When Bobby Wagner realized he had a message from Pete Carroll, the Seahawks linebacker feared he was in trouble, even though he couldn’t think of a reason why. It turns out, his coach instead wanted to congratulate him for making the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.
“We were watching film, and Coach (Ken) Norton came in and he was like, ‘do you have your phone on you?’” Wagner said. “And I wasn’t looking at it. And he was like, ‘well look at it.’ So when I looked at it, I seen Coach Carroll called me and he left a voicemail so I immediately thought I was in trouble. I thought something happened. I didn’t know what to expect so as I’m walking to his office, I’m trying to think of all the things that I might’ve done to get him to call me for something. And then I walked into his office and he told me that I made the Pro Bowl and congratulated me and Coach Norton congratulated me and it went on from there.
Wagner said that even though he was aware that Pro Bowl results were announced Tuesday, he wasn’t thinking about it because, “I didn’t want to get my hopes high and then not be able to get it and be (mad), and then have to take it out on the world, so I was just focused on football and whenever he told me, I was going to be good.”
So what happens now if he’s not mad at the world? “I mean, I still can find the extra aggression somewhere, so I’ll be fine.
Asked what the honor meant to him, Wagner said, “I think it was surreal. I didn’t really know how to take it. I felt like it’s something I’ve been working for since I got in the NFL, and to finally have it happen, it did mean a lot to me.
Meanwhile one player who arguably could have been included, Michael Bennett, said he wasn’t sweating the snub: “I don’t really care as long as my paycheck’s the same.’
Bennett noted that Seattle’s defensive players can get overlooked individually because everyone is good enough that no one or two players stand out statistically.
“Sometimes when you play in the type of defense we play in, you don’t get the attention or notoriety that other people get, because we’ve got a lot of guys” he said. “A lot of teams just have one or two good play; we have 11 every time we’re out there, so it’s just one of those things you have to deal with.”
Russell Wilson, like Bennett, was named an alternate, but for now isn’t a Pro Bowler, and he took that about as diplomatically as you would expect from him.
“I’m grateful to be on the list (as an alternate); grateful just to be able to play in the National Football League and to have an opportunity to play and fight for a Pro Bowl spot,” Wilson said. “Just to be the quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks is a tremendous honor and there are so many great players. All the quarterbacks on the list had unbelievable years. It’s been an awesome year for everybody and I’m excited to have the potential to play in the Super Bowl hopefully, so that’s kind of where my focus is.”
Asked what it means to be a Pro Bowler, an honor he has earned twice, Wilson said, “It doesn’t mean everything. I think it means something in terms of the Pro Bowl, because it’s awarding some of the best players in the National Football League. It’s a real thing, but at the same time, ultimately, I’m trying to get to the last game where I don’t have to play in the Pro Bowl. To do that though we have to win this game and you have to just play one game at a time and enjoy it for what it is. We have a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to it.”
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