Note: What follows is for the express enjoyment of Indianapolis Colts fans and is, to at least some degree, said in jest. Because, well, sometimes the NFL seems to do things in jest, too. I mean, I thought it must be a joke when they outlawed celebrations and said you could only hit the quarterback in the three-inch circle surrounding his belly button, but apparently it was real.
Now, those whackadoodles from the home office have done it again. They’ve gone and put Shedeur Sanders in the Pro Bowl.
I’m sorry. It’s the Pro Bowl Games now, because … nobody really liked the Pro Bowl. So what better way to drum up interest than make it more laughable than it already was by putting in the least deserving QB ever to receive the honor? Move over, Tyler Huntley. There’s a new jaw-dropper in town.
If Shedeur Sanders can be in the Pro Bowl, why can’t Colts quarterback Philip Rivers?
Sanders is in because Drake Maye has to go play in the Super Bowl. And because a bunch of other guys are hurt or maybe just don’t want to play. Or, as my son told me recently, “there are never more than 10 great pro quarterbacks walking the earth at any given time.”
Sanders joins Josh Allen and Justin Herbert as AFC quarterbacks. You know, the same Josh Allen and Justin Herbert who led their teams to the playoffs this year. He finished up near the top of the AFC in categories like total yards and quarterback rating.
Sanders finished 35th in the entire league in yards. (Note: there are 32 teams in the league). He finished second-to-last in quarterback rating. Thank goodness from Brady Cook, am I right?
I’ll let writers for other teams make the case for their own quarterbacks. I’m here to speak on behalf of Philip Michael Rivers. He had a higher completion percentage than Sanders. He had better touchdown and interception percentages. He had a higher success rate on his throws, a better sack percentage, and better adjusted-yards-per-attempt and QBR.
In those last two categories, Sanders was again second-worst in the entire NFL. (Brady Cook – the gift that keeps giving.)
I know what you are saying. But Rivers only started three games. At least Sanders started seven. I refer you to the case of Tyler Huntley v. the Triviality of the Pro Bowl, 2022. That was the year Huntley was chosen as a Pro Bowl replacement after having started just four games.
With this precedent, I nominate Philip Rivers. Think of the added value he brings. I don’t really know what the Pro Bowl Games require of a quarterback, but Rivers could fill in as coach if need be. The Buffalo Bills just interviewed him for their head coaching position, though he has subsequently withdrawn from consideration.
If there’s a youth outreach part of the program, who better to run that than the man with ten children? If nothing else, he is the only potential replacement capable of regaling his younger teammates with tales of the olden days, when the Pro Bowl meant something.
All right, I’ll just close with this. Seventeen AFC quarterbacks ended the year with a higher quarterback rating than Shedeur Sanders. That doesn’t even count Rivers, who didn’t have enough passing attempts to qualify. Yet the NFL has seen fit to bestow this honor, such as it is, on its highest available Q rating.
The NFL has some explaining to do.