2009 Game Balls - Week 10

  Talk about a heart attack.  I literally could not watch DC$'s final field goal.  Wow!  What a finish.  Thank you Henne for the fantastic finish.  I don't know if I should be upset about your horrible interception, or love you because of the drive you orchestrated to get the win.

 This week is another hard week to give game balls.  Not because of, like last week, there's not a lot of players that deserve the accolades, but because everyone seemed to play well, so no one really jumped out as the dominant player.

The sack is even harder this week.  I guess that's a good thing.

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1-yard Game Ball.  Jake Long and Lousaka Polite.  The Offensive Line looked really good this week.  I think, of all the linemen though, Long stood out.  His lead block to get Ronnie Brown into the endzone was outstanding.  That's the #1 overall pick we wanted.  As for the Lousaka Monster, the guys does everything you ask of him.  He's in there blowing up linebackers as a lead blocker.  He took his two carries for 14-yards, including the beauty of a 12-yarder straight up the gut.  These two guys, along with the rest of the offensive line, really make this power running offense the Dolphins want to be, possible.  They probably deserve more yardage this week, but I cannot figure out who to cut from the next four Game Balls.

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2-yard Game Ball.  Kory Sperry.  Sperry was signed off of the practice squad on Saturday.  What did he do on Sunday?  Make three catches for 31 yards.  Oh yeah, and a touchdown.  What a debut for a practice squad tight end.  Sperry commented after the game, "I don't think much when I'm playing, but I said, 'Wow, OK, don't drop this.'"  He'll probably end up back on the practice squad when Anthony Fasano comes back from injury, but what a great moment for this young man.  Hopefully this means the Dolphins have a good tight end for the future in him.

3-yard Game Ball. Jason Taylor.  Okay, the interception was a little odd.  I think the commentators are all confused though, still trying to make it a fumble recovery.  The referee clearly explains that the receiver was going to the ground, but the ball popped up when he hit the ground, therefore, it's an interception.  Either way, the Dolphins finally got a good call from the zebras.  Okay, besides this play, JT seemed to be everywhere today.  He was pressuring Josh Freeman, he was defensing passes (two).  He didn't get a sack, but he was there plenty of times.  Good day for JT.  Just wish he could have had touchdown number 10!

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4-yard Game Ball.Charlie Anderson and Channing Crowder.  Apparently Charlie Anderson came to play this week.  He got the start for the coach's decision inactive Joey Porter, and he did not disappoint.  He had six tackles, and a sack.  He also forced two fumbles.  For the record, Porter has 12 tackles on the year, 2.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble.  Anderson almost equaled that this week.  Great game, Mr. Anderson.  Channing Crowder finally decided to play like his mouth - loud and all over the place.  Crowder had nine tackles, with one sack, and one pass defensed.  Crowder finally looked like the player we all want him to be.  Overall, a great day for the linebackers of the Miami Dolphins (well, unless you are Joey Porter...).

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5-yard Game Ball. Ricky Williams.  I wasn't going to do it.  I really wasn't.  But, I don't think it's my love of Ricky that got him this Game Ball this week.  Erric ran for 102-yards, extending his franchise record 100-yard game total to 21 (33rd of his career), six ahead of second place Ronnie Brown.  The 27-yard rush down to the 7-yard line to set up DC$'s game winner was a thing of beauty.  Do you guys remember when we drafted Ronnie Brown, and he was the power runner to Ricky's cut back, finesse runner?  My, how things have change.  When Ricky finally realized he is a big dude, and he can just run over people, he got even better.  I don't care who you are, if Ricky lowers his shoulder, you are going to lose.  I just wish Geno Hayes hadn't been able to make that tackle.

Honorable Mention this week:  I'm going to go ahead and hand out a few extra one yard Game Balls this week, because like I said earlier, a lot of players deserved recognition after this game.  So, Dan Carpenter (Fgs from 25, 30, 45, 49 and 1/2 on XPs, plus he was kicking against his training camp rival Connor Barth), Cameron Wake (three tackles, including one for a loss, plus a sack), Brandon Fields (6 punts, 45.5 yard average, 3 inside the 20, and one was a 62 yard blast), Chad Henne (smart play today, he really did, as JT said, mature this week), Yeremiah Bell (for the hit to end the game), and Davone Bess (I really was going to give him the sack this week for his muffed punt, then his backwards punt return, but his catches at the end of the game saved him from that) each get one yard.

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Sack: Okay, like I said, I wanted to give this to Bess, but he finished the game hot, so he got away with screwing up some punt returns early.  Instead, I will go ahead and give it to the player missing from the linebackers today - just like all season.  Joey Porter gets this week's sack, for being "healthy" enough to play, but being inactivated by a coach's decision.  As Matty and RZ stated in the "No news, but some speculation about Ronnie Brown's injury " post, it looks like Porter was too injured and/or sick to practice this week, bu was caught doing something during the week that he too wasn't sick or hut to do.  What that was hasn't been released, but I like the fact that the coaches immediately benched the Pro-Bowler/Team Captain.  And, congratulations Joey.  Without even getting on the field, you received a 5-yard sack this week, increasing your total negative yardage to -13. 

If you missed it on Friday, click here to see the mid-season Yardage Totals for this year.