But the big Pro Bowl news at Redskin Park on Wednesday was the reaction of middle linebacker London Fletcher to not making it yet again. Not only has Fletcher led his teams in tackles during each of his 10 seasons as a starter, he leads the NFL in tackles this decade.

Fletcher is always cooperative with the media but had never been explosive during his two seasons in Washington. Until Wednesday, when Fletcher went off on the NFL players and coaches for not recognizing what the fans did: that he's a Pro Bowl player.

"I don't garner a lot of attention, but when you turn the film on each and every week, each and every play, I'm gonna show up," Fletcher said. "That's what I do. My career has been Hall of Fame worthy. But some coaches and some players get caught up in the hype reading the newspapers or listening to some national TV game as opposed to watching the game with no sound. It's some BS. I put myself up against anybody playing the position, anybody."

San Francisco's Patrick Willis and Carolina's Jon Beason were chosen for the Pro Bowl and the New York Giants' Antonio Pierce is the first alternate.

"To have it happen, year after year after year after year, you can't tell me ... an eight-time alternate, c'mon man," said Fletcher, who agreed that he was the NFL's Susan Lucci, the soap opera star nominated 19 times before finally winning a daytime Emmy Award.

The one-time undrafted free agent, who has aspirations of becoming a minister when he's finished playing football, said his lack of controversy has hurt his profile around the league.

"Maybe because I wasn't a first-round draft pick, I don't do some kind of dance when I make a 10-yard tackle, I don't go out and get arrested," Fletcher said while trying to explain how he has never been picked. "I believe in playing the game the way it's supposed to be played. You line up each and every week, each and every play and you go out and get the job done. You look at my body of work and I've done that for 11 years. But because I'm not going out causing a lot of controversy, holding a private meeting with the coordinator saying this, this and this, causing a lot of strife on my team ... "

Fletcher, who has never missed a game, also noted how he played the past three games with a sprained foot that has kept him out of practice since he was hurt on Nov. 23 at Seattle.

"(I've been playing) with a sprained foot," Fletcher said. "There's a lot of guys that play injured in the National Football League, but there's a lot of guys who would cancel Christmas, so to speak, when they got hurt, meaning they would throw in the towel, 'I'm done. I'm not going to play until I'm completely healthy.' "

Fletcher was also angry that the defense he co-captains was totally snubbed despite ranking second in the conference and fifth overall.

"When you think about where we rank in the league and where we rank in the conference, the last time I checked we were the No. 2 team in the conference, we shut down a lot of good offenses, but for some reason, players and coaches don't feel like we had any players worthy enough to make the Pro Bowl," Fletcher said.

SERIES HISTORY: 147th regular-season meeting. The Redskins lead 76-65-5 and also won the playoff matchup in 1990. The most memorable recent game was the 2005 season finale in Philadelphia when the Redskins rallied behind running back Clinton Portis and safety Sean Taylor to win 31-20 and clinch a playoff spot with their fifth straight victory.