Do Bucs and Jags Pro Bowl Snubs Mean Gruden and Del Rio are Better Coaches?

Our pal Clark Judge of CBSSports.com would have you believe that Jack Del Rio and Jon Gruden must be great coaches, because they're taking teams without any Pro Bowl players to the playoffs. I'm pretty sure Judge is being glib here, but he does make a good point -- why aren't there any Jaguars or Buccaneers in the Pro Bowl?

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that very few casual NFL fans have actually seen these two teams play. The Buccaneers had one prime time game on their schedule this year, and NBC dumped it for a more intriguing game. Meanwhile, the Jaguars' only prime time game was that Monday night loss to the Colts -- the one where David Garrard got hurt and Quinn Gray kept throwing interceptions.

If you give the Pro Bowl vote to the fans, they will vote for players they've seen. Most fans haven't seen these two teams enough. Otherwise, Fred Taylor and Jeff Garcia might have gotten in. (They'll probably make the final roster, anyway, once all the "injured" players back out of the game.) Del Rio and Gruden deserve a lot of credit for turning their teams around after last year's debacles, but not because fans don't know who their players are.