Sprint Gameball of the Week: Deion Branch

This post is sponsored by Sprint.

This week, it wasn't too hard to pick my gameball.  While the play of Danny Woodhead, Brandon Spikes, and Jerod Mayo certainly deserve credit, there was no player that stood out quite like Deion this week.

Last Tuesday, the Patriots traded a fourth round pick to reunite former Seahawks receiver Deion Branch with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.  Five days later, Deion Branch caught nine passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.

What's impressive is that heading into the fourth quarter, Branch had just two receptions for 23 yards.  Between the fourth quarter and overtime, Branch picked up another seven catches for 75 yards.  He caught the touchdown that cut the score to three in the fourth, and had the two crucial catches that set up Stephen Gostkowski's game winning field goal in overtime.  While Branch never had gaudy regular season numbers in his original stint with the team, he always put up big numbers in the playoffs and in big games.  No different here.

What's even more impressive is that while Branch was with the team for over four years last decade, much of the offense had change.  Even though many of the routes have remained the same, the terminology and the philosophy really changed in his four year absence.  Branch had a great game yesterday, think of what he will be doing by the end of the season.

Is he worth that 4th round pick now?