Brooks, Clifton Smith to the Pro Bowl

By JC De La Torre

Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did not get one player picked to represent them in the Pro Bowl, eventually, Jeff Garcia made it to the game as an alternate. This year, Tampa Bay will be represented by two Buccaneers, weakside linebacker Derrick Brooks and kick/punt return specialist Clifton Smith will each make the trek to Hawaii for the 2009 Pro Bowl game.

For Brooks, its his 11th trip to the NFL all-star game 2nd all time among linebackers (only Junior Seau has been to more), while Smith, a rookie, will be making his first trip. Smith is an amazing story as he was cut by the Buccaneers in training camp and spent the first half of the season on the practice squad. Smith joined the Bucs after 2nd round draft pick Dexter Jackson had proven to be ineffective. Smith went on to lead the NFC in kick and punt return average while becoming the first Buccaneer to return a kickoff and punt return for a touchdown in the same season.

Some notable Buccaneers were not selected - including middle linebacker Barrett Ruud, Free Safety Tanard Jackson, and center Jeff Faine. Jon Gruden has also said repeatedly that if "Matt Bryant does not make the Pro Bowl they shouldn't have the game." Well, unfortunately, Bryant also was left off the list.

The Super Bowl Champion New York Giants and the NFC North leading Minnesota Vikings led the NFC with 6 Pro Bowl players.

Here's the entire NFC squad, alternates should be named in the next day or so.

2009 NFC Pro Bowl Squad (courtesy of NFL.com)
Offense
Quarterback
Kurt Warner, Arizona
Drew Brees, New Orleans

Eli Manning, New York Giants

Running back
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
Michael Turner, Atlanta

Clinton Portis, Washington

Fullback
Mike Sellers, Washington

Wide receiver
Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona

Anquan Boldin, Arizona
Steve Smith, Carolina

Roddy White, Atlanta

Tight end
Jason Witten, Dallas
Chris Cooley, Washington

Tackle
Jordan Gross, Carolina

Walter Jones, Seattle
Chris Samuels, Washington

Guard
Steve Hutchinson, Minnesota

Chris Snee, New York Giants
Leonard Davis, Dallas

Center
Andre Gurode, Dallas
Shaun O'Hara, New York Giants

Defense
Defensive end
Julius Peppers, Carolina

Justin Tuck, New York Giants
Jared Allen, Minnesota

Defensive tackle
Kevin Williams, Minnesota

Jay Ratliff, Dallas
Pat Williams, Minnesota

Outside linebacker
DeMarcus Ware, Dallas

Lance Briggs, Chicago
Derrick Brooks, Tampa Bay

Inside linebacker
Patrick Willis, San Francisco
Jon Beason, Carolina

Cornerback
Charles Woodson, Green Bay

Antoine Winfield, Minnesota
Asante Samuel, Philadelphia

Free safety
Nick Collins, Green Bay
Brian Dawkins, Philadelphia

Strong safety
Adrian Wilson, Arizona

Special teams
Punter
Jeff Feagles, New York Giants

Placekicker
John Carney, New York Giants

Kick returner
Clifton Smith, Tampa Bay

Special teamer
Sean Morey, Arizona

2009 Pro Bowl - AFC vs. The Washington Redskins?

By JC De La Torre

In a nearly inconceivably laughable circumstance and brilliant campaigning by the Washington Redskins, 20 members of the 6-4 Washington Redskins are leading in fan voting for their respective positions for the Pro Bowl. The Redskins have had an aggressive Obama-styled get out the vote campaign that has led to the Redskins leading the NFC ballots in 16 of 19 positions, eight of the 11 NFC starters on both offense and defense would be Redskins, plus all four special teams players. Shawn Springs who has missed six games with injuries, is the leading vote-getter at cornerback.

None of the 7-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers or 8-2 Carolina Panthers are leading in any position and only Justin Tuck of the 9-1 New York Giants is leading at his position. Basically, the Redskin fans have made a mockery of the Pro Bowl. However, they are not to blame, nor is the Redskin organization. The National Football League invited this kind of sham with the "Vote Again" option. If you had the stamina and the where-with-all to do so - you could vote a million times for the same player and "stuff the ballot box". The NFL invited this type of silliness.

This is not to say that when the Pro Bowl kicks off in February that 20 of the 22 positions will have Redskins as starters. Fan voting is just one third of the complicated equation that the NFL uses to decide who earns a trip to Honolulu. Some players, like Fullback Mike Sellers, has such a substantial lead in voting that even votes from the players and coaches vote for others it will not matter.

Needless to say, its likely because of the chicanery of the Redskin fans that the Buccaneers and perhaps the majority of the second best division in football, the NFC South, will be shut out of the Pro Bowl proving what a farce this game really has become. How not one player from three teams with a combine record of 21-9 .700 (Tampa, Carolina, Atlanta) goes to the Pro Bowl is proof enough that the game needs to be done away with and league all-star honors should be issued by players, coaches, and beat writers. Fans should not be included when deciding player's bonuses and hall of fame credentials.

Ironically, most NFL players have incentives for making the Pro Bowl in their contracts. If all 20 players made the Pro Bowl, not only would Daniel Snyder get drilled in the pocket book, it could have damaging ramifications to the team's salary cap for next year. Redskin fans could be hurting their team's ability to compete in 2009.