Giants' Pro Bowl-caliber center snubbed; O'Hara makes squad
Rich Seubert, second from left, and David Diehl, right, are part of a five-man unit on the Giants' offensive line that continues to impress. (Sept. 26, 2010) Credit: David Pokress
The Giants had a guy who played center at a Pro Bowl level this year. They’ll send someone else to play center at the Pro Bowl.
Shaun O’Hara, who missed nine games with Achilles, ankle and foot injuries that have bugged him since the first day of training camp, was named to the NFC Pro Bowl roster today, one of four Giants players to make the quad. But Rich Seubert, the guard who moved over to take O’Hara’s spot in six of those nine games and played really well, gets nothing. He’s not even an alternate.
That’s too bad because Seubert probably had the most impressive season of any Giants offensive lineman, especially considering that he was considered by many to be the weak link heading into the year. First the Giants seemed certain to put Will Beatty at left tackle and move David Diehl inside to replace Seubert. Then they added Shawn Andrews, a Pro Bowl guard with the Eagles, and he seemed poised to be Seubert’s replacement.
Neither of those scenarios worked out and Seubert relinquished his job at guard only when he had to shift over to replace O’Hara. He did that for six games. The Giants went 4-2 in those games. O’Hara has played in the last two games – the Giants are 0-2 in those, 3-3 overall when he plays – but has not played well by his own admission.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Giants decide to go back to Seubert at center this week, especially after Tom Coughlin expressed disappointment in the running game the last two weeks with the “original five” offensive linemen – including O’Hara at center – up front.
“We went through times where we had a lot of changes and we fought our way (through it),” Coughlin said.
Besides O’Hara, the Giants’ other Pro Bowlers are S Antrel Rolle, DE Justin Tuck and G Chris Snee. Snee is the only starter among them.
The Giants on standby include RB Ahmad Bradshaw and DE Osi Umenyiora who are second alternates, QB Eli Manning and WR Hakeem Nicks who are third alternates, T David Diehl who is a fourth alternate and DT Barry Cofield who is a fifth alternate.
Maybe O'Hara and Snee will see fit to bring Seubert along with them on their trip to Hawaii.
