AJC > Sports > Falcons > Blog > Archives > 2006 > December > 19
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Pro Bowl Birds on the wing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No surprise that Falcons’ tight end Alge Crumpler and cornerback DeAngelo Hall were named to the Pro Bowl, although Hall has not had the type of season he or a lot of other people had expected after closing out the 2005 season so strongly.
However, there could be some debate over the omission of quarterback Michael Vick and possibly linebacker Keith Brooking, whose run of five straight Pro Bowl appearances ended.
The NFC quarterbacks were Drew Brees, Marc Bulger and Tony Romo. It’s kind of hard to argue the impact those three have made but Vick has thrown a career-high 19 touchdown passes (several have been dropped) and is 10 yards shy of being the first quarterback to run for 1,000 yards.
In regards to Brooking, the guy is a flat-out, productive workhorse who loves playing the game, maybe more than anybody on the team. His 120 tackles are 8th in the NFL and second in the NFC.
However, outside linebacker Lance Briggs (Chicago), Seattle’s Julian Peterson and Dallas’s DeMarcus Ware are every bit worthy of their selection. I was stunned not to see Saints OLB Scott Fujita not make the cut.
Brooking could have been impacted by bouncing back and forth between middle and outside linebacker, which stemmed from MLB Ed Hartwell’s in-and-out playing status (Achilles’ tendon, knees surgeries).
Crumpler, although not having the type of season he has last year, along with co-Pro Bowler Jeremy Shockey of the Giants, clearly are the class of the NFC tight ends. Crump has 47 catches and a career-high seven touchdown catches.
Hall, meanwhile, has four interceptions but he has not had any since the Falcons’ 27-14 loss to the Giants in Game 5.
Hall has been very solid, especially in run support, but his most notable activities have been ripping off the helmet of Detroit quarterback Jon Kitna, getting beat deep by the Saints Devery Henderson and allowing two touchdown passes last week to the Cowboys’ Terrell Owens, who accentuated things by spitting in Hall’s face.
