With Peyton Manning playing the AFC Championship game this weekend, possibly heading to the Super Bowl in Miami, the AFC Roster of quarterbacks thins out considerably behind him. Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers were originally voted into the Pro Bowl, but pulled out citing injury.
Replacing Tom Brady was Ben Roethlisberger, who turned down the Pro Bowl offer because of a shoulder injury. So they turned to Matt Schaub. Replacing Philip Rivers would have gone to Carson Palmer, who also had to decline because of a recent procedure to repair his injured thumb. Instead, Vince Young, recording an 8-2 record in the 10 games he started, gets the call. And most likely, if Manning goes the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl would invite a fifth alternate at quarterback.
Yikes. This goes from an All-Star game to the game with some All-Stars who aren't playing in the Super Bowl. For example, if the Vikings and Colts go the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl will have to find 16 replacements. While it's nice to have the Pro Bowl a week before the Super Bowl, if you can't field your All-Stars in the All-Star game, what's the point?
But the key point here is that since Palmer was the third alternate, he would have gotten the call to replace Rivers, giving him a third Pro Bowl honor in his career. Considering the pedestrian season he had, plus the amount of injuries at quarterback and putting the Pro Bowl a week before the Super Bowl essentially knocking out most of the talent from both teams leagues, that's not bad. Therefore, the quote of the day goes to Joe Reedy.
No word yet where former Bengal and current Bill Ryan Fitzpatrick or Cleveland’s Derek Anderson are on the list of alternates.
Nice.