Game-Balls: Bucs 21 49ers 0

Last weekend you all selected Josh Freeman as your player of the week. This week, for as well as the offense played, the defense may actually claim its first player of the week after shutting out the 49ers in San Francisco for the first time in 33 years. You know how it works, I’ll hand out five game-balls and then you guys will vote on your week 11 player of the week (after the page-break).

Josh Freeman- His numbers weren’t exactly off the charts, but once again Freeman had a solid day throwing the football, didn’t make many mistakes and was able to lead the offense to 21 points. On the day Freeman finish 13 of 20 for 138 yards and two touchdowns. More than anything he displayed good decision-making skills, opting to throw balls away and take the occasional sack than toss it into coverage and take his chances.

Cadillac Williams- It must be something about no longer having to tote the rock 15-20 times a game, but with the emergence of LeGarrette Blount, Williams looks rejuvenated. Last week he hit on a 43 yard touchdown, this week his long was just 26, but he finished with seven carries for 51 yards and a score. For a guy who was averaging 2.5 per carry this season and looked like he was out of gas, this is one hell of a turn-around. Give Blount credit too, he pounded the ball into that 49ers line 26 times to soften them up, but Williams, dare I say, is turning into more of the home-run threat. And as I said last week, it’s tough not to root for him.

Donald Penn- Seriously, how many chances does a left tackle get to catch a touchdown pass? While Penn’s TD reception was a bit flukey (and a bit more genius) he also contributed solid blocking during another very good rushing day. The Buccaneers run game looks night and day better than it the first half of the season, largely thanks to Blount. But you can’t forget the blocking and Penn anchors arguably the most important spot on the line, protecting Freeman’s blindside and opening up space for the backs. He played well yesterday, this game-ball goes to the whole line though to some extent.

Ronde Barber- Barber intercepted his 40th pass against the ‘Niners, it was somewhat of a gift, but Barber still found himself in position and actually made the play. Quietly, Barber is having a land-mark season in his career. He surpassed Dick LeBeau for the most consecutive starts by a corner earlier this season, and on Sunday he cemented his place atop the Bucs all-time picks list with his 40th pick (he already had the spot, but 40 is a nice round number to point to). Raheem Morris says Barber is like wonder-glue, he fixes any problem facing the defense. He’s also 35 (but ageless) and at this point has probably well surpassed his twin brother Tiki as having had the better NFL career (only one of them is heading to the Hall of Fame, put it that way).

The D-Line- Yes, this is a cop out, but no one man on the line stood out above the others, collectively as a unit they had their best performance of the season. They held Frank Gore to just 23 yards rushing and combined to bring down Troy Smith five time. Gerald McCoy picked up his first sack, Stylez G. White had a sack and a half, everyone was in on the action. I don’t know if this group has turned a corner, but they certainly have earned a reprieve for the next week or so.

So who is your pick?