Pro Bowl Voting: Which Patriots Star Leads Position?
We're on to Las Vegas ... or at least Matthew Judon appears to be.
The New England Patriots defender is the leading outside linebacker candidate in the NFL's Pro Bowl Games leaderboard tallied by fan votes. Should his lead prevail ... and the Patriots miss out on Super Bowl LVII ... Judon will partake in a series of Sin City-based skills competitions, culminating in a flag football showdown, during the week before the Big Game.
Judon is looking to add one more to an active streak of three-consecutive Pro Bowl appearances, the latest coming upon his New England arrival last season.
The second-year New Englander's early electorate victory is hardly a surprise to anyone who has even casually followed the Patriots this season: he has already set a career-best 13 sacks to lead the NFL and help keep New England's bid at consecutive playoff berths alive. He has far and away stood as the Patriots' most valuable player, embarking upon a game-changing campaign that has not gone unnoticed by teammates or the 61,617 that punched Judon's name on the virtual ballot.
“He’s a very electrifying player,” fellow pass rusher Deatrich Wise Jr. has said of Judon. “Once he gets in the game and he does what he does, the crowd goes crazy, the juices start pumping and everybody just gets after it. Once he makes his play, you can see the morale of the team is building, the confidence of the team rising, our defense getting better and better, playing with more confidence, playing faster."
Adding running back Rhamondre Stevenson, "There’s not many people that can block that man."
The Patriots had four representatives at last year's Pro Bowl, with Judon joined by Matthew Slater and the since-departed J.C. Jackson in what became the final traditional 11-on-11 all-star game at Allegiant Stadium last February. Quarterback Mac Jones later came aboard as an injury substitute, spelling Baltimore's Lamar Jackson.
Minnesota receiver Justin Jefferson ... whose work is likely quite familiar to the Patriots by now ... leads all candidates with 90,313 votes for the Games. Voting runs through Dec. 15 with full rosters coming out six days later.
Judon and the Patriots (6-5) will return to action on Thursday night when they battle the Buffalo Bills in a crucial AFC East divisional showdown (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime Video).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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