By Mark McCarter, The Huntsville Times
HUNTSVILLE, AL. -- Perhaps fitting for its championship season, Auburn dominates the fifth annual Huntsville Times All-Alabama All-NFL team. However, it's a dynamic wide receiver from UAB who is our clear MVP.
Falcons' Roddy White heads our All-Alabama All-NFL team
There are nine former Auburn players on the team, led by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jay Ratliff.
Roddy White, the Falcons' receiver from UAB, has been one of the league's most dangerous this season as Atlanta posted the best record in the NFC, earning our MVP award.
White and Ratliff are two of our four team members who'll start in the Pro Bowl, along with DeMarcus Ware of the Cowboys and Troy University, and Robert Mathis, the Indianapolis defensive end from Alabama A&M.
Philip Rivers, the Chargers' quarterback from Athens High, and Justin Tuck, the Giants' defensive tackle from Kellyton and Notre Dame, have been selected to the Pro Bowl as reserves.
As typical, the two dominant programs in the state - Alabama and Auburn - provide barely half the All-Stars, with 12.
There are seven players who have been chosen each year: Rivers, White, Ware, Mathis, Rob Bironas, Cortland Finnegan and Karlos Dansby.
The strength of our team is once again the passing game - merely the most prolific passer and most prolific receiver in the NFL - and stopping the passing game. Or at least terrorizing quarterbacks. Among our defensive starters are a combined 62 sacks. That doesn't count the 11 1/2 from Osi Umenyiora, who didn't make the team.
Here's the team, wiith hometown and former school in parentheis.
QB: Philip Rivers, San Diego (Decatur, North Carolina State): Another Pro Bowl season, but the Chargers didn't even make the playoffs this year. No fault of Rivers, whose 4,710 passing yards led the NFL and 101.8 passer rating was second only to Tom Brady. Rivers had 30 TD passes.
RB: Brandon Jacobs, New York Giants (Houma, La., Auburn and Southern Illinois): He rushed for 823 yards and his 5.6-yards per carry average was seventh-best in the league. His nine rushing TDs was ninth in the NFL.
FB: Tony Richardson, New York Jets (Dadeville, Auburn): One of the league's classiest people, the 39-year-old Richardson will likely retire after this, his 16th season. He only had five carries and five receptions, but his leadership and blocking took the Jets into the playoffs.
WR: Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons (James Island, S.C., UAB): The league's top receiver had 115 catches for 1,398 yards and 10 TDs.
WR: Terrell Owens, Cincinnati Bengals (Alexander City, UT-Chattanooga): Past his prime and pretty much irrelevant after a splashy career, Owens, now 37, still had nine TD catches and 72 catches for 983 yards.
WR: Earl Bennett, Chicago Bears (Birmingham, Vanderbilt): Emerging as a force midway through the season as he recaptured the magic with ex-Vandy teammate Jay Cutler, Bennett had 46 catches for 561 yards and three TDs.
OL: Ben Grubbs, Baltimore Ravens (Eclectic, Auburn): The Ravens once again relied on the ground game behind Grubbs and a capable offensive front to reach the playoffs.
OL: Marcus McNeill, San Diego Chargers (Chicago, Auburn): An early-season holdout caused McNeill to miss three games, but it got him a $48.5-million contract through 2015. The Chargers went 1-2 without McNeill and stumbled to a 9-7 finish.
OL: David Stewart, Tennessee Titans (Moulton, Mississippi State): Not the best of seasons for the Titans almost anywhere. But Stewart was steady -- and let's remember the Titans allowed only one sack in two games to the Colts' Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, the best rushing tandem in the NFL.
OL: Antoine Caldwell, Houston Texans (Montgomery, Alabama): Caldwell started most of the season but still hasn't met the promise he showed as a versatile lineman coming out of Alabama after the 2008 season.
OL: King Dunlap, Philadelphia Eagles (Nashville, Auburn): This is based on potential and short-lived moments of strong play when called upon for some emergency starts. It's pretty slim pickings among the big guys, to be honest. Others showing some potential are Cincinnati's Evan Mathis of Alabama, Buffalo's Cord Howard of Georgia Tech and Phenix City and San Diego's Tyronne Green of Auburn. Andre Smith never reached his promise at Cincinnati and Justin Smiley, a perenniel pick here, missed much of the year with injuries.
K: Rob Bironas, Tennessee Titans (Louisville, Auburn): The Titans' kicker didn't have an opportunity for many extra points - he did make all 38 tries - and was 24-for-26 on field goals and had 17 touchbacks on kickoffs. He had eight field goals of 40-plus yards.
DL: Robert Mathis, Indianapolis Colts (Atlanta, Alabama A&M) He's returning to the Pro Bowl after 11 sacks and 60 tackles. Not bad for a generously listed 6-foot-2, fifth-round draft pick from a Division I-AA program.
DL: Justin Tuck, New York Giants (Kellyton, Notre Dame): Despite the Giants' miserable season, Tuck was brilliant, with 11.5 sacks and 76 tackles. (Teammate Osi Umenyiori, who grew up in Auburn and played at Troy, also had 11.5 sacks.)
DL: Jay Ratliff, Dallas Cowboys (Valdosta, Ga., Auburn): Guys like Umenyiori and Kansas City's Wallace Gilberry, the ex-Alabama defensive end, had better tackle and sack stats, but you can't ignore a Pro Bowl selection. Ratliff is one of those gap-plugging nose tackles who makes life easier for linebackers, like ...
LB: DeMarcus Ware, Dallas Cowboys (Auburn, Troy): Ware led the league with 15.5 sacks for the underachieving Cowboys. He also had 66 tackles and two forced fumbles. With a better team, he might be considered the dominant defensive player in the league.
LB: Takeo Spikes, San Francisco 49ers (Sandersville, Ga., Auburn): Three interceptions, 109 tackles for Spikes, now 34 and finished with his 13th season. Some believed he was washed up four years ago. He keeps proving them wrong.
LB: Karlos Dansby , Miami Dolphins (Birmingham, Auburn): In his first year with the Dolphins, he had 95 tackles and three sacks. The most telling number: Arizona, which let him go, dropped from 20th to 29th in total defense, despite being in a division where no team had a winning record.
LB: Jarret Johnson, Baltimore Ravens (Homestead, Fla., Alabama) He had 73 tackles and two forced fumbles. Helping the Ravens reach the playoffs - and recovering from some significant early injuries - gives him the edge over Elkmont's Michael Boley, the Giants' linebacker with 86 tackles.
DB: Cortland Finnegan, Tennessee Titans (Fayetteville, N.C., Samford): Finnegan's unpleasant side showed a couple of times and he enhanced his reputation as one of the league's dirtiest players. But he still had 100 tackles and two interceptions for a Titans' defense constantly under the gun.
DB: Kerry Rhodes, Arizona Cardinals (Bessemer, Louisville): The free safety, who was picked up in the offseason from the New York Jets, had four interceptions, recovered four fumbles, scored two touchdowns, blocked a field goal and registered 90 tackles.
DB: Roman Harper, New Orleans Saints (Prattville, Alabama): He had a miserable day in last weekend's first-round upset loss to Seattle, but his fifth year was his best in the NFL. Harper was in on 98 tackles and had one interception.
DB: Sherrod Martin, Carolina Panthers (Griffin, Ga., Troy): The second-year man was one of the few bright spots for the lowly Panthers, with 85 tackles, three forced fumbles and an interception. He edges ex-Tuskegee player Drayton Florence (58 tackles, three interceptions) of the Bills for this fourth spot.
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