Pro Bowl drops ball with another Fletcher snub
London Fletcher was right. He is the Susan Lucci of the NFL.
The Washington Redskins linebacker should have been chosen to his first Pro Bowl this season, and I thought he was a dead-bolt cinch. Then I forgot: It's Fletcher. There's a better chance of it snowing in Phoenix than Fletcher making the Pro Bowl, and don't ask me why.
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"He should've made it the last three years," said Vinny Cerrato, Washington's former executive director of football operations.
I don't know about that, but I do know he should've made it last season and didn't. And he should have made it this season and didn't. And now I'm beginning to wonder what the league, its players and its fans have against one of the hardest-working, most reliable and most productive players in the business.
Fletcher doesn't miss practices. He doesn't miss games. And he doesn't miss tackles. He calls the Redskins' defensive signals, leads the club in tackles and is widely considered the team's MVP, yet the only way he goes to the Pro Bowl is with a ticket bought at the door.
Sorry, but I don't get it.
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| Maybe Fletcher's 134 tackles and two sacks aren't impressive enough to make the Pro Bowl? (Getty Images) |
Oh, wait a minute, he's not in, either. Life is not fair.
A year ago, Fletcher deemed his career "Hall of Fame worthy" and while that's a stretch it certainly is Pro Bowl worthy. He won a Super Bowl. He produced 11 consecutive seasons with 100 or more tackles. He has the second-best ironman streak (191 games) among current players, tied with Peyton Manning and Ronde Barber behind Brett Favre. And he will wind up the Redskins' leading tackler for a third year in a row, making it 11 seasons where he led his team in stops.
"I believe in playing the game the way it was meant to be played," he said a year ago after he was snubbed. "You line up each and every week, each and every play, and you go out and get the job done. You look at my body of work, and I've done that for 11 years. But because I'm not going out causing a lot of controversy, holding a private meeting with the coordinator saying this, this and this, causing a lot of strife on my team, I don't garner a lot of attention."
Well, he's right about that. There is no better teammate than Fletcher. He is accountable, reliable highly productive. In nine of the Redskins' 15 games, he produced double-digit tackles, including a season-high 15 stops against Philadelphia and Dallas, and has more tackles this season than a year ago. He also has more sacks and interceptions, too. And he led or tied for the team lead in tackles in 10 of Washington's 15 starts.
Yet voters chose Patrick Willis and Jonathan Vilma over Fletcher. Willis I understand, he's the best middle linebacker in football. But Vilma? Sorry, it should have been London Calling.
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"They just won't vote for the guy," one NFC general manager said. "Maybe it's because New Orleans is winning."
That's the only explanation I can come up with. The Saints are the best team in the NFC, and the Redskins are one of the worst. People like winners, so maybe that's why they like Vilma. I don't know.
Look, Vilma's a nice guy and a nice linebacker on a nice team. But he's no Fletcher. Not now he's not. Given the choice of the two I don't think twice -- it's Fletcher in a landslide, but I guess that makes me a contrarian.
All I know is that Fletcher is someone NFL coaches dream of having on their rosters. He is always there when you need him. He never complains, unless it's about another Pro Bowl snub. He stays out of trouble, he makes a zillion tackles, is a leader and a mentor. And he is a role model for teammates and young fans, the sort of guy -- and sort of player -- you hope others emulate.
In short, he is extraordinary.
Somewhere along the line you'd think someone would have recognized that and found a spot for him on the NFL's All-Star team. But it hasn't happened yet, and now I'm beginning to believe it won't happen, period. It doesn't make a difference if it's the AFC or the NFC, London Fletcher can serve and serve with distinction, but he is never called.
Life is not fair.
