Week X

The lasting legacy of Sunday night’s terrific match-up between AFC powerhouses New England and Indianapolis will be Patriots’ coach Bill Belichek’s odd decision to go for a failed 4th and 2 conversion inside his own 30-yard line that set up the Colts’ game-winning score. What got just a little bit lost in all the controversy was another outstanding performance by Patriots’ rookie LT Sebastian Vollmer. Vollmer, a late second round pick this April and the highest player drafted this year who was not invited to the scouting combine, ironically in Indianapolis, went head-to-head all evening with Colts’ Pro Bowl DE Dwight Freeney, who came into the game with 9.5 sacks on the season, and pitched a shutout. No make that a perfect game as when the final whistle sounded Freeney had no sacks and no tackles. And that was enough to earn Vollmer his second GBN rookie of the week award of the season. It also makes Vollmer the first offensive lineman ever in the history of the GBN award to earn the designation more than once in a season.

In fact, Sunday night’s Colts-Patriots dual was a match-up of two of the league’s best rookie corps. And the young players didn’t disappoint. In addition to Vollmer’s fine game blocking Freeney, first-year New England DBs Patrick Chung and Darius Butler, also second round picks by the Patriots’ this past April, had 7 and 5 tackles respectively, while 7th round receiver Julian Edelman had a TD reception. Meanwhile, Indianapolis WR Austin Collie, a 4th round pick who leads all rookie receivers in receiving this season, had 6 receptions for 45 yards, although he also had a big drop. At the same time, CB Jerraud Powers, a 3rd round selection, had 5 tackles and 2 key pass breakups, while undrafted rookie CB Jacob Lacey had 7 tackles. At the same time, P Pat McAfee, a 6th round pick by the Colts’ this year, averaged over 48 yards on 6 punts.

If Vollmer got any real competition for this week’s award it came from Washington DE Brian Orakpo, the 13th player chosen this year, who had another 1.5 sacks, as well as 3 total tackles for loss to help the Redskins defeat Denver 27-17. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be a week in NFL play without a interception by Buffalo DB Jairus Byrd. In the end, it didn’t matter all that much as the Bills were hammered at home by Tennessee, but Byrd, a second round pick this year, took over the overall league lead with his 8th pick of the year. Elsewhere, Green Bay OLB Clay Matthews had a sack in the Packers upset win over Dallas, while Carolina DB Sherrod Martin had an interception in the Panthers win over Atlanta. The play of the week by this year’s rookie class was delivered by Cincinnati RB Bernard Scott, an obscure 6th round pick from DII Abilene Christian, who scored the only TD in Sunday’s titanic AFC North showdown between defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh and the resurgent Bengals, when he took a KO 97 yards to the house to help the Bengals to an 18-12 win and first place in the division.

Previous 2009 Weekly Winners:
Week I - New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez
Week II - New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez
Week III - Detroit QB Matt Stafford
Week IV - Cleveland WR Mo Massaquoi
Week V - Philadelphia WR Jeremy Maclin
Week VI - New England OT Sebastian Vollmer
Week VII - Buffalo DB Jairus Byrd
Week VIII - Houston LB Brian Cushing
Week IX - Tampa Bay QB Josh Freeman

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