Weekly Hard Hat Award (game #7, vs St. Louis)

LB James Farrior is the winner of our 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.

This week's choice was rather an easy one, as no one, not even the always tenacious Hines Ward, stood out as prominently as did Farrior against the Rams. James was a monster all day, but especially in run defense. Consider his game-leading twelve tackles (8 solo, 4 assist). Of these, 7 came in the 4^th quarter, when the Stillers were desperately trying to mount a comeback after immediately giving up their slim 1 point lead. The Rams naturally were running the ball to kill clock, especially after going up by 33-21. Farrior responded by stuffing the rookie Harris repeatedly. The following shows the yardage gained by the Rams on his seven 4^th Q tackles (all Harris runs): 7, 2, 1, -2, 1(a), 1, -2 for a net total of 8 yards!. That, my friends, is run-stuffing. That is Stiller football. It is worth noting too, that the 7 yard Harris run was followed immediately by the 2 yarder, which left the Rams in a 3^rd and 1 situation. They did manage to convert that, but through no fault of JF. All told, James registered a tackle in all 4 quarters of the game, as well as a pass defensed in the 2^nd Q. He allowed only one catch against in his coverage duties, a 12 yarder in the 1^st Q by Holt. I don't hold that against him though, because no linebacker in the NFL should ever be covering an all-world receiver the caliber of Holt. In fact, I find it amazing that he only allowed 12 yards on the play, as opposed to the usual 20+ yarders the secondary was regularly giving up.

In discussion of this week's award, one member of the committee noted that if the Stiller secondary had one-tenth the amount of grit, hustle and tenacity that Farrior showed on this day, we might well have won that game. Funny thing is, we do have at least one DB with that sort of balls-to-the-wall attitude: Ike Taylor, as evidenced by his continuing excellence on special teams, as both a return man and in coverage. Did anyone else notice the blast he laid on Groce(?) during a 4^th quarter punt return? Talk about a bone-splintering hit! Ike played with fire on ST against the Rams, so much so that he nearly earned himself a second HH award for his 135 return yards and 2 tackles (1 s, 1 a). However, he also fumbled once (fortunately recovered by Larry Foote). Had he made a couple more tackles, particularly of the vicious kind, he likely would have earned himself a co-win along with Farrior. As it is though, he will have to be content with an honorable mention. Certainly though, he should be (but won't) considered for starter status over the ever-incompetent DUHwayne Washingdong, who was utterly terrible (as usual) against the Rams.

Kudos to Farrior for winning the weekly Hard Hat Award. Wear it proudly, James.

Previous winners of the coveted Hard Hat Award in 2003: