Las Vegas Raiders

Game Ball: Oakland Raiders at Jacksonville Jaguars

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Game Ball is a weekly series that awards a “game ball” to the player of the game for the Oakland Raiders. Only one player will be chosen, and this one is for Week 7 against the Jaguars.

Awarding a game ball to a player, coach, or anyone deserving is a long-standing tradition in the NFL. And that is what serves as the inspiration for this weekly series.

Some games, many players may be deserving to be recognized as the player of the game — while some games, maybe only a couple of players are deserving. No matter what, there is always at least one person who stands out above the rest.

Several players were well deserving of the game ball, but Michael Crabtree gets the nod.

It was a tough decision to go with Crabtree, with Marquette King being his biggest competition and Sebastian Janikowski also getting some consideration. But King already received an accolade this week, so we’ll spread the love like Derek Carr spreads the football and give Crabtree some props.

On the day, King Crab hauled in 8 catches for 96 yards and a TD. With Derek Carr only having a moderate performance, the run game being good but not great, and Amari Cooper having a quiet day, Crab was the main reason why the offensive was able to be as productive as they were.

Derek Carr on the run😩😩💦💦💸 #RaiderNation #Dime pic.twitter.com/ySsrlXPaKW

— DC4 TOP 5 THIS YEAR (@juice_ay) October 23, 2016

Crabtree’s touchdown reception was his 6th of the season, which ties him for the league lead. He’s playing like a top ten receiver in the league, and he certainly is deserving of being in that conversation.

Crab’s performance on Sunday also allowed the offense to not have to force feed the ball to Amari Cooper, who drew a tough matchup with Jalen Ramsey.

This isn’t the first time Crabtree has been mentioned in this column, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.