Pro Bowl vote plays name game with Brown, Pennington

By Adam Sweeney  |   Wednesday, December 17, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Miami Dolphins
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Every year, why is it that the NFL Pro Bowl results come out and I want to jump out a window, land on the ground and crawl into oncoming traffic? Probably because fans take up a third of the voting, effectively allowing the wrong people to be selected time and again.

Commentary: Take, for example, two Miami Dolphins. One player -- quarterback Chad Pennington -- was on the outside looking in. The other -- running back Ronnie Brown -- should find a way to give away his Pro Bowl spot if there's anything sacred in the league. The NFL and the fans somehow got it wrong again and are sending the wrong Dolphin to Honolulu. I guess the silver lining is that nobody even watches the Pro Bowl.

Put Pennington's numbers next to those of the Jets' Brett Favre, and there is no way that the latter deserves to be in the Pro Bowl.

Pennington: 3,218 yards, 14 touchdowns, six interceptions.
Brett Favre: 3,052 yards, 21 touchdowns, 17 interceptions.

While Favre changed the culture in New York, he's hardly been anything more than slightly above average this season. Meanwhile, Pennington has helped the Dolphins get on pace to set an all-time record for fewest turnovers in a season. Plus, Pennington is trying to paint the Mona Lisa with watercolors: His set of receivers may be one of the worst in the league. The Jet wideouts? Not so bad.

As for the undeserving Dolphin, Brown, his numbers dropped significantly as the season wore on. Look at Brown's stats against Houston Texans running back Steve Slaton, who didn't make the top three.

Brown: 195 carries, 827 yards, 10 rushing touchdowns; 24 receptions, 218 yards, zero touchdowns.
Slaton: 230 carries, 1,124 yards, eight touchdowns; 40 receptions, 305 yards, one touchdown.

One thing's for sure: Something needs to be done to fix the current voting system. Any Pro Bowl that has Eli Manning and Brett Favre as two representatives of their respective conferences is clearly not reaching its potential. It's time to put an end to that by rewarding players for their on-field results, not their name recognition.

Fan Pulse: The Pro Bowl voting http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?3,11619 has Miami's finest fans calling for the head of Favre.

Fantasy Football Commentary: If you're thinking of playing a defense, I'd look somewhere besides Miami's. The Dolphins have played good ball for the majority of the season, but their Week 16 opponent, the Chiefs, don't have as pathetic an offense as they did earlier this year.

Injury Watch: Middle linebacker Channing Crowder was held out of practice with a stiff knee. He is expected to play Sunday, though.
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About Adam Sweeney

Adam Sweeney spent 4 years as an opinions and arts & entertainment columnist with the Lone Star Lutheran, also working with Sports Illustrated.com. Along with his work on Realfootball 365 he currently is a contributor for Film School Rejects, SLAM Online, Talkhoops.net, and C-Heads ...
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