Is Taylor the biggest Pro Bowl snub ever?
As Tim said, relax, breathe and enjoy the rest of the season, it’s not a travesty that no Jaguar was voted to the Pro Bowl. Besides, I’m sure every Jacksonville player would rather play in the Super Bowl than the Pro Bowl. This being said, there has been a grave injustice but it might put a Jaguar in immortal territory. Fred Taylor was snubbed from another Pro Bow and when it’s all said and done, he might be the best player to never make it to Hawaii.
Taylor will be the first alternative for the AFC if either Joseph Addai, LaDainian Tomlinson or Willie Parker don’t play in the Pro Bowl, and there is a good chance that one might miss it. Let’s assume however that none of those three miss it, than Taylor would have missed out on the Pro Bowl yet again. In his 10th NFL season, Taylor has had some great seasons, rushing for over 1,200 yards five seasons, including a 1,500 yard year. In his career, Taylor has accumulated 10,604 yards which puts him at 18th all time and he is the only person on that list to never make the Pro Bowl.
So far this season, Taylor has had a remarkable year for a 31-year old back that has had to split carries. He has 1,091 rushing yards for a 5.1 YPC average and four TDs. He has the fourth most yards in the AFC (more than Addai, can I get an overrated chant?) and his 5.1 average is more than any other player who has rushed the ball over 200 times.
Taylor has been the victim of several injury riddled seasons and a player who plays for a small market team. This is what happens when you have fans voting, you get Joseph Addai over Fred Taylor. I’m not saying that Taylor was a clear cut favorite to make it this year, but how about a little respect for someone who hasn’t gotten his just do? Consider Taylor making it this year like Martin Scorsese winning the Academy Award for “The Departed”, even though it was “Goodfellas” that deserved it.
The Jags are close to the playoffs and I’m sure Fred isn’t dwelling on missing out in the Pro Bowl, as it is any player’s dream to play in early February not in the middle of the month. Still, Fred might have the distinct title of the best player to never make the Pro Bowl, making him one of the most underrated players of all time.
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8 Responses to “Is Taylor the biggest Pro Bowl snub ever?”
December 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
[…] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Most Valuable Network […]
December 19th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
I’d like to see a breakdown of the voting by all three categories of voters to see if there were any glaring differences between them…….
December 19th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Considering the fact that Taylor finished fan voting in 7th place, but ended up as the first alternate in 4th, it’s clear that the fan voting is where he struggled.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Im guessing that one of those RBs dont go and he gets his chance. Of course the fan voting was down against him, because like I said, 90% of fns are not football savy
December 20th, 2007 at 10:13 am
He finished 7th in fan ballotting. Considering the fact that this is a small market team, coming in that high was actually pretty solid. The fans didn’t miss by much, and whatever they botched up was fixed by the players/coaches.
The league needs to rethink the way they do the Pro Bowl ballots and when voting concludes. There should be an element for the writers to have a say since they cover these teams and know them better than a lot of players or coaches around the league do. They also need to move the voting deadline to the final week of the season instead of doing it with 3 weeks to go. That way the announcements can be made immediately following the final game of the season, throwing a bone to the fans of those teams that don’t have an opportunity to move on to the playoffs.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I agree with your idea for changing the Pro Bowl voting and I wouldnt be surprised to see something like that happen soon.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
It’s pretty absurd to do Pro Bowl balloting with 2 games left in the regular season - there’s PLENTY of time to do it at LEAST after the regular season in this electronic age.
December 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Balloting for fans closed with 3 games left. It’s just ridiculous to think that’s adequate.
If the NFL was smart, they’d continue to have fan ballots because it’s a great marketing tool for the website. However, make it could for something like 10% of the process with writers, coaches, and players taking 30% each.
The NFL set it up to have to have balloting for players and coaches done in the final week of the season because 20 teams won’t be hanging around their locker rooms after it’s over. Then, they could wrap up all balloting for the fans and the players on that Monday after the season finales, and make the announcement during the week leading up to the playoffs.
It’s not rocket science, and it wouldn’t require some monumental changes. In fact, if they did it correctly, they could make the announcements on Monday night in the same time slot that a game would normally be played on the NFL Network. A prime time announcement would certainly get them decent ratings. Just don’t use Bryant Gumbel to do it.
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