1) I have to start with my Chicago Bears. There is only one Bear that legitimately deserved to go (and start) and that was Brandon Marshall. Luckily, the fans were smart enough to vote him in and he starts opposite of Megatron. The other Chicago Bear that would could have made a rational argument for going was Charles "Peanut" Tillman because the dude was a monster during the first half of the season. In fact, Bill Barnwell made the argument that Peanut was a Pro Bowler, so that selection was justified. However, the other three Chicago Bear selections were iffy at best, and this is coming from a die hard Chicago Bears fan. Tillman's teammate who plays opposite of him, Tim Jennings, was also selected making both Bears corners starters. I understand Jennings leads the NFL in interceptions but this looks more like the DeAngelo Hall effect + teams not wanting to throw to Tillman more than Jennings being a top 2 CB in the NFC. Defensive lineman Henry Melton is a starter. To be honest I have no idea if this is a good selection or not because who really cares about defensive tackles? Lastly, Julius Peppers is a Pro Bowler which is an absolute travesty. He has not shown up for virtually all season and the reason the Bears defense has struggled in the second half is because Peppers is essentially non existent.
2) The other NFC cornerback selected besides the two Chicago guys was Arizona's Patrick Peterson. This is a great selection as he was the best corner in the league according to Advanced NFL Stats. However, I can't believe no corner from Seattle was selected. I would take Seattle's Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner over both Bears corners and really over almost any corners in the league right now.
3) Speaking of Seattle, either the Seahawks or the 49ers have the best offensive line in football. This was even more evident as both teams each had two O-lineman selected to go to the Pro Bowl.
4) Arian Foster is NOT a Pro Bowler. I understand he leads all running backs in touchdowns but the man is barely running at four yards per carry. In fact, during the very, very end of Pro Bowl voting, Foster was UNDER 4.0 YPC. That's not just terrible, that's straight up atrocious. C.J. Spiller, who has been running at an incredible 6.5 YPC, absolutely deserved Foster's spot.
5) Matt Schaub was selected as the 3rd AFC quarterback behind Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. At first I was outraged by this because Schaub is good but he's not THAT good. But then I went through the other AFC teams and realized there really was no one better. The only other two selections I could think of that maybe deserved the last spot were Andrew Luck and Andy Dalton and neither made a convincing case that they DESERVED the spot over Schaub.
6) I hate Matt Ryan. He has done nothing personally to me and has never affected anything I have ever done in fantasy football but there's something about him that I don't like when he plays. He was selected as Aaron Rodgers first back up which would have been fine except Matt Ryan IS a Pro Bowler and Drew Brees is NOT. That's just ridiculous. Hell, I'd take Russell Wilson over Matt Ryan.
7) A terrible, 37 year old Jeff Saturday who controls a terrible offensive line in Green Bay is not a Pro Bowler. In fact, Saturday was playing so poorly that he was demoted in Week 16 for a rookie. This is another example of people not actually knowing how offensive lineman actually play and a player getting selected solely because people know his name.
8) Julio Jones and Victor Cruz were selected as the back up wide outs in the NFC. One of those spots should have been guaranteed to Vincent Jackson and the last one should have gone to either Roddy White, Dez Bryant, or Randall Cobb. My personal selection would be Cobb.
9) The wide receiver starters for the AFC are Andre Johnson and A.J. Green. No argument from me on that one. The backs ups are Reggie Wayne and Wes Welker. Wayne is easily a Pro Bowler but Welker has not been good this season- even despite the way he plays the position. He's had too many drops to really deserve a Pro Bowl berth this year and just does not look like the same guy we saw for the past few years. Welker's spot probably should have gone to either Demaryius Thomas or his teammate Eric Decker.
10) The Kansas City Chiefs have more Pro Bowlers (5) than wins (2). I understand each player is (probably) deserving per their position but really the selection should just be Jamaal Charles and nobody else. Hey, that's just like their real team!
Overall, this was a pretty good year for Pro Bowl selections. Not a whole lot of objections or things to get super worked up about. Great job fans and all those who select Pro Bowlers for not being completely and utterly incompetent like normal!
___________________
If you would like to comment on this post, please visit our facebook page
