McKinnie booted off Pro Bowl team..Leonard Davis could play tackle

[Faerluna]

They ditched the skills competition?

They haven't had it for a few years now, which sucks. I wonder why they stopped doing them...

 

[BAT]

I find it strange that Davis, a RIGHT guard, always stresses that he is only comfortable playing LEFT tackle.

 

[Don Corleone]

I'm just having a hard time believing that buffoons like this beat up on my Dallas team in the playoffs.



The Vikings seem like a bunch of headcases.

 

[mldardy]

McKinnie: I'm too injured for Pro Bowl

Posted by Evan Silva on January 30, 2010 3:30 PM ET

Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie has gone into damage-control mode after being kicked off the NFC Pro Bowl squad.


"Had to withdraw from Pro Bowl!" McKinnie tweeted Saturday afternoon. "I've been playing thru pain the last month and need time 2 let my body heal."


This begs the question: Why did he accept the invitation in the first place? Plenty of McKinnie's banged-up teammates declined the opportunity to go to Miami.


"Been having some problems with my feet and ankle and I gotta give it a break," McKinnie replied minutes later to a question on Twitter. "I had a long season + my body is hurting."


Perhaps most interestingly, McKinnie then gets into it with Willis McGahee on Twitter. McGahee, his former college teammate, tweeted to McKinnie that his explanation was "**** ****."


We don't doubt that McKinnie is sore after an 18-game season. But he is obviously not sore enough to stop clubbing, and clearly did not inform Pro Bowl coaches that he was injured. Mark Craig of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that McKinnie did not withdraw from the Pro Bowl on his own. He was dismissed. So McKinnie isn't too banged up to lie, either.

This article makes him sound like a big baby. Like he went up to Wade in a whiny voice and said "Wade, I'm too hurt to play, can I go home"

 

[WoodysGirl]

Anger mounts regarding McKinnie

Posted by Mike Florio on January 30, 2010 6:56 PM ET

With Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie kicked off the NFC Pro Bowl team, we're hearing that there's a high degree of anger from his colleagues regarding the events that resulted in his banishment from the team.

"Why didn't he just not refuse to come?" a league source told us tonight. "That way, they could have gotten someone to replace him. Now, they have to play the game with one less tackle."

Ravens running back Willis McGahee, a former teammate of McKinnie's at the University of Miami, put it a slightly different way on his Twitter page: "that's **** ****."

McKinnie got the boot after blowing off practice on Wednesday and Thursday. His dismissal officially has been documented on the Pro Bowl page at NFL.com.

And so the NFC will have to get by with only Jason Peters (Eagles) and David Diehl (Giants) at tackle. Other offensive linemen could pitch in; Cowboys guard Leonard Davis previously has played tackle during his NFL career.

McKinnie obviously has forfeited his pay check for playing in the Pro Bowl. The only remaining question is whether he's also facing a fine from the league office. And that's what we're currently trying to find out.

 

[lkelly]

The Pro Bowl is sliding down a steep slope. With contracts like they are and fear of injuries, the game is a shell of what it used to be. Throw in the stupid scheduling so that the NFC and AFC's best teams' players are ineligible and the roster looks nothing like the original voting.

They should either cancel the thing or revise it so that it becomes a rookie showcase game. Most first year players wouldn't drop out (many would see the payout as a significant bonus compared to their base salaries - even moreso when a rookie cap goes into place), and fans would be excited to see the new stars of tomorrow compete. At many colleges you have huge turnouts for spring games (scrimmages) and a lot of that is fan enthusiasm for underclassmen that haven't played much yet.

It's ironic that the NFL has fantastic TV ratings, but their all-star showcase and their late season games featuring playoff teams are becoming jokes.

 

[Don Corleone]

The Pro Bowl is sliding down a steep slope. With contracts like they are and fear of injuries, the game is a shell of what it used to be. Throw in the stupid scheduling so that the NFC and AFC's best teams' players are ineligible and the roster looks nothing like the original voting.

They should either cancel the thing or revise it so that it becomes a rookie showcase game. Most first year players wouldn't drop out (many would see the payout as a significant bonus compared to their base salaries - even moreso when a rookie cap goes into place), and fans would be excited to see the new stars of tomorrow compete. At many colleges you have huge turnouts for spring games (scrimmages) and a lot of that is fan enthusiasm for underclassmen that haven't played much yet.

It's ironic that the NFL has fantastic TV ratings, but their all-star showcase and their late season games featuring playoff teams are becoming jokes.

I, for one, enjoyed the Pro Bowl in years past. Regardless of the format of the game this year, it doesn't excuse this lard ***'s behavior this past week.

 

[CF74]

They haven't had it for a few years now, which sucks. I wonder why they stopped doing them...

My memory is shot but now that cha mention it yeah...I don't remember seeing the skills challenge for a while but every year I get mad and ask this question...:

 

[SaltwaterServr]

The Pro Bowl is sliding down a steep slope. With contracts like they are and fear of injuries, the game is a shell of what it used to be. Throw in the stupid scheduling so that the NFC and AFC's best teams' players are ineligible and the roster looks nothing like the original voting.

They should either cancel the thing or revise it so that it becomes a rookie showcase game. Most first year players wouldn't drop out (many would see the payout as a significant bonus compared to their base salaries - even moreso when a rookie cap goes into place), and fans would be excited to see the new stars of tomorrow compete. At many colleges you have huge turnouts for spring games (scrimmages) and a lot of that is fan enthusiasm for underclassmen that haven't played much yet.

It's ironic that the NFL has fantastic TV ratings, but their all-star showcase and their late season games featuring playoff teams are becoming jokes.

Agreed in totality.

 

[JPM]

When is the NFL gonna wise up and just ditch this game?

When it stops being profitable.

 

[big dog cowboy]

When it stops being profitable.

 

[HoosierCowboy]

keep the Pro Bowl and bring back the Loser's Bowl and the NFL champ versus the college all-stars game

 

[Don Corleone]

They're saying that suspension isn't out of question for McKinnie.

Wow! Moral of the story: Do not piss off the commish. He's taking a lot of heat over this game as it is.