Tiki Barber is a multi-media personality so he is well practiced in saying the right thing.
Yesterday, he said it didn’t even bother him a little that he wasn’t picked for the Pro Bowl.
Sure, it didn’t.
That is why the normally effervescent Barber avoided questions about the subject as if they were defenders. He zigged and zagged, trying not to let down his guard.
Barber, with more yards from scrimmage than anyone in the NFC, was determined not to show his disappointment.
With voting split between fans, coaches and players, Barber was only named the first alternate for Hawaii.
“That’s something to be proud of, I guess,” Barber said. “But I know and the guys in this locker room know, maybe one year I’ll be there. But it is not the measure I [use to see] how I am appreciated by this team.”
The running backs chosen were the Rams’ Marshall Faulk, the Packers’ Ahman Green and the Saints’ Deuce McAllister. Since Faulk, Green and McAllister have been banged up for most of the season, Barber will probably end up in Hawaii anyhow.
Yesterday, Barber didn’t respond to this thought process, ignoring the fact the only thing that drops as consistently as the New Year’s ball is elite NFL players out of the Pro Bowl.
“I’m not worried about the Pro Bowl right now,” Barber said. “There are so many more things on my mind, particularly Indianapolis. We are making a playoff push right now.”
Yesterday, while Barber wasn’t selected to his first Pro Bowl, rookie tight end Jeremy Shockey was. Defensive end Michael Strahan made the team for the fourth time in five years. Besides Barber, Amani Toomer, with 70 catches for 1,082 yards, perhaps could have made it.
“I thought I had a chance, but I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Toomer said.
Neither did Barber, even though his on-field numbers were better than the voted-in runners. Barber leads the NFC in yards from scrimmage with 1,643, which includes 1,124 rushing on 4.4 per tote average.
Only McAllister with 1,245 and the Vikings’ Michael Bennett with 1,160 have more rushing yards in the NFC.
Green has 1,057 yards on 4.3 per rush. Faulk owns 887 yards, but has averaged 4.7 yards per carry and is generally considered the best player in the NFL. Both have been hurt all year and could duck out of the Pro Bowl quickly. Barber isn’t buying any plane tickets yet.
“I’m not even worried about it,” Barber said. “I’m not even thinking about it.”
At the end of Barber’s interview session yesterday, a television producer sincerely congratulated Barber for being named the first alternate in the NFC.
At the beginning of the session, Barber said he guessed that was something to be proud of. At the end, after the producer congratulated him for being first alternate, Barber said, “For what?”