Dan Daly: Pro Bowl picks worth kicking around a bit

Few things are more entertaining than scanning down the list of Pro Bowl picks every year. They can be funnier than listening to Ed Hochuli announce a penalty.

Take two of the NFC specialists, kicker John Carney and punter Jeff Feagles, both of the Giants. Their combined age (86) is greater than Joe Paterno’s (turns 82 on Sunday). But make no mistake: They’re totally deserving. Anybody who can have a career year - or close to it - in his 40s should absolutely go to Hawaii … and be left behind to drink mai tais and collect retirement checks.

Feagles beat out the Rams’ Donnie Jones - no small accomplishment. Jones, after all, has a shot at being just the second punter in NFL history to average 50 yards a kick for a season. (He’s averaging 50.2 with two games to play.) I mention this mainly because the first - and so far only - punter to do it was Redskins icon Sammy Baugh in 1940.

Let’s not forget, though: Baugh’s 51.4 average was inflated by a number of quick kicks, so what Jones is doing is pretty sensational.

Too bad he isn’t 42 years old like Feagles.

Or 39 like Brett Favre. I mean, I love to watch Favre be Favre, but is there any reason the 15th-rated passer in the NFL should be headed to the Pro Bowl - especially when he leads the league in interceptions with 17?

Actually, I can think of one reason: Because the 16th-rated passer, Eli Manning, is also headed to the Pro Bowl. (Which means the 17th-rated passer, Jason Campbell, must have just missed out.) Who can figure this stuff out?

Here’s a guy who didn’t make the Pro Bowl just because his team bites: Calvin Johnson, the second-year wideout for the winless Lions. Johnson is fourth in the NFC in receiving yards (1,165), second in touchdowns (10) and third in average yards a catch (17.9; minimum: 40 receptions). And he racked up these numbers, I’ll just point out, while playing with quarterbacks like Dan Orlovsky and rust-laden Daunte Culpepper.

But Detroit, because of its 0-14 record, simply doesn’t exist this season - just like the Bucs didn’t exist in ‘76, when they lost all their games. Which raises the question: What would a receiver on such a club have to do to get voted to the Pro Bowl? Catch 150 passes? Score 24 TDs? Invent a totally original end zone celebration?

Other ruminations about the Pro Bowl selections:

cOne of the receivers who outpolled Johnson was the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald. I’ve got no beef about him being on the NFC squad, though. (Teammate Anquan Boldin, on the other hand…) Fitzgerald has 418 career receptions, and he’s still just 25. That’s more than Randy Moss (414) had at that age, and it’s way more than Jerry Rice (147) had.

cI’m not sure enough attention is being paid to the year Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware is having. Ware needs just one more sack in the last two games (Ravens, Eagles) to reach 20. Only one player since 1991 has had that many - Michael Strahan in ‘01, when he set the record with 22.5 (with Favre’s falling-down assistance on the final weekend). Obviously, Strahan’s mark is also within reach for Ware.

Just five other pass rushers, by the way, have had 20 sacks in a season since the NFL started keeping the statistic in ‘82 - Mark Gastineau (22 in ‘84), Lawrence Taylor (20.5 in ‘86), Reggie White (21 in ‘87), Chris Doleman (21 in ‘89) and Derrick Thomas (20 in ‘90). Surprised not to see Bruce Smith’s name on that list? So was I.

cThe Dolphins’ Joey Porter also has a shot at 20 sacks. (He has 17.5 so far.) It’s been a big year for sacks - the Redskins just weren’t invited to the party.

cWhere the 76 position players (read: nonspecialists) going to Hawaii were drafted:

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