Pro Bowl Packers: Stars and Snubs
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers had only three players selected to the Pro Bowl on Wednesday, a byproduct of injuries to key players and a not-quite-dominant team despite their dominant record.
The Indianapolis Colts had a league-high seven selections. The Kansas City Chiefs (six), Los Angeles Chargers (six), Baltimore Ravens (five), Cleveland Browns (five), Dallas Cowboys (five), San Francisco 49ers (five) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (five) were the other teams with at least five.
At 11-3, the Packers have the best record in the NFL. Their first loss was the Week 1 debacle vs. New Orleans. Their second loss came without Aaron Rodgers. Otherwise, the Packers are 11-1. Still, only Rodgers (starter), receiver Davante Adams (starters) and defensive tackle Kenny Clark (backup) were selected.
To be sure, it doesn’t help that four of their elite players – left tackle David Bakhtiari, outside linebacker, cornerback Jaire Alexander and guard Elgton Jenkins – have missed huge chunks of the season due to injuries. Also, this hasn’t been an unstoppable juggernaut. Green Bay is 10th in scoring differential and ninth in yardage differential. Five of their 11 wins have been by one score. Their offense was mediocre for most of the first 11 games; their defense has been mediocre the last four games.
Here's a closer look.
Packers Pro Bowlers
QB Aaron Rodgers: The reigning MVP is the hottest quarterback in the league. He leads the NFL with a 110.4 passer rating and a 30-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Since the aforementioned game against New Orleans, he’s thrown 30 touchdowns vs. two interceptions despite playing behind a bunch of backups on the offensive line and a depleted cast of pass-catchers.
WR Davante Adams: Last season, Adams led the NFL in receptions per game, receiving yards per game and receiving touchdowns per game. This year, he’s fourth in the league with 96 receptions and third with 1,248 yards. The Ravens devised a defense specifically with Adams in mind – “17 Bulldog” – in which they put two and sometimes three defenders on him on practically every play.
“It’s a sign of respect, but it definitely was annoying so, hopefully, it doesn’t happen too much moving forward,” Adams said.
Together, Rodgers and Adams are Hall of Fame-bound players and premier leaders.
“It starts right away with their preparation. It starts right away with just kind of the men that they are,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “I think everybody sees what they do on the field, and what they do on the field is absolutely incredible. But that starts with how they work off the field and how they carry themselves and just the type of people they are. Just such great men that are so instrumental in the locker room.
“How they hold themselves, how they act, they make everybody rise to their level. It’s awesome. When Aaron’s out there in the huddle, everybody’s so locked in and they know they can’t mess up because he’s going to let you know. And it’s the same point with Davante. Davante gets out there and he runs his routes and he sets the standard. I think that’s what makes those guys so special is not just what they do on the field but how they get there – from their knowledge, from the people that they are, the leaders that they are. It’s a pleasure just to be around those guys all the time.”
DT Kenny Clark: With Clark returning to his 2019 form after an injury-plagued 2020, Green Bay’s defense has been strong for most of the season. He’s got four sacks and 12 quarterback hits. Among interior defensive linemen, he’s third in the NFL with 54 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He had 32 pressures last season. His value to the team was evident when he spent last week on the COVID list.
Packers Pro Bowl Snubs
“Snubs” is far too strong of a word. A “snub” means Player A clearly should have been selected over Player B. These three players were deserving of consideration.
OLB Rashan Gary: With 6.5 sacks, Gary is tied for 32nd in sacks. However, he’s 10th with 21 quarterback hits. Among edge defenders, according to PFF, Gary is fifth with 63 pressures and third with a pass-rush win rate of 23.7 percent. That’s big time. By PFF’s count, Gary has more pressures this season than his first two seasons combined. He just doesn’t have the sacks on his resume.
Don’t get outside linebackers coach Mike Smith started about sacks.
“I think both him and Preston (Smith) are” deserving of Pro Bowl honors, Smith said. “I look at their play. I look at not just the sack number, which most people do. The thing about the Pro Bowl, it’s the fans and all that other stuff; there’s a lot of different things that go into it. If you just pull up everything and just see how they affect the quarterback, how they play the run, there’s some coverage stuff that we do, I think both of them are.
“They do their job. They don’t go out and do their own thing. That’s not who we are. If I’m somewhere else and it’s like that, they probably won’t like me being their coach or I’ll get out of this damned game. It’s starting to get really bad when you look around the league. It’s ruining the league. Somebody needs to make that change – how sacks freakin’ tell you how good a player is and gets to go to the Pro Bowl or All-Pro and all that other stuff. It’s ridiculous. It couldn’t get me any more ticked off when I see it.”
To put Gary on the list, you’d have to remove Arizona’s Chandler Jones, Chicago’s Roquan Smith and Tampa Bay’s Shaquil Barrett. Jones (a 3-4 outside linebacker) has 9.5 sacks, 22 quarterback hits and four forced fumbles. Barrett (a 3-4 outside linebacker) has nine sacks, 21 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles. Smith (a 4-3 outside inebacker) is fourth with 140 tackles. Of the top 20 in tackles, he is No. 1 with nine tackles for losses.
ILB De’Vondre Campbell: Campbell is eighth with 124 tackles. Of the top 23 in tackles, Campbell and Washington’s Cole Holcomb are the only players with a tally under sacks (Campbell has two), tackles for losses (five), quarterback hits (six), interceptions (two), passes defensed (four), forced fumbles (two) and fumble recoveries (one).
“Dre’s a huge part of what we do and I’m really, really, really happy to have him,” inside linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti said. “He’s been everything that we would want and a little bit more. He is a professional, he’s a really good player, he’s a really good dude. He makes my life easier and everybody around him, their lives easier, because he’s here. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
The Pro Bowl is a 4-3 scheme, so only three were selected: Dallas’ Micah Parsons, Seattle’s Bobby Wagner and Tampa Bay's Devin White. Parsons is a lock to win Defensive Rookie of the Year with 76 tackles, 12 sacks (seventh in the NFL), 17 tackles for losses (second), 27 quarterback hits (fourth) and three forced fumbles. Wagner leads the NFL with 158 tackles. Campbell beat White in tackles and turnover plays (combined five interceptions, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries compared to just one for White; White beat Campbell in sacks, tackles for losses and quarterback hits.
CB Rasul Douglas: Douglas has been Green Bay’s defensive savior. Plucked off the Cardinals’ practice squad after Alexander went down, he leads the team with three interceptions, is second with 10 passes defensed and is tied for the NFL lead with two pick-sixes.
According to Pro Football Focus, of 76 corners with at least 50 percent playing time, Douglas is fourth in passer rating (57.7) and seventh in completion percentage (52.8). But with nine games and six starts under his belt, he just didn’t have the body of work or name recognition to beat out Dallas rookie Trevon Diggs (NFL-high 10 interceptions) and perennial Pro Bowlers Jalen Ramsey of the Rams (second-ranked corner by PFF), Darius Slay of the Eagles (third-ranked corner by PFF) and Marshon Lattimore of the Saints (third with 18 passes defensed).
