Hot Stove Player of the Week: Shaun Ellis

It’s only six days until Christmas. When I was a kid, my family would gather round the tree, wearing our matching sweaters, and sing Christmas carols every year. We would feel so jolly and Christmasy that we wouldn’t even hide my brother Tiny Greg’s crutches as a practical joke, which we would often do the rest of the year. The laughs that used to get, as we’d watch him crawl around the house in tears looking for them! And we’d really know it’s Christmas when my younger brother, little Zuzu (his real name was either Eric or Steve; we were never really sure which), would say, “Look Mommy, every time a bell rings, Daddy has another drink.” This week’s prize for the Hot Stove Player of the Week is a CD of all the Christmas classics my family would belt out together: “Santa Claus Is Not Coming to Town Because He Hates You,” “Whizzy, the Yellow-Snowed Snowman,” “Santa’s Not Wearing Pants Again,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Told Daddy, He Went Into a Rage and it Broke Up My Family - Nice Going, Santa,” “I Think I Caught a Rash From One of the Elves,” “Christmas Is Cancelled Because You’re Bad,” “Randolph, the Drunken, Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “I’m Not Dreaming of a White Christmas Because My Arthritic Hip Makes Shoveling a Pain in the Wazoo.”

Winner

Shaun Ellis: This week’s award is really for the play of the week. Ellis did have 11 tackles, but the game was a disaster for the Jets until the Miracle in the Meadowlands II happened. It’s the play that saved the season for the still-first-place Jets. On his way to being remembered by nobody, J.P. Losman will now never be forgotten. And Ellis will be asked about this play for the rest of his life. It wasn’t really Losman’s fault, though. He first tried to hand off to Larry Csonka, but the retired former Giant was off fishing in Alaska, and then Losman could have sworn Doug Kotar was wide open when he started rolling out. It looked the Bills’ QB and coach, Dick Jauron, were the ones lost in a smoky haze of bad decisions, and not Ellis, this time.

Runners Up

Pro Bowlers: Let’s give a shout-out to the locals who made the Pro Bowl, which is, of course, the most exciting three hours in sports. The starters for the Giants are Chris Snee, Justin Tuck, John Carney and Jeff Feagles. The reserves are Eli Manning and Shaun O’Hara. For the Jets, the starters are Thomas Jones, Alan Faneca, Kris Jenkins and Leon Washington. The reserves are Brett Favre, Nick Mangold and Darrelle Revis.

Anti-Players of the Week

Giants Offensive Line: Weren’t they just the Hot Stove Players of the Week a few weeks ago? They gave up eight sacks and did nothing to help the Giants’ running game. They were the best in the league (we thought). How could they play like this? What in the name of Shaun Ellis were they smoking on Sunday night?