The players selected for the Pro Bowl were announced yesterday, with seven Seahawks picked to play in the game – that is if the Hawks don’t make it to the Super Bowl. Although seven ties a team record, this year was no different with there being some controversy as to who was and was not selected.

2015 was the third time as many as seven were selected, with five coming from the defense. And even though as a unit the defense is putting up numbers that are on par with past years for this generation of Seahawks, many of the Pro Bowlers selected had sub par years - by their standards anyway.

Number one would probably be Earl Thomas. As blasphemous as that may sound, Thomas has not been the ball hawking ace that he was been his past two All-Pro seasons. Thus far he has only 62 total tackles, putting him on pace for his second lowest total of his career. Not only that, but he has not been as sharp this year as he usually is, he even admitted as much when the team was trying to work its way out of their early season struggles. There have been several occasions where he’s been beat, out of position, or just not making a play.

Same goes for Kam Chancellor, it seems that his lengthy holdout affected his performance for his first few weeks back out on the field. He too has been caught out of position, with a perfect example being the Carolina’s game winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. But his numbers are there, with three missed games he’s surpassing last year’s number of tackles. Had he not held out the first two games, Chancellor would have likely matched his total from 2012.

While that’s just nitpicking, there are some other Hawks that got snubbed. Immediately everyone will point at Doug Baldwin, and they might be right, but fact of the matter is that there are several great receivers in the league, and it is hard to choose one that should not have made it. Calvin Johnson might be the easiest choice for a replacement, but at the time of voting Baldwin didn’t have the gaudy number of receptions or yards that other wideouts on the list had. Although it does seem a travesty to leave out a player tied for the league lead in touchdown catches.

Other snubs include Steven Hauschka, Cliff Avril and team sack leader K.J. Wright. Of course not everyone can make it, unless you play for the Carolina Panthers who have 10 players going to Hawaii, and it’s especially hard with this team as players are asked to do many little things on both sides of the ball.

For example, Russell Wilson although selected, isn’t asked to throw the ball 40 times a game. Thus his passing yards take a hit, as do his receivers’ numbers. Outside linebackers in this defense aren’t asked to rush the passer on the majority of snaps, instead they are doing the little things fans don’t see in the box score like drop back in coverage and stop the run.

Though an honor it may be to be selected, the snubbed Seahawks shouldn’t fret, because they likely won’t be able to participate anyway. They’ll be playing in another, more important game the weekend after.

Photo:Flickr/Mike Morris