Rackers and Fitzgerald Earn Pro Bowl Honors

[clif]

Tempe, AZ – Arizona Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald have been selected to represent the NFC in the 2006 Pro Bowl. It is the first career selection for each player.

Rackers becomes just the second kicker in team history to earn a Pro Bowl selection (Jim Bakken - 1965, 1967, 1975-1976) and the first special teams player to be selected since punter Scott Player was chosen in 2000. Fitzgerald becomes the seventh wide receiver in franchise history selected. He joins Anquan Boldin (2003), David Boston (2001), Rob Moore (1997), J.T. Smith (1988), Roy Green (1983-84), Pat Tilley (1980), and Mel Gray (1974-77).

This also marks the first season since 1999 (DE Simeon Rice, CB Aeneas Williams) that the Cardinals have had more than one player selected to the Pro Bowl.

Rackers, who signed a four-year contract extension with the Cardinals on November 8, started the season by successfully hitting his first 31 field goal attempts and currently has 36 field goals on 37 attempts, leaving him just three short of the NFL record of 39. That total includes an NFL-best six field goals of 50+ yards. Rackers missed the December 4 game at San Francisco with a torn left calf muscle but returned to action a week later. He is currently third in the NFL in scoring with 124 points (Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander, 144 and Giants K Jay Feely, 128). He also continues to lead the league in touchbacks with 22.

Fitzgerald currently ranks second in the NFL with 92 receptions (Carolina’s Steve Smith, 93) and his seven 100-yard receiving games rank third in the NFL behind only Smith and Cards teammate Anquan Boldin (eight each). The second-year player leads the league with 23 catches of 20+ yards and he is fifth in the NFL with 1,236 receiving yards. Fitzgerald also has eight receiving touchdowns and earlier this season became the youngest player in team history to amass 1,000 receiving yards when he hit that mark on December 4 at San Francisco.

While the Pro Bowl teams are announced today, the starting lineups will not be announced until halftime of one of the two Wild Card games being playing on Saturday, January 7 airing on ABC.

The 2006 Pro Bowl will be played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on Sunday, February 12 and will be televised by ESPN.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

Bad ASS, on the bright side this team is building a Nucleous of Very good players. Boldin, Fitz, Berry, Rackers when healthy all could make the Pro Bowl consistently

 

[JeffGollin]

Anquan deserved it as much as Fitz. I realize putting 2 wideouts from the same team on the Pro Bowl roster is a difficult feat, but Q not only put up Pro Bowl numbers, he also made unbelievable plays.

This isn't to say it should have been Q instead of Fitz - it should have been both of them.

 

[100%CardsFan]

Anquan deserved it as much as Fitz. I realize putting 2 wideouts from the same team on the Pro Bowl roster is a difficult feat, but Q not only put up Pro Bowl numbers, he also made unbelievable plays.

This isn't to say it should have been Q instead of Fitz - it should have been both of them.

 

[abomb]

Anquan deserved it as much as Fitz. I realize putting 2 wideouts from the same team on the Pro Bowl roster is a difficult feat, but Q not only put up Pro Bowl numbers, he also made unbelievable plays.

This isn't to say it should have been Q instead of Fitz - it should have been both of them.

I sort of agree. Too bad Q missed those games; had he been healthy, it is a no-brainer to select him.

A-Bomb

 

[Jersey Girl]

They both deserve to go. Quan sure as hell better be picked as an alternate.

BTW, congrats to Fitz and Rackers. I heart Neil Rackers.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Hopefully Q will get an alternate slot. At least one of the receivers will probably back out.

Do they still have artificial turf in Hawaii? That, above almost all things, drives me nuts!

 

[Mitch]

Congratulations to Neil Rackers and Larry Fitzgerald...both are very deserving of the recognition. Rackers has been lights-out all year and Fitz is making quite a statement as a 2nd year player...and to think Anquan Boldin made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, wow!

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Fitzgerald currently ranks second in the NFL with 92 receptions (Carolina’s Steve Smith, 93) and his seven 100-yard receiving games rank third in the NFL behind only Smith and Cards teammate Anquan Boldin (eight each).

But keep in mind, that according to at least one poster on this site, Fitz and Quan are just possession type receivers without the speed to break the long one, and that there are at least 10 - 15 guys in the league that are better than them.

 

[joeshmo]

From what I have been able to gather from various scources around the net.

This looks to be the pro bowl roster right now.

QB -- Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Delhomme, Michael Vick

RB -- Shaun Alexander, Tiki Barber, Warrick Dunn (ALTERNATES -- Clinton Portis 1st)

FB -- Mack Strong (ALTERNATES -- Chris Cooley 1st)

WR -- Steve Smith, Torry Holt, Santana Moss, Larry Fitzgerald

TE -- Jeremy Shockey, Alge Crumpler (ALTERNATES -- L.J. Smith 2nd)

OT -- Walter Jones, Orlando Pace, Chris Samuels

OG -- Steve Hutchinson, Mike Wahle, Larry Allen (ALTERNATES -- Shawn Andrews 2nd)

C -- Olin Kreutz (ALTERNATES -- Robbie Tobeck)


DE -- Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Julius Peppers

DT -- Tommie Harris, Shaun Rogers, Rod Coleman

ILB -- Brian Urlacher, Jeremiah Trotter (ALTERNATES -- Dan Morgan 2nd, Lofa Tatupu)

OLB -- Lance Briggs, Keith Brooking, Derrick Brooks (ALTERNATES -- Marcus Washington 2nd)

CB -- Ronde Barber, Nathan Vasher, DeAngelo Hall (ALTERNATES -- Dre Bly, Ken Lucas 3rd)

FS -- Darren Sharper (ALTERNATES -- Brian Dawkins 1st, Sean Taylor 2nd, Mike Minter 3rd)

SS -- Roy Williams, Mike Brown

K -- Neil Rackers (ALTERNATES -- Josh Brown)

P -- Josh Bidwill (ALTERNATES -- Jason Baker 1st)

KR -- Koren Robinson (ALTERNATES -- Steve Smith 2nd)

ST -- David Tyree (ALTERNATES -- Karl Hankton 2nd)


AFC

QB -- Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Tom Brady (ALTERNATES -- Drew Brees 1st)

RB -- LaDainian Tomlinson, Edgerrin James, Larry Johnson (ALTERNATES -- Rudi Johnson 1st)

FB -- Lorenzo Neal

WR -- Marvin Harrison, Chad Johnson, Rod Smith, Chris Chambers

TE -- Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez

OT -- Tarik Glenn, Willie Anderson (ALTERNATES -- Levi Jones 2nd)

OG -- Alan Faneca (ALTERNATES -- Eric Steinback 1st)

C -- Jeff Saturday, Jeff Hartings


DE -- Dwight Freeney, Jason Taylor, Derrick Burgess

DT -- Jamal Williams, Richard Seymour, Marcus Stroud

OLB -- Cato June, Joey Porter, Shawne Merriman

ILB -- Al Wilson, Zach Thomas

CB -- Deltha O'Neal, Champ Bailey, Ty Law (ALTERNATES -- Tory James 1dt)

FS -- Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders

SS -- John Lynch

K -- Shayne Graham

P -- Brian Moorman (ALTERNATES -- Mike Scifres 2nd)

KR -- Jerome Mathis

ST -- Hanik Milligan

Merriman was the only rookie and how the heck did KVB not make it and Peppers did, he had an absolutely horrilbe first half of the season yet he still makes it. Seems like a few made it based on name alone. For example roy Williams, give me a break. Over Wilson and a few others. The NFL had a faulty Voting system online, they dont show all of the players stats just a few of them for example the DB's they only show Tackles, PD's, and INT's, they dont show FF's, FR's, TD's, or sacks. If they did the average fan who votes on those stats alone would have without a doubt voted for Wilson instead of a few others.

 

[Buckybird]

Q probably deserved it more than Fitz. 2games missed and 2nd in the league
in yards, not counting the 3 incredible TD runs in which he broke 3-5 tackles
on each.

 

[Jim O]

They both deserve to go. Quan sure as hell better be picked as an alternate.

Coach Green just revealed that Anquan and Leonard Davis are second alternates and Adrian Wilson is a third alternate.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Anquan deserved it as much as Fitz. I realize putting 2 wideouts from the same team on the Pro Bowl roster is a difficult feat, but Q not only put up Pro Bowl numbers, he also made unbelievable plays.

This isn't to say it should have been Q instead of Fitz - it should have been both of them.

Fitzgerald made just as many unbelievable plays. Most of his plays were catching the ball, when most would not. How many times did Fitz catch the ball in double or triple coverage? How many times did he catch one handed grabs? How many times did he catch the ball without falling out of bounds?

Most of Boldin's plays were after the catch.

Damn it, why cant we have both of them on the team. Let's not worry though, he will be selected as an alternate.

 

[SweetD]

Nice to see.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Coach Green just revealed that Anquan and Leonard Davis are second alternates and Adrian Wilson is a third alternate.

That's interesting. Does the NFL break down the votes? I'm curious to see whether it was players, fans or coaches who voted for Davis.

 

[vince56]

Bad ASS, on the bright side this team is building a Nucleous of Very good players. Boldin, Fitz, Berry, Rackers when healthy all could make the Pro Bowl consistently

I agree. I think this shows how absolutely important it is, though, to have a good offensive line. We have six players that consistently play great football(Dansby, Berry, Wilson, Boldin, Fitzgerald, & Rackers), and we have a former MVP that's still able to play well (Warner). That's 7 solid playermakers, more than a lot of teams, yet we still only have 4 wins.

Add an offensive line to that, and suddenly we have a red zone attack. We run the football and keep the clock moving, keeping the other team off the ball. The other team's defense plays more 8-in-the-box defense to stop our run, leaving Boldin and Fitzgerald running even more wide open.

That's the vision of the future of this team. Add 2-3 quality starter offensive linemen, give them time to gel, and we'll be there.

 

[joeshmo]

Coach Green just revealed that Anquan and Leonard Davis are second alternates and Adrian Wilson is a third alternate.

So let me get this straight, Wilson not only didnt make it instead of the overrated Roy Williams but there are 2 other alternate SS's in front of him. And there is an alternate WR in front of Boldin as well. What a travashamockery.

 

[Scott MS]

Edited for "read between the lines".


Yeah, that stinks that Boldin didn't make the Pro Bowl. Golden Boldin is #1 in my book, but I am extremely happy that Fitzgerald made the Pro Bowl, although I didn't find that to be much of a surprise given his stats this season.

.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

Coach Green just revealed that Anquan and Leonard Davis are second alternates .

Is Leonard Davis a 2nd Alternate for Towel boy or Gatorade cup filler??? It could not be for playing Football, thats not really one of his strengths. I heard he could fold I mean towel though.

 

[AzCards21]

Here's the link: http://www.nfl.com/probowl/nfc_roster

I can't believe Boldin and Wilson got skipped.

 

[Faithful]

Q probably deserved it more than Fitz. 2games missed and 2nd in the league
in yards, not counting the 3 incredible TD runs in which he broke 3-5 tackles
on each.

 

[joeshmo]

Q probably deserved it more than Fitz. 2games missed and 2nd in the league
in yards, not counting the 3 incredible TD runs in which he broke 3-5 tackles
on each.

I still think both deserve to go but I will have to disagree with your statement. Fitz is the one that gets coverage rolled over to his side, that is a fact coming straight from the anouncers and DC's after the games. Also the coaching staff move Boldin around, motion, in the backfield to try and get better matchups on him, Fitz is usually one on with with the main CB. Now Boldin does great in that role and that isnt a knock on him at all. But Fitz is just as deserved to go to the pro bowl as Boldin is IMO, no more or less then the other.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

When it comes to Leonard Davis, those NFL coaches and players who watch game film all the time sure as hell have no idea what they're talking about. It must have been all those Leonard Davis supporters amongth the millions of Cardinals fans who voted him as an alternate Pro Bowler.

 

[Russ Smith]

So let me get this straight, Wilson not only didnt make it instead of the overrated Roy Williams but there are 2 other alternate SS's in front of him. And there is an alternate WR in front of Boldin as well. What a travashamockery.

This may explain Wilson not getting in, from INsider scouting report.


The Cardinals would like to play mostly cover-2 schemes in a "bend, but don't break" philosophy, but in recent weeks they have played a lot of man-to-man schemes. They are forced to blitz all the time to bring pressure because their safeties, Adrian Wilson and Robert Griffith, are so bad in coverage. Corners Antrell Rolle and David Macklin end up alone without safety help, but that's a risk Arizona will take.

Not sure I totally agree but if that's the perception among voters...

 

[Treesquid PhD]

News flash! Fitz plays on the Cardinals. Just be happy for him and stop treating him as if he plays for the Cowboys. Fitz made the probowl deal with it for god sakes people as if it's not good enough to have 2 players on a crappy team make the pro bowl, it has to be Cardinal correct players or the masses are not happy.