Tom Brady being selected to the Pro Bowl was once a given in an NFL season, as the six-time Super Bowl champion always put up the necessary numbers worthy of a selection to the all-star game. Brady, who is tied with Bruce Matthews and Merlin Olsen for the most Pro Bowl selections in NFL history (14), hasn't been selected to the Pro Bowl in either of the last two seasons -- even though his stats were certainly worthy enough of a selection this year.
Brady has completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,886 yards with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions (97.5 passer rating). He ranks in the top five in passing yards and touchdowns, but was omitted from the Pro Bowl (Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Kyler Murray were the selections). Regardless of the Pro Bowl snub, Brady is perfectly content with missing out on the selection.
"Well I think there's a lot of people who end up being deserving of a really cool accolade like that and I've been very fortunate to be picked a bunch of times -- and I think it's really great for other guys to get picked too," Brady said to reporters Wednesday. "It's hard sometimes to pick just a few guys. This year, there was a lot of great candidates at a lot of positions and a lot of teammates that I wish they would've made it."
Brady usually avoided the Pro Bowl due to the New England Patriots playing in the Super Bowl -- or just deciding not to play in the game altogether. And this season, there won't actually be a game. Making the Pro Bowl isn't as import to Brady as putting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the playoffs, which they can achieve with a win over the Detroit Lions Saturday.
"You've just got to keep trying to go out there and earn it. I think ultimately, for me, it's about winning games and I think individual accolades have a certain place, but the most important thing for me has always been about winning football games," Brady said. "I wish we were 14-0 at this point, we haven't deserved it. We haven't played to that level yet, but hopefully we can play at a much higher level this Saturday."
