Five Seahawks selected for Pro Bowl; alternate Michael Bennett says ‘I’ll take the ring instead’

RENTON, Wash. – Richard Sherman is ticked – and he got picked.

Teammate Michael Bennett was named as a mere alternate to the Pro Bowl – and said “I could not care less.”

“It doesn’t matter if you go to the Pro Bowl and your team is not in the Super Bowl,” Bennett said Tuesday, before the NFL announced the five Seahawks selected to this season’s all-star game by votes of fellow players, league coaches and fans.

They are Sherman, safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, first-time selection linebacker Bobby Wagner and running back Marshawn Lynch.

Five more Seahawks were selected as alternates for next month’s Pro Bowl: quarterback Russell Wilson, center Max Unger, left tackle Russell Okung, kicker Steven Hauschka and Bennett.

“We’re OK with that,” Bennett said before practice today for Sunday’s home game against St. Louis; a win would give the defending Super Bowl-champion Seahawks (11-4) the NFC West title and most likely home-field advantage as the conference’s top playoff seed. “Winning the Super Bowl, it changed our lives. Winning the second one, that’s really going to change our lives,” he said laughing.

“We thought we got (stuff) for free last offseason,” Bennett continued. “We win it again that (stuff) is going to be free for real!

“I mean, Kansas City went 2-14 and had six guys go to the Pro Bowl (in 2012). Cleveland, they were 4-12 (in 2013) and they had five guys go. It doesn’t make any sense.

“I’ll take the ring instead.”

Thomas made his fourth Pro Bowl and Chancellor his third despite missing two games in November with pain in his hip, groin and bone spurs in both ankles. The invaluable, speedy and heady Wagner got his first selection despite missing five games with a broken foot tendon and torn foot ligament. The returns of Wagner and Chancellor to health has coincided with Seattle’s current five-game winning streak and one more victory away from the NFC’s No. 1 seed for the postseason.

Lynch got his fourth Pro Bowl selection and fifth of his eight-year career. He has a career high 16 total touchdowns and career-best four TDs receiving. Lynch is third in the NFL with 1,246 yards rushing.

This is the third time in four seasons Seattle’s defensive secondary has had three Pro Bowl selectees. And this is the fourth consecutive season Seattle has had at least five representatives in the Pro Bowl.

But that’s not enough for Sherman.

Asked before Tuesday’s Pro Bowl announcement if anything about it was going to make him mad, Sherman said: “If we only have five players named again.”

“It’s kind of frustrating because you sometimes feel like your teammates are getting punished for being on a good team,” he said. “Your linebackers are getting punished for not having a D-line that allows them to make 130, 140 tackles. Your D-line is being punished because one guy is not going to get 14, 15 sacks – that’s difficult to get on a team like this. You just feel for guys.

“In the secondary, I think we get the acclaim a lot of times – ‘Legion of Boom’ – and they respect our games. I think it’s well-deserved. A lot of people say it’s well-deserved. I think the rest of our defense recognition would be well-deserved.”

Bennett has seven sacks and 17 quarterback hits this season. But his value has gone beyond those numbers. He’s often been unblockable, getting off the ball so quickly he’s left would-be blockers still in their stances. He swears the second of the two consecutive offsides calls he got last weekend in the blowout of Arizona was erroneous because the linesman “had never seen anyone get off the ball that fast.”

The Seahawks are one more dominant performance Sunday in the regular-season finale against St. Louis from becoming the fourth team in NFL history to lead the league in points allowed and yards allowed in consecutive years. They are first with 268.6 yards allowed and 16.5 points surrendered per game this season. The yardage is better than the league-best 273.6 yards Seattle allowed last season. The Seahawks surrendered 14.4 points per game while winning it all last season.