The Redskins Blog

Brian Orakpo (Unofficially) Headed To The Pro Bowl, And Other Links

I’ve already mentioned that Redskins fans should be rooting for the Bears to go to Dallas for the Super Bowl, because that would mean the players ahead of Brian Orakpo and London Fletcher on the Pro Bowl roster would miss the game, and BOTH Redskins linebackers would make the trip to Hawaii. And that still holds true.

But following yesterday’s results, the Washington Examiner’s John Keim points out, Orakpo is already a lock for the all-star game. The two guys ahead of him are Chicago’s Lance Briggs and Green Bay’s Clay Matthews; those two are facing off in the NFC Championship game, so clearly one of them will be going to the Super Bowl. Which means that Orakpo will be in no matter what; it’s just a question of whom he’s replacing and if Fletcher will be joining him.

“I’ll take it,” Orakpo told Keim. “I would love to have made it the first time around, but I’m two for two right now in the NFL and it can only get better.” (And he later added, “I would love to be winning, but that will come in the future.” Just mentioning that to forestall the inevitable criticism that Orakpo is too self-interested; he said several other interesting things to Keim, and you should click through to the article and read them.)

Anyhow, now you’re rooting for Chicago just for London Fletcher’s sake. Orakpo’s all taken care of, thanks.

Some other links that are worth your time…..

• Mike Jones of TBD.com looks at nose tackles who might be available in the 2011 draft. The pickings seem slim.
• The folks at Mister Irrelevant — who famously coined the term “Offseason Champs” — now add “Regular Season Champs” to the Redskins’ list of titles. (Washington beat both teams playing for the NFC Championship, in case you haven’t heard.)
• I rarely link to Bleacher Report, but here’s a relatively cogent BR piece in which a Detroit Lions fan calls Carlos Rogers “the poor man’s [Nnamdi Asomugha],” which is pretty high praise indeed.
• Peter King recounts a fairly long anecdote in which Redskins GM Bruce Allen champions NFL Films founder Ed Sabol for the NFL Hall of Fame.
• And, in honor of Monday’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, here’s the famous August 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, via YouTube. It really is always worth watching.