I understand that football's a rough game, I played it. But damn, can anyone that's good at it stay healthy? Take a look at the players missing this year's pro bowl, it looks like the 2015-2020 Hall of Fame inductions.
Jamal Williams-DT, San Diego Chargers
Randy Moss- WR, New England Patriots
Antonio Gates- TE, San Diego Chargers
Tom Brady- QB, New England Patriots
Brett Favre- QB, Green Bay Packers
Jonathan Ogden-OT, Baltimore Ravens
Walter Jones- OT, Seattle Seahawks
Patrick Kerney-DE, Seattle Seahawks
Lance Briggs-OLB, Chicago Bears
Tommie Harris-DT, Chicago Bears
Willie Parker-RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Ladainian Tomlinson-RB, San Diego Chargers
Jason Peters-OT, Buffalo Bills
Jason Taylor-OLB, Miami Dolphins
Troy Polamalu-S, Pittsburgh Steelers
Bob Sanders-S, Indianapolis Colts
Sean Taylor-S, Washington Redskins
Of course, there are legitimate reasons to miss the pro bowl (See: Sean Taylor, who's questionable with a mortal bullet wound), but then there's the case of Randy Moss who wasn't even listed on the Super Bowl injury report and got outplayed by 2'5" 15 pound Wes Welker.
This list of players is basically the same thing as a team in Madden 08 with fair trades turned off. You got:
- The 2 New England Patriots that broke touchdown records in their respective categories
- The league's leading rusher and 4th leading rusher (and in all honesty, he would have gotten it if not for a leg fracture)
-Two future hall of fame tackles
-The last two defensive players of the year
-The only guy not named Tom Brady to receive and MVP vote
-Six guys on the 2007 All-Pro team
Is the Pro Bowl the NFL equivalent of the combine? If you're too good, you don't have to show up, let some lucky guy on the Browns get a spot?
Luckily, these injuries are going to let us see that stars we were all looking for. Hey, who isn't looking forward to Derek Anderson throwing passes to Kellen Winslow? ...Oh. wait.
If that doesn't get your mouths watering, how about Jeff Garcia taking snaps from Andre Gurode (who?) and looking out for Antoin Bethea in the defensive backfield.
Ok, some guys have great seasons and get to make the pro bowl over more popular players, it's the point of the pro bowl and a good thing. But when one team (Dallas) (New England) has a good year,don't just vote their offensive line to the pro bowl, you've never heard of them. There are two types of offensive linemen in the probowl, the ones on the teams with the best records and the ones that make it every year (see: Walter Jones, Jonathan Ogden).
Meanwhile, how does John Lunch make the pro bowl every year? He was supposed to do the same thing that all old players do when they get to new teams, disappear. He apparently didn't get the message from Warren Sapp.
If the pro bowl wants to be anything close to what the all star game is, make the players show up. The damn skills competitions are more interesting than the games, and you've probably heard of more guys playing on the former players flag football game.
