Should have Been Pro Bowlers

ProFootballFocus Re-picks the Pro Bowl - AFC Offense

We all know the Pro Bowl is just a popularity contest. But what if it wasn’t? What if people were judged on their production rather than their profile? We’ve announced the NFC’s roster, so let’s move onto the AFC. Did the voters and Pro Football Focus agree? Let’s find out.
Quarterback There’s absolutely no surprise that Peyton Manning makes both teams. Possibly the greatest of all time, Peyton was our top-rated quarterback with the kind of remarkable passing performance that was significantly better than any other QB. When you look at the rankings for the Colts offensive line, you realize just how little he had to work with compared to how much he produced. There’s absolutely no way we can justify Brett Favre in the Pro Bowl. Favre was our 26th-ranked quarterback, throwing too many picks, holding onto the ball too long and just generally being a below-average quarterback. David Garrard has every right to be annoyed at his exclusion, as he was clearly better than Favre and had the bonus of being extremely effective running when plays broke down. Garrard shouldn’t be judged for the inferior talent around him that resulted in 42 sacks and 47 dropped passes, and if ever there was a case of a QB getting a tough rep because of his team’s poor performance, this is it. The last spot comes down to Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers, the last battle between these two for a while. Both are worthy candidates, but ultimately we’ll take Rivers for his ability to protect the ball playing in a more balanced offense. Cutler played in a far more pass-happy system where he too often turned the ball over. When Favre went down, there was no real reason for Kerry Collins to be called up. Collins rode the Tennessee defense and offensive line all the way to the playoffs, doing most of his good work by simply doing nothing (as his 12 TDs and 429 dropbacks show).
Incumbent: Peyton Manning
Dropped: Brett Favre and Jay Cutler
Replacements: David Garrard and Philip Rivers
Running Backs Not quite the same level of talent the NFC has; there’s a belief you’d rather have the top six running backs from the NFC before anyone from the AFC. With that said, Steve Slaton was possibly the most impressive all-around runner, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and being a more-than-competent receiver. He could quite easily replace Thomas Jones as the starter. Jones was decent enough in all phases but there was nothing special about him to justify his spot as the premier running back in the AFC. If anything, he benefited from a fantastic offensive line that paved the way for his 4.5 yards per carry and 13 touchdowns. Jones keeps his place along with Ronnie Brown, who was a solid enough runner if not somewhat limited in other phases. Chris Johnson is the big loser here -- his woeful performance when the ball wasn’t in his hands should have kept him from Hawaii.
Incumbents: Ronnie Brown and Thomas Jones
Dropped: Chris Johnson
Replacement: Steve Slaton
Fullback Le’Ron McClain may have gone to the Pro Bowl as a fullback, but he did most of his damage as a running back. His fullback play ranked him in the bottom third and his rushing really wasn’t that effective, as he ran behind a good offensive line and showed little in the way of variety. Compare this to the extremely effective lead blocking of Greg Jones and you get an idea of what a fullback should look like when he's not pretending to be a halfback. He was extremely good in pass protection as well, just giving up 2 pressures in 42 plays.
Dropped: Le’Ron McClain
Replacement: Greg Jones
Wide Receivers Andre Johnson continued his imposing career with a brilliant year. Catching 71 percent of passes thrown his way for 1,577 yards, Johnson led the league in yardage and easily deserved his Pro Bowl place. We also couldn’t argue with Reggie Wayne, as we ranked him fourth. A model of consistency, Wayne doesn’t have stats that will blow you away but ranks high in pretty much every category, which is a testament to his consistency. Brandon Marshall and Wes Welker both got nods to the Pro Bowl, but this may have been because of how much they were thrown at more than their talent. Marshall was the most thrown-at wide receiver and only brought in 58.8 percent of those passes, which is far from impressive. Furthermore, his 16 dropped passes tied for second in the league and while his run blocking was brilliant, he was simply too inconsistent in the passing game. Welker caught a lot of balls and was adept at getting open, but his lowly 10.4 yards per catch average indicates Welker catches a lot more short balls to boost his reception count, and maybe doesn’t do the damage other receivers do down the field. Replacing these two are the recently unretired Derrick Mason, who was a godsend for Joe Flacco in hauling in 68.4 percent of passes thrown his way, and the ever-improving Vincent Jackson. Jackson emerged as a true No.1 receiver, and his 18.6 ypc showed his effectiveness going deep. He also displayed a low drop count (5) and was above the 60 percent mark on catching passes thrown his way.
Incumbents: Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne
Dropped: Brandon Marshall and Wes Welker
Replacements: Derrick Mason and Vincent Jackson
Tight Ends Our top-ranked tight end was Tony Gonzalez and he was an easy choice for Pro Bowl voters. His blocking was more than adequate, but what separated Gonzalez from the rest of the field was his production in the passing game (1,066 yards, 10 touchdowns). It was a case of laziness from Pro Bowl voters in selecting Antonio Gates, who was not the player he had been in previous years, with his run blocking in particular being pretty bad. It’s not hard to see why Owen Daniels was selected to replace an injured Gates; he was extremely productive in the passing game but nowhere near enough to make up for his extremely poor run blocking and lack of productivity in the red zone (just 2 touchdowns). A far more deserving candidate is Anthony Fasano. Fasano wasn’t the most consistent receiver (although his 7 touchdowns indicate he’s a big red-zone threat), but his blocking was exceptional. He ranked second in run blocking and was more than adequate with his pass blocking (again ranking second). Very nice pick up by Bill Parcells. Incumbent: Tony Gonzalez
Dropped: Antonio Gates
Replacement: Anthony Fasano
Offensive Tackles The AFC voters once again were too concerned with reputation and playing left tackle, neglecting talented right tackles like it was going out of business. The top-ranked pass protecting tackle Michael Roos earned his Pro Bowl spot against extremely tough competition. Roos gave up less than 1 pressure per game, which is a quite remarkable feat. The same cannot be said of Jason Peters, who averaged more than 2 while giving up eight penalties. His run blocking was nowhere near enough to compensate for these factors and he is nowhere near the top of our consideration list. Feeling the need to bring in a right tackle, it comes down to Damien Woody and David Stewart, and in the end we opt to go with Woody. ALthough he gave up more pressures than Stewart (22 to 16), Woody ranked higher with his run blocking, while it’s fair to say that in Favre, Woody has a quarterback who invited pressure. Joe Thomas was originally selected to the Pro Bowl and had a good year on an underachieving offensive line. That said, he wasn’t quite in the same class as either Matt Light or D’Brickashaw Ferguson. We like Fergusons’ pass-protecting skills but we give the advantage to Light for the work he didin space, with his screen blocking being extremely good for a tackle. When Peters went down we understood the call for Jake Long, who had a top-10 season as a tackle, but the quality of tackles was so high in the AFC that he doesn’t make our team.
Incumbent: Michael Roos
Dropped: Jason Peters and Joe Thomas
Replacements: Matt Light and Damien Woody
Offensive Guards For some reason, Logan Mankins was ignored for the Pro Bowl despite being the best run-blocking guard in the league last year. Granted, although Mankins was not the best in pass protection, there is no way Alan Faneca should have made the Pro Bowl over him. Faneca gave up more pressures and struggled in the run, arguably being the least impressive linemen in New York not named David Diehl. The other selections of Brian Waters and Kris Dielman made sense, although we’d like to bring in a specialized right guard who outperformed Dielman: Bobbie Williams. Williams didn’t get much attention playing for a bad Bengals team, but he was a model of consistency in both pass protection and run blocking and should have received more respect.
Incumbent: Brian Waters
Dropped: Alan Faneca and Kris Dielman
Replacements: Logan Mankins and Bobbie Williams
Center Kevin Mawae had a decent year anchoring the Titans line, but he should not have been selected to the Pro Bowl and he certainly shouldn’t have started over the excellent Nick Mangold. Mangold took his play to another level and was excellent at run blocking to become our top ranked Center. When Mawae went down, the voters did get it right by bringing in the underrated Casey Wiegmann, who was a better pass protector than Mangold, but couldn’t compete with his run blocking. Still, a fantastic season for Wiegmann and as our second-ranked center he fully deserved to catch some sun in Hawaii.
Incumbents: Nick Mangold, Casey Wiegmann, Kevin Mawae
Dropped: None
Replacements: None

I didn't quite understand his criticism of Chris Johnson. Did you?

After i posted it, i realized they had some really really weak comparisons. David Gerrard? Are you kidding? the dude had an awful season!

I liked their comparison to the linemen, generally. Peters is a scrub and i think Faneca gets too much credit for the Jets o-line. He was a good player but gave up a lot of inside pressures...or at least a lot more than one would expect from a 40 million dollar man.

Matt Light and Damion Woody are also overrated. Including either of them is an injustice to the McNeils of the world. They really should take the voting of linemen out of the hands of the fans, like carter said, Faneca is largely overrated as well, simply made the team off of his days with the Steelers.