This One's on Check Award

There are several ways to interpret the action of buying a drink for some body. Should I select the 'Hawk who played the best, perhaps Bobby Engram who was more than a respectable replacement for Koren Robinson by snatching up 8 catches for 79 yards, proving that he may be a worthwhile fantasy football steal this year? Or maybe on the defensive side, Grant Wistrom was playing volleyball with Byron Leftwich's passes, and showed us a great deal of what we missed when he went down last year.

Perhaps this award should be given to the guy or guys that need the drink the most in lieu of poor performances, similar to when I awarded it as a consolation to the New Orleans fans after the first preseason game (whom I think I owe another drink too, but for more noble purposes in light of NO's gutsy triumph in Carolina this weekend). Maybe Mr. Hasslebeck would like a beer, or two, on me for all of the turnovers.

Or perhaps, just perhaps, I could go against convention and award a drink to a player on the opposing team that stood out. So with this in mind, I award this weeks "This One's on Check" award to Jacksonville WR Jimmy Smith for completely torching the highly touted Seattle secondary to the tune of 7 catches, 130 yards and 2 TD's. Notably the finest performance of the game. What bothered me most, was the appearance of a pass rush that we hadn't seen before, but Smith still appearing to be wide open.

In addition to Smith, I think a consolation beer needs to go to Marcus Trufant, who bore the brunt of Jimmy Smith's production. Our would be Pro-Bowler got repeatedly toasted like rye on a reuben. Perhaps I should just give two beers to Smith, and then a container of aloe vera to Trufant, or mayhap I should take one, since I chose not to start Smith on my fantasy football team, but I think it's fitting that one celebration beer go to Smith, and one to Trufant, if for no other reason, than to douse those flames.