Vote The Redskins Ticket Surprisingly Effective

For anyone living in a cave in the DC area, or those who aren’t quite as lucky to live close the their favorite team, the Washington Redskins have been putting on a rather subtle campaign to put as many of the Burgundy and Gold in the Pro Bowl this year as possible.  Let’s just say that, at least as far as the fan voting is concerned, its working.

As of November 18, the Redskins boasted four of the top ten overall vote getters. Clinton Portis is second behind only Drew Brees with more than 450,000 votes. Following Portis, Chris Cooley, Santana Moss and Jason Campbell are fifth, sixth and ninth respectively. Now let’s break down the individual positions for the NFC squad:

Quarterback

1: Drew Brees, NO – 490,844 votes
2: Eli Manning, NYG – 395,526 votes
3: Jason Campbell, WAS – 307,366 votes
4: Kurt Warner, ARI – 272,969 votes
5: Donovan McNabb, PHI – 186,137 votes

Running Back

1: Clinton Portis, WAS – 458,082 votes
2: Adrian Peterson, MIN – 303,151 votes
3: Marion Barber, DAL – 208,348 votes
4: Michael Turner, ATL – 189,836 votes
5: Brandon Jacobs, NYG – 174,856 votes

Wide Receiver

1: Santana Moss, WAS – 324,324 votes
2: Larry Fitzgerald, ARI – 322,588 votes
3: Anquan Boldin, ARI – 209,671 votes
4: Plaxico Burress, NYG – 199,605 votes
5: Greg Jennings, GB – 192,709 votes

Fullback

1: Mike Sellers, WAS – 220,662 votes
2: Madison Hedgecock, NYG – 90,818 votes
3: Deon Anderson, DAL – 48,159 votes
4: Mike Karney, NO – 47,737 votes
5: Korey Hall, GB – 44,249 votes

Tight End

1: Chris Cooley, WAS – 341,629 votes
2: Jason Witten, DAL – 306,166 votes
3: Kevin Boss, NYG – 108,914 votes
4: Jeremy Shockey, NO – 77,869 votes
5: Greg Olsen, CHI – 65,218

Center

1: Casey Rabach, WAS – 182,517 votes
2: Shaun O’Hara, NYG – 170,262 votes
3: Olin Kreutz, CHI – 109,725 votes
4: Matt Birk, MIN – 98,065 votes
5: Andre Gurode. DAL – 85,024 votes

Guard

1: Pete Kendall, WAS – 175,617 votes
2: Randy Thomas, WAS – 172,636 votes
3: Chris Snee, NYG – 137,481 votes
4: Steve Hutchison, MIN – 125,712 votes
5: Leonard Davis, DAL – 95,430 votes

Tackle

1: Chris Samuels, WAS – 198,906 votes
2: Flozell Adams, DAL – 103,178 votes
3: David Diehl, NYG – 92,706 votes
4: Kareem McKenzie, NYG – 80,156 votes
5: Stephon Heyer, WAS – 74,234 votes

Defensive End

1: Justin Tuck, NYG – 198,223 votes
2: Andre Carter, WAS – 161,705 votes
3: John Abraham, ATL – 134,068 votes
4: Julius Peppers, CAR – 131,168 votes
5: Jared Allen, MIN – 93,816 votes

Defensive Tackle

1: Cornelius Griffin, WAS – 166,644 votes
2: Kedric Golston, WAS – 143,733 votes
3: Kevin Williams, MIN – 119,237 votes
4: Pat Williams, MIN – 105,117 votes
5: Fred Robbins, NYG – 84,143 votes

Outside Linebacker

1: DeMarcus Ware, DAL – 177,959 votes
2: Jason Taylor, WAS – 158,883 votes
3: Marcus Washington, WAS – 151,439 votes
4: Rocky McIntosh, WAS – 145,950 votes
5: A.J. Hawk, GB – 132,005 votes

Inside Linebacker

1: London Fletcher, WAS – 202,969 votes
2: Brian Urlacher, CHI – 156,288 votes
3: Antonio Pierce, NYG – 98,265 votes
4: Patrick Willis, SF – 96,583 votes
5: Zach Thomas, DAL – 64,080 votes

Cornerback

1: Shawn Springs, WAS – 165,968 votes
2: Carlos Rogers, WAS – 162,694 votes
3: Charles Woodson, GB – 160,922 votes
4: Asante Samuel, PHI – 121,491 votes
5: Ronde Barber, TB – 104553 votes

Strong Safety

1: Chris Horton, WAS – 164,271 votes
2: Adrian Wilson, ARI – 53,622 votes
3: Darren Sharper, MIN – 51,974 votes
4: Atari Bigby, GB – 49,253 votes
5: James Butler, NYG – 46,488 votes

Free Safety

1: LaRon Landry, WAS – 188,238 votes
2: Brian Dawkins, PHI – 82,622 votes
3: Nick Collins, GB – 54,611 votes
4: Michael Johnson, NYG – 42,068 votes
5: Ken Hamlin, DAL – 37,612 votes

Kicker

1: Shaun Suisham, WAS – 135,832 votes
2: John Carney, NYG – 56,796 votes
3: Jason Elam, ATL – 53,408 votes
4: Nick Folk, DAL – 50,976 votes
5: Mason Crosby, GB – 48,215 votes

Punter

1: Ryan Plackemeier, WAS – 108,080 votes
2: Jeff Feagles, NYG – 106,723 votes
3: Derrick Frost, GB – 32,200 votes
4: Brad Maynard, CHI – 30,720 votes
5: Saverio Rocca, PHI – 30,102 votes

Return Specialist

1: Rock Cartwright, WAS – 124,563 votes
2: Devin Hester, CHI – 121,882 votes
3: Reggie Bush, NO – 87,266 votes
4: Felix Jones, DAL – 44,353 votes
5: DeSean Jackson, PHI – 39,495 votes

Special Teamer

1: Khary Campbell, WAS – 134,554 votes
2: Chase Blackburn, NYG – 60,918 votes
3: Jarrett Bush, GB – 40,730 votes
4: Keith Davis, DAL – 31,367 votes
5: Corey Graham, CHI – 29,527

Pretty impressive on the part of the Redskins marketing department, I’d say. To illustrate, here’s your starting line-up if voting ended the 18th and counted for 100% of the election process (Redskins bolded):

Offense

QB: Drew Brees
RB: Clinton Portis
FB: Mike Sellers
WR: Santana Moss, Larry Fitzgerald
TE: Chris Cooley
OT: Chris Samuels, Flozell Adams
OG: Pete Kendall, Randy Thomas
C: Casey Rabach

Defense

DE: Justin Tuck, Andre Carter
DT: Cornelius Griffin, Kedrick Golston
OLB: DeMarcus Ware, Jason Taylor
ILB: London Fletcher
CB: Shawn Springs, Carlos Rogers
SS: Chris Horton
FS: LaRon Landry

Special Teams

K: Shaun Suisham
P: Ryan Plackemeier
RS: Rock Cartwright
ST: Khary Campbell

Now, some ( huh-hmm Dan Steinberg) may look at this and think that what the Redskins are doing is making a mockery of the Pro Bowl, but I submit that the Pro Bowl election process has already cheapened the Pro Bowl. Every year, players more deserving of a roster spot in the Aloha State are sitting at home watching guys past their prime or guys that play for the best and most popular teams.

As a case in point, let’s talk about London Fletcher. He has been one of the best middle linebackers in football for ages, but has never been to the Pro Bowl. Fletcher’s exclusion is among the many players, Redskin or otherwise, that has long deserved a trip to Hawaii and has been snubbed year after year. If nothing else comes of the ‘Vote the Redskins Ticket’ campaign, righting this wrong is enough.

So I say to all Redskins fans, we’ve done well so far, but let’s not get complacent. The NFL Digital Media Department sent this note to all NFL teams (courtesy of Matt Terl):

As it stands right now, the Redskins are leading the NFC ballots in 16 of 19 positions. Its no surprise, given that they have been promoting this all season long and currently have an interstitial ad and a top right ad urging fans to vote.

This would be a great weekend to promote pro bowl voting to your fans. Let me know if you need any ideas or support from the league (or the Redskins :)) in this important initiative.

Other team’s are taking notice, none more important to note than the Dallas Cowboys, annually the biggest beneficiery of the moronic Name Recognition Bowl voting. This comes from Todd Archer’s blog on the Dallas Morning News website:

Since Pro Bowl voting began on Oct. 13, the Redskins have put out out quite a campaign. According to the totals, Washington has four players among the top-10 vote getters regardless of position and conference.

The Cowboys? Only one – Jason Witten at No. 10.

Running back Clinton Portis is No. 2, tight end Chris Cooley is No. 6, wide receiver Santana Moss is No. 6 and quarterback Jason Campbell is No. 9. If that’s not a challenge for Cowboys’ fans, I don’t know what is.

Todd is calling on Cowboy fans to try and match our votes, and I say that in this year of historic national elections, why not keep this up and create one of our own. The Pro Bowl is a meaningless game, which bestows a rather arbitrary honor on a select few players that get in based on name and reputation year after year, so why not make this the year of the Washington Redskins?

If you think we can’t keep it up, just remind yourself of Bob the Builder, and some other famous politician, and remember, Yes We Can! Vote The Redskin Ticket!