Four Ravens Earn Pro Bowl Starts

After nearly 100 million votes were cast for the NFL Pro Bowl, the starters have been selected and will be formally announced by the NFL Network on Pro Bowl Selection Show on December 28th. In the meantime, we are proud to congratulate four players from the Baltimore Ravens who will be starting for the AFC in Honolulu, Hawaii on January 30, 2011.

Three of those players have been the leading vote-getters in their positions for quite a while but the fourth one just snuck in at the last moments while one other Ravens dropped out of the lead of his position.

As expected, congratulations go out to Ray Lewis (ILB), Ed Reed (FS) and Haloti Ngata (DT) for receiving the most votes for their positions. However, the biggest cheer should go out for Ravens punter Sam Koch, who earned his first and deservedly so, Pro Bowl berth of his career.

Fullback LeRon McClain, who was leading his position for much of the voting, was edged out by Houston Texans FB Vonta Leach, who opened holes for the AFC's leading rushing Arian Foster, who also received his first Pro Bowl selection.

(See all the top vote-getters and the starting teams after the 'Jump')

NEARLY 100 MILLION ALL-STAR VOTES CAST BY FANS: BRADY & VICK TOP VOTE-GETTERS
 
Teams to be Announced on Pro Bowl Selection Show December 28 on NFL Network

New England Patriots QB TOM BRADY received 1,877,079 votes to lead all NFL All-Stars in fan balloting for the 2011 Pro Bowl, the NFL announced today. Fan voting ended on Monday, December 20.
 
There was a record 98.59 million votes cast on NFL.com, on wireless phones and on Facebook. Fans cast 89.52 million votes on NFL.com, 8.50 million votes on their wireless phones and 570,000 votes on Facebook.
 
The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are based on the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third towards determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl.  NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on December 22-23.
 
The teams will be announced at 7:00 pm (ET) Tuesday, December 28 on a special NFL Total Access 2011 Pro Bowl Selection Show on NFL Network.
 
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback MICHAEL VICK (1,522,437) leads all NFC All-Stars and ranks second overall, while Indianapolis Colts quarterback PEYTON MANNING (1,130,399 votes), San Diego Chargers quarterback PHILIP RIVERS (1,039,618 votes) and New Orleans Saints quarterback DREW BREES (971,731 votes) round out the top five.
 
The 2011 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 30, 2011 and televised live on FOX at 7:00 pm (ET) at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
 
The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its all-star teams. It was the first professional sports league to offer online all-star voting in 1995.
 
Listed below are the top 10 offensive and defensive vote-getters, the top five rookie-vote getters, and the players with the most fan votes at each position:

NFL ALL-STAR TOP-TEN VOTE-GETTERS
 
Pos/.Name, Team/Votes
QB/Tom Brady, Patriots/1,877,079
QB/Michael Vick, Eagles/1,522,437
QB/Peyton Manning, Colts/1,130,399
QB/Philip Rivers, Chargers/1,039,618
QB/Drew Brees, Saints/971,731
RB/Adrian Peterson, Vikings/948,410
QB/Aaron Rodgers, Packers/900,544
RB/Arian Foster, Texans/710,166
RB/Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars/707,913
QB/Matt Ryan, Falcons/704,817

NFL ALL-STAR TOP FIVE ROOKIE VOTE-GETTERS
Pos./Name, Team/Votes
DT/Ndamukong Suh, Lions/405,597
QB/Sam Bradford, Rams/305,721
C/Maurkice Pouncey, Steelers/246,443
TE/Rob Gronkowski, Patriots/205,948
RB/Jahvid Best, Lions/168,707

 
AFC LEADING VOTE-GETTERS BY POSITION
 
Pos./Name, Team/Votes // Pos./Name, Team/Votes
QB/Tom Brady, Patriots/1,877,079 // DE/Dwight Freeney, Colts/501,021
RB/Arian Foster, Texans/710,166 // DT/Haloti Ngata, Ravens/341,496
FB/Vonta Leach, Houston Texans/273,723 // OLB/James Harrison, Steelers/411,600
WR/Andre Johnson, Texans/606,818 // ILB/Ray Lewis, Ravens/412,827
TE/Antonio Gates, Chargers/588,245 // CB/Nnamdi Asomugha, Raiders/326,658
T/Andrew Whitworth, Bengals/372,295 // SS/Troy Polamalu, Steelers/530,155
G/Eric Steinbach, Browns/329,714 // FS/Ed Reed, Ravens/312,885
C/Jeff Saturday, Colts/328,673 // P/Sam Koch, Ravens/182,868
K/Josh Scobee, Jaguars/208,794 // ST/Keyaron Fox, Steelers/121,057
KR/Joshua Cribbs, Browns/186,828  

 
NFC LEADING VOTE-GETTERS BY POSITION

Pos./Name, Team/Votes // Pos./Name, Team/Votes
QB/Michael Vick, Eagles/1,522,437 // DE/Julius Peppers, Bears/418,380
RB/Adrian Peterson, Vikings/948,410  / DT/Ndamukong Suh, Lions/405,597
FB/Heath Evans, Saints/207,936 // OLB/Clay Matthews, Packers/466,501
WR/Roddy White, Falcons/595,001 // ILB/Brian Urlacher, Bears/314,584
TE/Tony Gonzalez, Falcons/458,527 // CB/Charles Woodson, Packers/394,330
T/Chad Clifton, Packers/173,797 // SS/LaRon Landry, Redskins/208,112
G/Josh Sitton, Packers/214,013 // FS/Antrel Rolle, Giants/158,478
C/Shaun O'Hara, Giants/232,551 // P/Ben Graham, Cardinals/196,658
K/David Akers, Eagles/228,353 // ST/Heath Farwell, Vikings/162,553
KR/Devin Hester, Bears/239,641