Hard Hat Award (Game #12, vs.
No one 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.
In a bizarre paradox in a season of eerie paradoxes and clumsy play, the team that was set to �unleash hell in December� came out and unleashed nothing more than a whimper, softly playing mamby pamby pattycakes with the woeful, downtrodden Raiders. The Steelers basically played paw-paw, and grabass, with the Raiders, never once putting the hammer down or kicking the silver n� jack to the curb. The entire team played as soft as they did feebly.
Few, if any, players were in consideration after this vomity slopfest. Brett Keisel drew some consideration, although his comments after the game, in which he actually thought the defense applied adequate pressure on Sadkowski, caused The Committee to drop him like a bad habit. Delusional lack of awareness is not a trait The Committee is looking to endorse. Rookie Ryan Mundy had a couple of big hits late in the 4Q. Unfortunately, one of them knocked his own player (Will Gay) out of the game, and the other came after the whistle, in which Mundy was assessed a personal foul.
It bears repeating that there is almost always -- if not always -- a strong correlation between the number of players in consideration for the Hard Hat, and if the team won or lost. Simply put, Hard Hat kind of football leads to victory; pansy football (a term used here long before Troy Pola popularized it) leads to defeat. Given the poor effort and lack of toughness this past Sunday -- especially on the defense -- it should come as no surprise that the Stillers got beaten.
Kudos to no one for winning the Hard Hat Award. Don�t wear the Hard Hat proudly, fellas.
Previous 2009 Hard Hat Winners:
Game #1, vs.
Game #2, @
Game #3, @ Cinci: Mike Wallace (honorable mention to Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric)
Game #4, vs.
Game #5, @
Game #6, vs.
Game #7, vs.
Game #8, @
Game #9, vs. Cinci: No one
Game #10, @ KC: Rashard Mendenhall
Game #11, @