Bowling team

The NFL named its AFC and NFC Pro Bowl teams this week. The Patriots had six players honored. The game -- usually played after the Super Bowl in Hawaii -- will be played on the Sunday between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl this year. Not sure why. Just another bad idea by Commissioner Goodell motivated by what he thinks the fans want. The players on the Super Bowl teams will not take part in the game. Here's hoping the Pats players named to the team don't get to see Diamond Head this year.

The obvious pick was Tom Brady. This is the first in what will be a long line of honors regardless of how the team does in the playoffs. He has had a historic year. It's as if he took that ranking in the NFL's 100 Greatest Players personally. I know I did.

Rookie Devin McCourty was a somewhat surprising pick -- not because he doesn't deserve it -- but because the Pro Bowl selections are often made on reputation and he doesn't have one yet. Well, now he does. The first-round pick out of Rutgers has played as well at the hardest position in football as I've seen in a long time. Third-year linebacker Jerod Mayo and safety Brandon Meriweather also made the team. Mayo is completely back from the injury that slowed him last year. He may not make the flashy plays like Bruschi did, but he's around the ball all the time. Meriweather is also around the ball all the time and he delivers some of the hardest hits in the game -- legal and not. Unfortunately he sometimes delivers those hits to teammates.

Offensive lineman and recluse Logan Mankins was one of those reputation selections. He was picked for the third time in his career even though he missed the first half of the season because he didn't like the new contract the Pats offered him. When this season is over, re-signing Mankins has to be priority #1.

During the last offseason, priority #1 was re-signing the Big Man. Vince Wilfork. The deal got done, making him one of the highest paid players in the league. It was the moment that set the tone for the success that has followed this year. Giving athletes their big pay day -- deserved or not -- often leads to the beginning of the end for that player. The history of sports is littered with guys who got the cash and hit the beach -- or the buffet. But not Big Vince. He has had his best season ever. Defensive linemen have been going down all around him and Wilfork hasn't missed a beat. He's still an immovable object in the middle but has switched more to play end this year than ever in his career. He is the foundation that this whole team rests on.

The team was in need of someone to take the "Patriot Way" leadership mantle from Tedy Bruschi.

The Big Man is that guy. This won't be his last Pro Bowl season.