Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl Selections 2006

It's finally official. After debating for 15 weeks during the season, the NFL have released the Pro Bowl selections for 2006. And as always there were pleasant surprises (San Francisco's Frank Gore), disappointments (New England's Tom Brady), and the unavoidable, "What were they thinking?" (Atlanta's DeAngelo Hall) The Dallas Cowboys were no different in all aspects.

Selected from Dallas to the Pro Bowl is quarterback Tony Romo, outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware, strong safety Roy Williams, and punter Matt McBriar.

The peasant surprise for the Cowboys in '06 is without the play of quarterback Tony Romo. Since coming in for Drew Bledsoe, he is the highest rated passer in the NFC with a 98.4 rating. He rating is also second in the NFL, trailing only behind Peyton Manning. He's completed 66.6 percent of his passes and thrown for 16 touchdowns. But more important than numbers in the way he's completely turned around the play of his entire team. He is 6-2 as a starter since coming in and now Dallas is one win away from the NFC East division title and quite possibly a 1st round bye in the playoffs. Not bad considering Dallas was 3-3 and third in the division 8 weeks ago. Now Dallas appears to be a serious Super Bowl contender along with Chicago and New Orleans in the NFC. I expect Romo will be receiving a huge "thank you" note from Jerry Jones this Christmas.

Another pleasant surprise is undoubtedly the play of linebacker DeMarcus Ware. He leads his team with 7.5 sacks and has proved to be the destructive force for the Dallas defense. With constant comparisons to another great linebacker (San Diego's Shawne Merriman), Ware has been the one thing Coach Parcells wanted him to be. That's a Linebacker not a sack master. Ware has done everything a linebacker is expected to do. He's knocked receivers off their routes, rushed the quarterback, made open field tackles, been a force against the run, and most of all make big plays. Plays, like stopping the Giant's Brandon Jacobs on 4^th and one and intercepting a pass in mid air and taking it for a touchdown against Falcon's Michael Vick, is evident to how superb DeMarcus Ware has really been this year.

When it comes to punter Matt McBriar, I would have I'm surprise and not surprise at the same time. But McBriar would really have to be Dallas's MVP on special teams. His 48.3 punting average is the highest in the NFL right now. He's also had 21 punts downed inside the 20. In case you don't know, that's pretty darn good. Field position has always been one of Coach Parcells keys to victory. Thanks to McBriar, he's almost always has it.

The "What were they thinking?" player it would have the be strong safety, Roy Williams. Among defensive players, Williams leads the NFC in takeaways with 5 interceptions and 2 fumbles recovered. He also has 9 pass deflections. But it is apparent this year that the safety position has really been the weakness of the Dallas defense and Williams is one of the contributing factors. His play hasn't been all bad. He has the numbers right? Plus, he still makes the bone crushing hits that can completely change the course of the game. But when it comes to the fundamentals, Williams has been everything but good. From constantly taking bad angles, misreads, and letting receivers get behind him, Williams has allowed far too many big plays. Then again, what other strong safety in the NFC other than Williams (and Arizona's Adrian Wilson) have played well enough to be considered? Roy Williams might have actually earned a spot by default.

Ever team always has 2 or 3 players their fans believe that should've made it. Dallas is no different. The biggest disappointments would have be the exclusion of wide receiver Terrell Owens and corner back Terence Newman.

Sure Newman only has one interception. But you can't intercept what they don't throw at you right? Remember Deion Sanders when he was in Dallas. Sanders didn't have huge numbers but he was included in the Pro Bowl nearly every year. Like Sanders, Newman has been able to blanket receivers almost always cutting the field in half for opposing quarterbacks. Also his contributions while in the slot during in Nickel defense have been nothing sort of amazing. He's covered tight ends, wide receivers, and even running backs out of the back field on rare occasions. Bottom line, whoever he covers is taken out of the ball game. Terence Newman is due for some respect. Perhaps a "super" performance by Newman during the playoffs can finally sway voters for next year.

The other big name is, of course, Terrell Owens. ESPN and the rest of the media point towards Owens's conference leading 15 drops as the reason he was excluded. But come on, you and I should know by now the real reason he was left out. The media and oppose players (including former teammates) don't like him. Period. End of story. It doesn't matter that Owens has 77 catches for 1,040 yards and a conference leading 11 touchdown catches. It doesn't even matter that he was actually the 3^rd highest voted player among fans for the Pro Bowl. My prediction: Owens is still going to be a Cowboys next season with Parcells as his coach. This year, trust me, he'll remember this come playoff time.

So their you go. But don't fret just yet. After the season is over, they are still the "need" players that are going to be added to the Pro Bowl roster as well as replacements for injured players. Other players from Dallas that could be considered is Jason Witten, Terry Glenn, Andre Gurode, Jason Ferguson, and even Marion Barber. So the Pro Bowl story isn't quite over yet. So until then, the season goes on.