Mele Kalikimaka: Four Packers Going To The Pro Bowl » Brats & Beer

December 19, 2007
posted under: Aaron Kampman, Al Harris, Brett Favre, Donald Driver, Packers, Pro Bowl

The NFL named four Green Bay players to the annual Pro Bowl team this year, including quarterback Brett Favre who was named to his ninth career selection. Favre received the most fan votes in the balloting this year with 842,167 to lead Tom Brady (776,475) and Peyton Manning (740,302). Tony Romo, the first NFC alternate QB got (604,027) votes, mostly — I heard — from Jessica Simpson fans.

The other Packers headed to Hawaii this year are wide receiver Donald Driver (his third Pro Bowl selection), defensive end Aaron Kampman (second selection) and corner Al Harris (his first).

DD obviously deserves the Pro Bowl nod for his fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season, especially considering his professional attitude given that Greg Jennings has gotten the lion’s share of touchdown passes this year while Driver has just two. You would have thought that maybe with 12 TD catches Jennings would have been higher in the voting, but it’s tough to compete with the star power of T.O. in the NFC.

Kampman, too, is very deserving of the all-star honors. He’s followed up well on last year’s Pro Bowl season by remaining a force to be reckoned with; he has 12 sacks so far — fourth in the NFL.

Harris will make his first ever Pro Bowl appearance this year, something he’s been trying to achieve since becoming a Green Bay starter in 2003. While I’m happy he’s finally being recognized, it is strange that Charles Woodsen didn’t even make the list. Of our two starting corners I would say that Wood is maybe the slightly better player, though Harris often draws the more difficult assignment on game day and a lot of what he does doesn’t show up on a stat sheet.

The biggest Green Bay name left off the Pro Bowl list, of course, is Nick Barnett, who once again leads the team in tackles (119), and has four sacks and two interceptions. Lofa Tatupu (Seattle) and Patrick Willis (San Francisco), the two players selected, are fine at their position, but Barnett has been having excellent season after excellent season but has never been voted to Hawaii.

At first blush it does seem wrong that only four players from this 12-2 squad were selected while the Vikings, who started off 3-6 and might barely make the playoffs, is sending seven, but the Pro Bowl voting has as much to do with media attention and star power as it does talent.

A lot of what the Packers have achieved this year has come through team effort, which doesn’t show up in the stats or the ballot box. Those attributes do come into play in January, though, when the real prize is on the line.