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Engram left off invite list for NFL’s irrelevant party
JOHN MCGRATH; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: December 19th, 2007 01:00 AM
If you really are torn up about how Seahawks wide receiver Bobby Engram is the victim of a Pro Bowl snub, here’s four questions to prove your agitation is genuine:
• Which team won the 2007 Pro Bowl? (Hint: The AFC faced the NFC.)
• Which player was named MVP? (Hint: He owns a Heisman Trophy.)
• Who coached the NFC? (Hint: It was not a labor of love.)
• Who coached the AFC? (Hint: It was less a labor of love for him than it was for his NFC counterpart.)
If you just went 0-for-4, you’ve got company. A few hours after the rosters for the 2008 Pro Bowl were announced Thursday, I learned that the AFC prevailed last year, 31-28, on a last-second field goal.
Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer was named MVP. (Didn’t know that.) New Orleans’ Sean Payton coached the NFC; he stood across the field from New England’s Bill Belichick. (Didn’t know that, either.) The coaches got their gigs because their teams were beaten in the conference championship games, which makes sense in a third-world-inhumane-corporal-punishment-system kind of way.
Lose a shot at the Super Bowl, gain the opportunity to exchange hugs and backslaps with some of your most reviled opponents.
Engram’s snubbing, in any case, should not be lamented by those of us unable to recall essential facts from a game played only 10 months ago. If nothing about the 2007 Pro Bowl remains relevant, then why should an oversight for the 2008 Pro Bowl become a big deal?
The NFL isn’t inclined to follow the cues of other professional sports leagues, but commissioner Roger Goodell might want to look at Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game as a model on how to fix the Pro Bowl.
Begin with the selection system. In baseball, it’s a six-week process that allows the fans to determine position-player starters. The All-Star squads are completed with input from both leagues.
Suspense precedes the announcement, and controversy inevitably ensues afterward. It’s all good, and very fun, because there’s accountability: the managers are asked to justify their borderline selections.
The Pro Bowl? The vote is assembled anonymously – one-third from fans, one-third from players, one-third from coaches – and nobody’s around to take feedback from the public.
The Pro Bowl is a joke. What could be a grand-finale weekend for the world’s most successful sports league has devolved into an exercise as dreaded as training-camp wind sprints.
Here’s some ways to fix it:
• Instead of requiring the losing coaches in the Super Bowl derby to put on a happy face, choose someone from a deep pool of retired coaches – Dick Vermeil, Marv Levy, Mike Ditka – and allow them to be serve as a Pro Bowl coach for any given year. Got a problem with Torry Holt and Donald Driver earning Pro Bowl status at the expense of Engram? You’ve got the podium, Ditka.
• Borrow baseball’s tradition of sending at least one representative from each team to the All-Star Game. Seriously, 11 NFC players from the Dallas Cowboys? C’mon. Would football fans be deprived if merely 10 Cowboys were named to the Pro Bowl, and one was able to represent playoff-bound Tampa Bay?
• Make it count. Baseball went to a home-field advantage-in-the-World Series carrot for the winning league, which sounds more significant than it actually is. (Home-field advantage isn’t tangible until Game 6, and there hasn’t been a Game 6 in the Series since 2003, when the visiting Florida Marlins celebrated their world title in Yankee Stadium.)
Still, there’s something at stake in the All-Star Game. Something should be at stake in the Pro Bowl, too. What about the leagues designating a charity, with, say, a $10 million payoff to the charity associated with the winning team?
• Make attendance mandatory. If you’re exhausted from the Super Bowl and beg off the Pro Bowl with an imaginary injury, fine. That’s your right. But no-shows ought to be ineligible for the Pro Bowl the following year.
• Bigger isn’t necessarily better, but what’s the harm in trying? Turn the Pro Bowl into an All-Star weekend with, for instance, a long-kicking competition on Saturday. (Just don’t tell Chris Berman about it.)
If nothing else, the unveiling of the NFL’s annual Hall of Fame class could be switched from the eve of the Super Bowl to the Pro Bowl. Invite the finalists to Hawaii, and introduce the inductees at halftime.
• Finally, phase in the concept that the Pro Bowl is a football game, where anything goes: Blitzing, blindside blocks, emphatic tackles. I usually cringe whenever a flag is dropped for unsportsmanlike conduct, but a little spice and vinegar could make the Pro Bowl watchable.
Put it this way: If the idea is to gather a bunch of talented athletes on a field for a leisurely exhibition, where everybody goes easy in the tropical sun and shares some laughs, then call the whole thing off.
If the idea is to play football, then play football.
Either way, you and I will survive.
So will Bobby Engram.
John McGrath: 253-597-8742; ext. 6154
john.mcgrath@thenewstribune.com
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NFL: Week 15's Decent Dozen
Posted: December 18, 2007, 6:30 PM by Guy Spurrier
Football, NFL
AFC
1. New England (14-0, East Division champion)
When it is time to zig, the Patriots love to zag. It is part of what makes them great. So when the whole world expected them to run up the score on the Jets over the spying incident, the Patriots simply beefed up the running game and grinded out their 14th straight win. And then they topped it off with a pleasant handshake from coach Bill Belichick. Pure evil. Next up, the 1-13 Dolphins. It does not have the same ring as 14-0 vs. 0-14.
2. Indianapolis (12-2, South Division champion)
Good thing the Colts beat Jacksonville twice already; with two games left, Indianpolis has clinched the division even though the Jaguars can still catch them at 12-4. Indianapolis can now relax through tough division home games against Houston and Tennessee.
3. Jacksonville (10-4, 2nd South)
The Jaguars’ dismantling of the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday makes them the easy third choice in the conference, although they will only be the fifth seed. It could mean another trip to Pittsburgh in the first week of January. The Jaguars get Oakland at home on Sunday.
4. San Diego (9-5, West Division champion)
Whipping the Lions in your own stadium is no great feat — everyone does it. But had the Chargers not done it, there would be more questions about them heading into the playoffs. As it is now, they may be able to claim the No. 3 seed in the conference and play Cleveland rather than Jacksonville in the first round.
5. Pittsburgh (9-5, 1st North)
We outlined the smoke and mirrors of the Steelers’ record in last week’s edition and Jacksonville proved it on Sunday. If quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s throwing shoulder is really a problem, the Steelers won’t be around long. After playing Thursday in St. Louis, Roethlisberger will get some prolonged rest before the season-ender in Baltimore.
6. Cleveland (9-5, 2nd North)
The Browns ended the talk of a Buffalo playoff appearance with the 8-0 whiteout on Sunday. Now, can Cleveland manage to push past Pittsburgh for the North title and a playoff home game? It will be tough since the Steelers beat the Browns twice already. The Browns also might want to stay put and avoid Jacksonville in the first round. Cleveland is in Cincinnati on Sunday.
NFC
1. Dallas (12-2, East Division champion)
Dallas gets another short week with a Saturday game on the road to a Carolina team that surprised Seattle on Sunday. Another misstep and the Cowboys might need to think about a trip to Green Bay in mid-January.
2. Green Bay (12-2, North Division champion)
Two division games to finish for the Packers: in Chicago on Sunday and at home to Detroit on Dec. 30. Since quarterback Brett Favre has never won a game in Dallas, there is much impetus to keep winning and get a possible NFC Championship game back home.
3. Tampa Bay (9-5, South Division champion)
Beating Atlanta clinched the division title and a first-round home game against a wild-card team. Now, with Seattle’s loss to Carolina on Sunday, the Buccaneers can move into the No. 3 seed. A pair of wins over San Francisco and Carolina would give them a better conference record than Seattle.
4. Seattle (9-5, West Division champion)
And just when it looked like the Seahawks were straightened out and ready to fly, their on-going inabilities east of the Mississippi bite them again. They get Baltimore at home this weekend but have to go to — yikes! — Atlanta for the season-ender.
5. Minnesota (8-6, 2nd North)
The Vikings also took a step backward on Monday with their less-than-dominant win over Chicago. A win at home against Washington on Sunday will help their playoff fate before having to close the season in Denver, never an easy task at this time of year.
6. New Orleans (7-7, 3rd South)
Here is how the New York Giants (9-5) can screw up the playoff spot they already seem assured of claiming: Losses in Buffalo and at home to New England bring them back to 9-7. Wins by New Orleans at home to Philadelphia and in Chicago bring the Saints to 9-7 with a better conference record.
(Photo: Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (#28) rushes for an eight-yard touchdown during the fourth quarter of Monday's game against the Chicago Bears. Eric Miller/Reuters)
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