Hey, it is one thing to leave DeAngelo Williams off the Pro Bowl squad. Tough to break through with other “name” RBs in the NFC, even if you have outperformed them. But to write a column on this year’s top ten Pro Bowl snubs and not even mention Williams? That is insane — or chemically induced.
Albert Breer of The Smoking…er Sporting News is today’s crazy person. Breer’s rundown of “players with a legitimate gripe at missing the cut” omits Williams, just the guy with 14 rushing TDs, five runs over 40 yards, and zippy fumbles.
The guy who is going to Hawaii ahead of Williams, Clinton Portis, has all of seven rushing TDs, zippy runs over 40 yards, and two fumbles. Oh yes, and Portis’ Redskins are fading fast as he snipes at his coaches via the DC media. Breer is evidently unmoved by these facts.
Stranger still, however, is that Breer constructs a case for one of his top ten snubs by using precisely the metric which showcases Williams’ Pro Bowl-worthy season. The AFC squad snubbed Texans RB Steve Slaton, Breer argues, by overlooking Slaton’s recent production that “projects to nearly 1,300 yards on a 4.9-per-carry average.”
Williams has nearly 1,300 yards on a sick 5.5-per-carry average right friggin’ now. No “projection” needed, bud. In fact, the next closest 1,000-yard back with an above 5-yards per carry number is Brandon Jacobs at 5.1. Williams has simply put up monster, monster numbers on a team that might have the best record in the NFC. How Breer misses that I don’t know.
In fact, my best guess is Breer wrote this column assuming Williams had made the Pro Bowl. Crazy? Yes. But less crazy than failing to mention #34.
