
A lot of Firsts with the last Arrowhead Awards of the 2006 regular season. For the first time, we have four winners. For the first time, we have winners from another team (indeed, they weren't even the Chiefs' opponents). And for the first time, we have a deceased winner.
The first winner is blatantly obvious. Bernard Pollard has officially overtaken Dante Hall as the most feared special teamer on the Chiefs. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out now (
link here, then go to the Video Features tab, and it's Top Play 2), because it was an amazing combination of speed, strength, agility, and awareness. Not only that, but to have the wherewithal to block out Montell Owens (who he just dominated for the punt block) and recover the ball in the end zone was perhaps more electrifying than any of Dante Hall's TD returns from a few years back. More importantly, Pollard's TD gave the Chiefs life and the all-important first score of the game.
The second winner is Shayne Graham of the Cincinnati Bengals. I have to admit, I flipped the channel when Jeff Reed's FG sailed through to tie the game. I figured that I would catch overtime in a few minutes. What I missed, and caught only via a highlight clip during overtime, was Graham missing what should have been an easy FG. Once I saw that, I knew Pittsburgh would win.
The third winner is also obvious. Joe Nedney kicked the biggest FG of the Chiefs' 2006 season. Barely.
Which brings me to the fourth winner: Lamar Hunt. It seems pretty obvious that his fingerprints were all over Week 17, doesn't it? That Graham missed FG was, well, eerie. It looked awfully good, then veered right. That Nedney FG was, well, eerie. It looked like it would veer too far right, then stayed just within the upright. You don't think Lamar Hunt saved two big breaths and blew, first to the right for Graham, and then to the left for Nedney? If the Chiefs could not do it themselves, you just knew Lamar Hunt would do something about it.
Note: Because of the holidays, I neglected to publish the Arrowhead Award winner for 12/24/06. That winner was Jarrad Page because of another stellar effort against the Raiders.