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Broncos short-changed on Pro Bowl squad
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The 2009 NFL Pro Bowl teams -- otherwise known as "the list of players who will be coming up with injuries to get out of having to make a trip to Honolulu in February," but I digress -- were announced today, and the Denver Broncos placed two players on the team. While quarterback Jay Cutler (back-up) and wide receiver Brandon Marshall (starter) are certainly worthy of being on the AFC squad, they aren't the only members of the orange and blue deserving of a week-long boondoggle in Hawaii.
Typically, winning has a lot to do with determining how many players a team sends to the Pro Bowl. Thus, it would stand to reason that the current division leaders are well-represented on both the AFC and NFC squads. And for the most part, that's the case.
In the NFC, the New York Giants lead the way with six Pro Bowl selections, Minnesota is second with five, while Arizona and Carolina have four each. In the AFC, the New York Jets will be sending seven players to Honolulu, Tennessee six and Pittsburgh three. So of the eight current division leaders, the Broncos have the fewest Pro Bowlers with two.
The Broncos offensive line has surrendered only 11 sacks all season, yet none of Denver's titans in the trenches earned a Pro Bowl nod. Most deserving of the honor was rookie right tackle Ryan Clady. Despite going up against the opposing team's best pass rusher on a weekly basis, he's hardly allowed anyone to touch Cutler all season, surrendering only a half sack through 14 games. Much the way Joe Thomas transformed the Cleveland Browns offense last season in his first year, Clady has made the Broncos a better team during his rookie campaign.
Ironically, Thomas is one of the tackles who beat out Clady for a spot on the roster. Jason Peters of Buffalo is the AFC's other starter, while Michael Roos from Tennessee is the backup. Granted, it's tough to debate the merits of offensive linemen, but something seems amiss here. Thomas and Peters are on teams going nowhere, while Clady's team is in first place. Doesn't that have to mean something? Unless the three players chosen in front of him haven't given up a sack all season, are they really more deserving that the Broncos rookie?
But that's not where the oversight ends. How can the league's second-ranked offense only get two players on the AFC's roster? Eddie Royal, sixth in the conference in receptions as of today, was certainly worthy of consideration, as were the rest of the Broncos offensive linemen -- tackle Ryan Harris, guards Ben Hamilton and Chris Kuper, and center Casey Wiegmann.
As with any selection process, there are always problems to be had. And in the NFL's latest version of their annual popularity contest, the Broncos certainly weren't given their due.
