Game ball voting in the wake of the Steelers Thanksgiving win over the Colts came with a few surprises. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown tied for top honors, with both men earning 9 votes a apiece for their efforts, with a defender coming in as a close second.
Given the outstanding performance of the Steelers defense (albeit against an Andrew Luckless and rapidly ailing Colts offense) the fact that a defender came in second should surprise no one, as the defense logged plenty of splash plays. But the top defensive vote getter didn’t author any of those said splash plays….
- Instead, it was Ryan Shazier who earned the most game ball votes of the defense, coming in with 8 votes.
While Shazier did not have a bad game, his stat sheet only reads 3 tackles. This is all the more surprising because Shazier only garnered 3 game ball winner votes following the Steelers win over the Browns in a game in which his strip sack set up the game sealing touchdown. Still, Ryan Shazier won Steelers Thanksgiving honors for 2016, and those types of articles can sometimes influence voting.
- Javon Hargrave was the man who scored that touchdown only to get left out of the cold in game ball voting, despite a plea for write ins.
The voters were much kinder to Javon Hargrave following the Colts game, giving him 6 votes, which, while good, was below James Harrison‘s 7 votes. Mike Mitchell was next for the Steelers defense, getting 4 votes which is perhaps a little low considering the monster game he logged.
William Gay’s low vote total is perhaps a tad surprising, since he opened the action with a strip sack and closed it with an interception – but it is only fair to note that he also gave up a very long completion that set up the Colts first touchdown. Sean Davis likewise only got 2 votes, despite being recognized as the Unsung Hero of the Colts game.
- On offense, Le’Veon Bell pulled in 7 votes and Ladarius Green rounded out the voting with 2 votes.
Once again, Steel Curtain Rising offers a heartfelt thank you to all of you who voted.
