Shield Talk: Pro Bowl selections

Bret Jansen | Contributing Writer | @TheSeahawk

The votes are in and the 2017 Pro Bowl players have been selected. The AFC and NFC both have 43 of their best players ready to compete in the least competitive game in football.

This year, the Oakland Raiders lead the league with the most players going to the Pro Bowl (seven). The Atlanta Falcons are in second with six players going. There were also six teams not to have any players selected for the Pro Bowl. That list includes Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, New Orleans, New York Jets, and San Francisco.

Shockingly, the 1-14 Cleveland Browns are not included in that list, thanks to their left tackle, Joe Thomas. Thomas, who has been with the Browns every season since he was drafted in 2007, has been selected to ten straight Pro Bowls.

Many fans and players were shocked to see the absence of some of the greats such as Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins, while some are shocked to see some names on the list, such as Luke Kuechly, who has only played in ten games this season.

The Pro Bowl has been around in different versions since 1951, and is known for not being very physical. Winning or losing the Pro Bowl does not really mean anything, so the players don’t like to risk their health.

This can be seen prominently in the last few years by the fact that some games can score as high as sixty points. Since 2009, the average score per team is nearly forty points. To put this into perspective, the average score per team in week fifteen of this regular season was 21.7 points.

This year’s Pro Bowl is being held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida on Jan. 29, 2017. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 8 p.m.

Brent’s Top 5 QB’s – Week 15 (Last week in parentheses)

1. Tom Brady – Brady has taken down another top defense. I don’t see him moving from the top spot anytime soon. (1)

2. Matt Ryan – San Francisco doesn’t have a great defense, and Atlanta really showed the world that this weekend. (3) 

3. Aaron Rodgers – Out of nowhere, Aaron Rodgers makes the list. But after the explosiveness of the Packers for the last few weeks, he deserves some love. (Not ranked)

4. Derek Carr – Oakland is finding ways to win in the fourth quarter, but until they start learning how to win in the first three quarters, their playoff run might not be long. Breaking a bone in his leg will affect his ranking next week, though. (4) 

5. Drew Brees – Brees is becoming inconsistent, but when he’s hot, he scorches. (Not ranked)