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Howard is the biggest Pro Bowl snub
By Jeremy Harness December 20, 2007 |
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It happens each year. When the Pro Bowl rosters are made official toward the end of the regular season, there are a handful of well-deserving players who are inevitably left off the list. Thomas Howard, welcome to the club. Despite having a stellar season as the Raiders’ starting outside linebacker, Howard will not go to Hawaii this February, as a member of the AFC team in the Pro Bowl. Also left off the roster for Oakland was fellow linebacker Kirk Morrison and defensive tackle Warren Sapp, while cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha was chosen as a reserve in case a corner gets hurt or decides not to participate. Howard, however, deserves special noting here. He currently leads all NFL linebackers with six interceptions and is tied for third in the league in that category, while also returning two of those interceptions for touchdowns. From a statistics standpoint, getting after the quarterback seemed to have a lot to do with the voting. Among the outside linebackers who were selected to the Pro Bowl is Pittsburgh’s James Harrison, who has had a very nice season with 84 tackles to go along with 8 ½ sacks. San Diego’s Shawne Merriman and New England Patriots standout Mike Vrabel are among the league leaders with 11 ½ and 9 ½ sacks, respectively. Therefore, Howard is a victim of his team’s defensive scheme. The Patriots, Steelers and Chargers all have defenses that are known to blitz their linebackers frequently, particularly in Merriman’s case. The Raiders, on the other hand, rarely blitz while dropping their linebackers in coverage, which explains his high number of interceptions as well as his compiling only one sack this season. And one more thing: All three of those teams have winning records and have an excellent chance of making the postseason, although Pittsburgh still hasn’t officially gotten in after beating St. Louis Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Raiders are currently 4-10 to ensure their fifth straight losing season after playing in the Super Bowl in 2003. Howard have a chance to show that he’s Pro Bowl worthy on Sunday, when Oakland travels to Jacksonville to face a Jaguars team that is gunning for the playoffs. Prediction: Jacksonville has too much to play for, which was not the case when these two teams last met in the final week of the 2004 season, which was a week after the Jaguars were eliminated from the playoffs. They will use their running game, pounding the Raiders’ biggest weakness to roll to a 24-14 victory. |
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