Walter Jones Elected to Ninth Consecutive Pro Bowl

by John Morgan on Dec 16, 2008 1:33 PM PST in NFL News Comment 16 comments

As anyone with two functioning lobes can tell you, only one Hawk was elected to the Pro Bowl, Walter Jones, and he doesn't deserve it and he won't attend. Seattle's most deserving player is Brandon Mebane. John Carlson is the Hawk most likely to be awarded a spot after the normal wave of injuries and refusals. Should either make it to Hawaii, awesome, otherwise BFD.

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I'd give Mare the nod over Carney

by MFAN on Dec 16, 2008 2:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

And it's not even close.

Carney’s really bad on kickoffs.

by redwolf75 on Dec 16, 2008 3:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It's kind of like Gold Gloves

You keep getting them until it’s almost impossible to justify it anymore. Pretty border line this year for Big Walt, but whatever.

by LantermanC on Dec 16, 2008 2:40 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It might be worse for o-lineman

people know so few of their names.

by Nate Dogg on Dec 16, 2008 2:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

and know even less about their actual performance or how to go about measuring it

I'm signing Yuni and Silva up for The Biggest Loser.

by abender20 on Dec 16, 2008 3:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Outside of the secondary

the NFC team looks far and away the better team

by Nate Dogg on Dec 16, 2008 3:32 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

You're wrong about Jones

First of all, again I’m more likely to believe Haskell and Holmgren about this. Both said Jones played better this year than last year and deserved to be in the Pro Bowl. They weren’t shmoozing, if they were they would have named the other Seahawks who have been recent Probowlers too, but they didn’t. They knew all his assignments and watched his individual play over and over, something none of us have.

Second, how any Seahawk fan can even begin to think that any Seahawk is going to win any national popularity contest unless they deserve it is beyond comprehension. I mean, come on, when has any Seahawk gotten even the credit they deserve nationally, let alone more than they deserve. The only one who came close was Steve Largent, and only because he beat defenders so easily and so often that it made for great television on replay. But even he never got the credit he deserved because so few of those games were national.

And third, it’s not a contest of who is best on the team, it’s a contest of who is best in the conference at their position. Walter Jones is definitely in the top three. It’s that simple.

by VBJohnson on Dec 16, 2008 9:53 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Other things Holmgren has thought

Hasselbeck played well against the cardinals and should finish the year strong. Since then he’s 51 of 91 for 560 yards, 3 TD’s and 6 picks. And hasn’t played the last two weeks. But don’t worry Hasselbeck is healthy. Except he’s not, he was vomiting on the sidelines after the Arizona game. But that could mean anything. But don’t worry, he was healthy for the Washington game. And good news out of that press conference, Mike Wahle will be back by the New England game. No, he’s not going on IR, he’ll just miss 3 games. You can breathe a sigh of relief. And in case you were wondering after the Dallas game if Hasselbeck would get shelved in a lost season you can rest assured that Matt won’t be coming out of the game anymore. He’s here to stay, he’s the heart and soul of the team don’t you know. You know what, nevermind on that, my bad. Turns out he is coming out of the game, he’ll be inactive for… ever?

by Nate Dogg on Dec 17, 2008 9:56 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs

National Popularity Contest?

Walter Jones(like someone on here brought up) brought the LT’s position into the national spotlight. You hear the same thing from every announcer and every opposing player that chooses to speak about him, about how professional, how amazingly talented, how great of a player he is.

Walter Jones gets his due, he earned it but he certainly gets his praise and respect across the board. It is not beyond comprehension, it is fact. HOF players who are playing at a HOF level for so long get that respect regardless of who they play for. When they start their decline, the people who are not paying close attention don’t notice, and continue to give the praise until everyone realizes the player is pretty much finished.

Walter Jones may still be surpassing all LTs in the NFC but one or two, I honestly couldn’t tell you. Mostly because I have barely even seen the other 14 LTs in the NFC. I can’t tell you that other great LTs with less age didn’t up their game this year, while the injured Walter Jones certainly was not at the top of his game. He did do better than last year, when he had major shoulder problems and who knows what else, but not up to his prime years, because he was beatable. I don’t trust the national media to tell me if those other LTs got better, and by how much.

But the “in Holmgren I Trust” reasoning isn’t enough for me, if for no other reason that the amazing loyalty he has. That is part of what brought us the Shaun Alexander situation. It’s a big part of what makes Mike Holmgren the “man” the kind of coach that players want to give their all for, and why we have such a standup team. Even when we have guys screw up, like K-Rob, Stevens, Locklear, Holmgren might even be faulted for being too loyal, but it’s a fault that is easily forgiven.

by cashless on Dec 17, 2008 12:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Two things:

1) “You hear the same thing from every announcer and every opposing player that chooses to speak about him, about how professional, how amazingly talented, how great of a player he is.”

You hear it, I hear it, but who else hears it? The Seahawks had one nationally televised game this season, Dallas, and that was Jones’s worst game of the season, maybe of his career. So why and how is Jones getting any national attention at all this season?

2) If Holmgren’s props for Jones were loyalty then what happened to his loyalty for the rest of last years Seahawk Pro Bowlers? And Haskell too has said Jones had a great year.

Jones won because he was one of the three best tackles in the NFC.

by VBJohnson on Dec 17, 2008 12:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Holmgren is obviously going to defend his players.

He’s not gonna say “Walt is a good player, but he’s obviously declined over the past few years and isn’t the same Walt that he was in 2005”.

Holmgren is going to defend any of his players that make the pro bowl. If Coutu made the pro-bowl I’m sure Holmgren would of defended the pick and sung the praises of Coutu. Every coach in the NFL does it.

by MFAN on Dec 17, 2008 12:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

What was the question that was answered?

Was it “Could you list the Seahawks that should be in the Pro Bowl this year?”

Or perhaps “Considering Walter Jones’ injuries, being done for the season, and his getting older, did he really deserve to go?”

You provided zero context for what you said Holmgren said, not even a quote. But considering how sportswriters are I can see the second question being the one asked, which would explain Holmgren speaking on Walter Jones specifically.

Or did he call a press conference on his own to speak on this issue?

by cashless on Dec 17, 2008 1:02 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't say

Holmgren is right about everything he says. All the examples you give are predictions, for example, in response to questions he probably wished he didn’t have to answer. But his statement about Jones was based upon looking at tapes all season of play that had already happened.

If you spend ten or twenty years listening to and analyzing coach-speak you’ll learn that some of it is bunk, but some of it is very true, and that you can tell them apart. You’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If you throw out all insider information you’re going to be often wrong about what’s going on.

by VBJohnson on Dec 17, 2008 11:14 AM PST reply actions 0 recs