensity, toughness, hustle, and football savvy -- that the previous uniform owner of #92 never showed in 9 seasons with the Stillers.� As scorned upon a number as there is in Stiller lore, Harrison has brought respectability to the number 92.� Jason GilDong never once won the Hard Hat award in the 3 years of the award's existence, yet in his first-ever NFL start, James Harrison already owns a Hard Hat.�
Kudos to Harrison for winning the weekly Hard Hat
Award.� Wear the Hard Hat proudly,
James!�
Past 2004 Winners:
Week 1, vs. Oak: Casey Hampton and Clark Haggans
Week 2, @ Balt: No one
Week 3, vs. Miami:�
Chris Hope
Week 4, vs. Cinci:�
Ben Roth and Troy Pola
Week 5, vs. Clev: Ben Roethlisberger
Week 6, @ Dallas:�
James Farrior
Week 7, vs. New England:�
Joey Porter
Week 8, vs. Phil: James Farrior
(Note: Stillers.com will pay tribute to Justin Strzelczyk,
who epitomized the very nature of The Hard Hat, by placing "73" on
the Hard Hat each week during the season.)�