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Published on 12/27/2011 at Tue Dec 27 21:05.
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Bailey, Dumervil and Miller Headed to Hawaii

Posted Tue Dec 27th by

Dumervil will be making his second Pro Bowl appearance. (Via Exposay.com -- Image of Sport / PR Photos)

This January, at least three Denver Broncos will be playing for the AFC in the NFL’s Annual All-Star Game.  The rosters for the 2012 NFL Pro Bowl have been announced and cornerback Champ Bailey, defensive end Elvis Dumervil and outside linebacker Von Miller have been voted in by their fans and peers.

Bailey and Miller will be starters and Dumervil will serve as a “reserve.”  Two years ago, Dumervil recorded the only sack in the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl.  This year, Bailey will be playing in an NFL cornerback record eleventh Pro Bowl, which is tied for the third most all-time by any player.  Miller, a promising rookie, will be making his first Pro Bowl appearance.

Five Broncos have been announced as alternates.  If a player that has been selected to the Pro Bowl cannot play in the game (because he is playing in the Super Bowl, injured or simply chooses not to participate), the first alternate at his respective position will replace him.  If the first alternate cannot play, or if more than one starter at a certain position cannot play in the game, second and third alternates are called upon, and so forth.

Running back Willis McGahee, left tackle Ryan Clady and safety Brian Dawkins are first alternates; quarterback Tim Tebow, punter Britton Colquitt and kicker Matt Prater are second alternates.  Up to eight Broncos could be headed to Honolulu if the right circumstances fall into place.

Snubs and Notes: 

Broncos offensive guard Chris Kuper had a stellar season both run blocking and pass protecting, and should have received at least alternate consideration.  According to his teammates, Kuper is the leader on Denver’s offense line.  This season, he helped pave lanes for Broncos running backs on their way to 2,416 yards on the ground and allowed a team-low 1.5 sacks in pass protection on the year.

The three AFC quarterbacks are Tom Brady (deserving), Ben Roethlisberger (arguably deserving) and Phillip Rivers (not deserving in any shape or form).  How Rivers managed to get on this list is a mystery to me.  In fifteen games this season, Rivers scored 25 touchdowns against 24 interceptions.  Compare that to Tebow’s 18 touchdowns against 10 turnovers in five fewer games, or Andy Dalton, who scored 21 touchdowns against 15 turnovers as a rookie.

Though Prater was clutch this season and Colquitt was one of the best punters in the NFL, not even I can argue that they had better seasons than Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler.  Perhaps next year Prater and Colquitt, like Miller this season, will be first-time Pro Bowlers.

You can view the full 2012 Pro Bowl rosters at NFL.com.

  • Glopuntia

    pier = dock
    peer = your social or professional equal

  • Dante Pakistan

    How sad will it be to watch Tebow make awful ass throws in the Alternates Bowl?

  • http://Facebook.com/BroncosZone Jon

    My bad.

  • Anonymous

    Our players who got straight voted in (Champ, Miller, Doom) are all very, very deserving. Is there any doubt we are watching a first ballot HOFer in Champ? With him still playing at a high level, he *could* tie and break the record for pro bowls for any player at any position. We should all stand in awe of Champ, and be thankful that we have had the privilege of watching him play for our team.

    Doom and Miller are both very deserving. Miller has struggled with the cast on his hand, but that doesn’t disqualify his pro bowl caliber of play. Doom missed the first few games with injury or trying to get over his injuries, but he is playing at a pro bowl level right now, which makes him well deserving even though he wasn’t dominant in the 1st part of the season.

    Naturally, there are snubs.
    Snub #1: Matt Prater – He is perhaps the most clutch kicker in the NFL today. He not only has ice in his veins while kicking game winners (4), but he is booting these game winners from 50 yards, and “send it to OT” from 59!!! He should have been voted in. His early struggles from 40-49 have seemed to settle down, which makes him absolute money for us. Janikowski got in on his name alone. He is no more deserving than you or I are of being in the pro bowl this year.

    Snub #2: Willis McGahee – He is the leading runner on the NFL’s leading running team. As different as our offense is with Tebow instead of Orton, that is how much better our offense looks with McGahee running instead of Ball or Johnson. If you’ll notice, even in our 2 most recent losses, we were DOMINANT and dominating the game when Willis was in and running. When he was taken out either because he was injured, or because he needed to rest his injured hammy, not only did our offense crumble like a house of cards, but we go 3 and out almost every drive, which makes our defense stay on the field and wear out. While I credit Tebow for our offense and our team winning, like Yin needs Yang, Tebow needs McGahee, and McGahee needs Tebow to make this work. Take either of those guys out, and our offense simply doesn’t work. McGahee is as deserving as anyone to make the Pro Bowl roster.

    Snub #3: Britton Colquitt – Yes he’s a punter, and yes, I needed to look up to spell his name correctly, but that doesn’t change the fact that this dude is the best punter in the business. In my book, the 2 greatest attributes that a punter can have are: a) kicking it inside the 20, and b) Net Average. The reason for the 1st is obvious. If you pin your opponent inside their 20, they need an 80 yard drive to get a TD. The 2nd is Net Average. The reason for this is because it shows not only the ability to punt, but the ability to keep your opponent from returning the ball (either by pinning inside the 20 which decreases the Net Avg, or by being able to kick far WITH hang time so your teammates can limit returns). Colquitt has punted 20 times more than anyone else, which obviously means he’s #1 in “inside 20” kicks, but remarkably, he’s 2.5 yards per punt away from the #2 and #3 punter. This is extraordinary seeing he has 20+ more punts. The reason is because he has more opportunities to either a) shank a punt, b) get one returned, or c) not be able to really boom it cause he’s punting from the 45/50. I would take Colquitt over any other punter in the game, and it’s a travesty that he wasn’t voted onto the roster outright.

  • Anonymous

    Crap, didn’t mean to hit “like”.
    Anyways, how awesome will it be to watch Tebow make great passes to WRs who actually know how to catch the ball? Want to make a believer out of everybody in the nation? Have Tebow throw to REAL WRs. I predict Tebow would be 80% in the Pro Bowl if he gets the chance. He’d be 65% for the season if our WRs could catch.

  • Anonymous

    First I have to say DOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Of course Elvis is my current favorite Bronco and I voted for him about 40 times…lol.

    Stoked for Von as well, he for sure has not only hushed local and national critics he deserves the honor for sure. Whats scary about Von is that he has so much growth left in him that he will end up being scary good and will eclipse his own idle (58-rip) easily!

    Pete is 100% right but not only should we stand in football awe of Champ, every fan on the planet or all that have played the game should. Does Champ give up more than he used to? Yes. Is Champ still better than 95% of the current players at his position in the league? Hell Yes!!!

    Your snubs are good to… While I will get chastised for it almost assuredly, its good that TT isn’t in there YET as he doesn’t deserve it Yet… I hope one year he does! 

  • Anonymous

    Personally, I think Tebow is more worthy of NFL MVP votes than Pro Bowl votes. To me, Pro Bowl is all about “skill” and nothing about leadership, heart, inspiration, drive, etc… The MVP is not only skill, but more importantly, the intangibles such as the attributes I just mentioned above.

    If Tebow did good against the Bills and we won, I’d think that he should be #2 in MVP voting, but since he looked horrible and we lost, there’s no reason to even discuss it.

    But I agree, Tebow isn’t a pro bowl snub. He needs to get his skill up to pro bowl level in order to be considered a “snub” if he doesn’t get in. Right now, he’s was closer to being an MVP than Pro Bowler.

  • King

    I agree with your 3 snubs.  How in the heck did they not make it?  Especially Prater and Colquitt. 

  • Dante Pakistan

    Peyton Manning should win the MVP, look how bad the Colts are without him, his absence just proves how valuable he really is.

  • King

    Not nearly as sad as your posts.Â