Steelers “Grown A** Man” award winners for Week 10 against the Panthers
What is a Grown Ass Man (GAM)? A GAM is someone who dominates. A GAM is someone who, when you watch them play appears to be a man among boys. They can’t be stopped, denied or contained.
That is a Grown Ass Man.
Who stood out in the Steelers contest against the Panthers? Who rose above and elevated their level of play to the status of Grown Ass Man? Let’s find out in this week’s GAM Awards.
Ben Roethlisberger –
22/25, 328 yards, 5 TDs and a perfect passer rating of 158.3
This passing chart for Ben says almost everything you need to know about the kind of game Roethlisberger had on Thursday:
It doesn't get much better than this: pic.twitter.com/4jpy44ZyJh
— Brian E. Roach (SCU) #TheRefsStink #GAM (@CannonsDontThun) November 9, 2018
This is Ben’s fourth career game with a perfect passer rating, tying him with some guy named Manning. 9 different guys caught passes, 5 different guys caught touchdown passes! This is what perfection looks like.
If that’s not enough, Roethlisberger was also able to continue his slow but steady march towards hitting 100 yards rushing for the season (he had 48 yards for the season prior to last night), adding 27 rushing yards on 3 carries to bring his season total to 75. (Ok, this is sarcasm, just in case you didn’t notice).
Ben Roethlisberger is a Grown Ass Man!
David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey and the Offensive Line
There is a line in the play-by-play for the second quarter that reads:
(11:59) (Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger pass deep middle to A.Brown to CAR 25 for 33 yards (M.Adams)
However, that doesn’t do justice to that play, or why it indicates the offensive line was (once again) so dominant. Ben takes the ball from center in the shotgun and just stands there. I swear he doesn’t move for 3 or 4 seconds, and nobody is getting anywhere near him. The line was just that good.
But the real reason DeCastro and Pouncey get the call out here is because of what happened after Ben was tagged in the head by Eric Reid.
“Don’t mess with my quarterback” message sent, and received.
David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey and the O line are Grown Ass Men!
Rosie Nix
I had a brain fart on the podcast and totally forget to mention one Roosevelt Nix! Not only did he get to catch a few passes, and bust one for a first down; not only did he lead the way in some heavy run sets, but on special teams, Rosie punched the ball out and provided yet another turnover that helped put any remaining doubts as to the result of this game to rest.
Roosevelt Nix is a Grown Ass Man!
Cameron Heyward
The O.G. finally gets a shout out in these awards that he inspired. Cam Heyward hasn’t shown up on the stat sheet as much this season as he did last, at least not to this point. However, that doesn’t diminish the presence he’s had, and how he has done a great job of freeing up the linebackers by absorbing blocks. He’s been really good, if in an understated way.
That was not how it played out Thursday. Cam was a man among boys. Cam was a force. Cam was a disrupter and a complete monster in the middle. Finally, FINALLY, I get to say those magical words that started this whole thing:
CAM HEYWARD IS A GROWN ASS MAN!
(That feels so good)
Honorable Mentions
To be fair, Vince Williams, T.J. Watt and even Bud Dupree all should likely be included – but four is the max! Vince (1 sack, 1 INT, 1 TD) T.J. (1 sack) and Bud (1 sack) all were impactful contributors to the overall outcome of the game. So were Antonio Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, Vance McDonald and Jesse James. I said it on the podcast, and it’s true – who were the Grown Ass Men last night? It was pretty much the whole team. If this continues, it’s gonna be a really good second half of the season.
Tell us what you think? Who do you believe should have been given a “Grown-Ass-Man” award?
