The rosters for the AFC and NFC Pro Bowl to be played on January 29th was announced Tuesday night, and in somewhat of a surprise, the Steelers are going to send five to Hawaii (that is if they don’t make the Super Bowl).
Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Wallace, Maurkice Pouncey, Troy Polamalu and Antonio Brown are all going to the All-Star game. Below is the complete roster for the AFC.
Offense
QBs: Tom Brady, New England; Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh; Philip Rivers, San Diego
RBs: Ray Rice, Baltimore; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville; Arian Foster, Houston
FB: Vonta Leach, Baltimore
WRs: Wes Welker, New England; Mike Wallace, Pittsburgh; A.J. Green, Cincinnati; Brandon Marshall, Miami
TEs: Rob Gronkowski, New England; Antonio Gates, San Diego
Ts: Joe Thomas, Cleveland; Jake Long, Miami; D’Brickashaw Ferguson, N.Y. Jets
Gs: Logan Mankins, New England; Brian Waters, New England; Marshal Yanda, Baltimore
Cs: Maurkice Pouncey, Pittsburgh; Nick Mangold, N.Y. Jets
Defense
DE: Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis; Andre Carter, New England; Elvis Dumervil, Denver
DT/NTs: Haloti Ngata, Baltimore; Vince Wilfork, New England; Richard Seymour, Oakland
LBs: Terrell Suggs, Baltimore; Von Miller, Denver; Tamba Hali, Kansas City; Ray Lewis, Baltimore; Derrick Johnson, Kansas City
DBs: Darrelle Revis, N.Y. Jets; Champ Bailey, Denver; Johnathan Joseph, Houston; Ed Reed, Baltimore; Eric Weddle, San Diego; Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh
Special teams
P: Shane Lechler, Oakland
K: Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland
KR: Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh
ST: Matthew Slater, New England
DrGeorge
December 28, 2011 at 12:32 pm
It’s nice to land 5 Steelers on the roster, but the selections are surprising indeed, and in more than one way.
To my mind, Heath Miller was inexcusably omitted. There is more to the TE position than catching footballs, and Miller’s value cannot be reduced to stats. Any knowledgeable coach would choose him over Gronkowski and Gates, both of whom are deserving and superb athletes. But Pro Bowl selections are a kind of popularity contest, and past reputation often trumps reason, as some of our own selections indicate. Not all of these guys had Pro Bowl years this season — at least not yet.
Note that Polamalu is the only representative from our defense — which underscores the concerns voiced in the comments here all year long. Our D simply isn’t what it used to be.