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All-Pro Team Gets Plenty Of New Faces

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The Associated Press

Published: January 10, 2009

A changing of the guard - and tackles and running backs and receivers - saw 15 first-timers make The Associated Press 2008 NFL All-Pro team announced Friday.

While such standbys as three-time NFL Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning and six-time All-Pro Ray Lewis made the squad, there was plenty of room for newcomers. Ten of the 14 offensive players and five of the 13 on defense had never been All-Pros.

And there was room for one unanimous selection by a nationwide panel of 50 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the NFL: safety Ed Reed, Lewis' teammate in Baltimore.

"He has a tremendous feel for the game," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Reed, who made his third All-Pro squad. "Very, very intelligent player, studies it as well or better than anybody. And he's a highly disciplined player. He plays his position as well as anybody I've ever seen."

Reed certainly did that this year with nine interceptions, and he had two, including one returned for a touchdown, in a wild-card playoff win vs. Miami last weekend.

Reed was joined in the secondary by Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu, making his second All-Pro squad, and two of the newcomers: cornerbacks Cortland Finnegan of Tennessee and Nnamdi Asomugha of Oakland.

Other first-timers on defense were Pittsburgh outside linebacker James Harrison, the AP Defensive Player of the Year; end Justin Tuck of the New York Giants; and inside linebacker Jon Beason of Carolina.

The slew of new All-Pros on offense included running backs Michael Turner of Atlanta and Adrian Peterson of Minnesota; fullback Le'Ron McClain of Baltimore; wideouts Larry Fitzgerald of Arizona and Andre Johnson of Houston; tackles Michael Roos of Tennessee and Jordan Gross of Carolina; guard Chris Snee of the Giants; place-kicker Stephen Gostkowski of New England; and kick returner Leon Washington of the New York Jets.

49ERS: Former St. Louis Rams coach Scott Linehan is interviewing for a job as San Francisco's offensive coordinator.

Linehan was fired by the Rams midway through this season after going 11-25, but the veteran coach has a history of success in building NFL offenses in Minnesota and Miami.

REDSKINS: Director of player development John Jefferson was among more than 20 people laid off by the team this week as the economic downtown took its toll on one of the NFL's most valuable franchises.

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