Moss to Pro Bowl, No to Bennett, Birk

In a surprise to a lot of Vikings, Randy Moss was the only player from the team selected for the Pro Bowl, as Matt Birk, Michael Bennett and Chris Hovan were all told no thanks.

Randy Moss was his typical humble self, inserting his foot in his mouth in his acceptance speech to being named to the 2003 Pro Bowl.

Moss, who was snubbed a year ago, said the selection was no big thing, since he lost some interest after politics kept him out of last year's game. But, the ommissions were just as perplexing as Moss' bizarre "kiss my butt" type of acceptance speech.

Matt Birk has started the last two Pro Bowls and, as is often the case, once a player gets to the Pro Bowl level, he gets votes -- whether deserving or not, Orlando Pace of St. Louis is having the worst year of his career, yet he got the nod this year. Birk lost out to Olin Kruetz of Chicago and Jeremy Newberry of San Francisco.

Perhaps more disheartening was the selection of Marshall Faulk and Ahman Green over Michael Bennett. Bennett has posted better numbers than either Green or Faulk, trailing just Pro Bowler Deuce McAllister for the NFC rushing lead. But, the big names prevailed.

The sentiment around Winter Park was that a better record would have resulted in more players being selected to the Pro Bowl. Instead, snub was the word of the day.

FRIDAY NOTES
* Bennett may still get the call to Honolulu. Faulk has been injured much of the season and may opt to skip the game. He's done that in the past -- injured or not.
* Moss needs seven receptions Saturday for his first 100-catch season.
* Opposing quarterbacks have a QB rating of 97.2 vs. the Vikings defense, completing 63 percent of passes for 3,830 yards, 28 TDs and 12 interceptions.
* Miami has allowed just seven rushing touchdowns all year with a schedule that included Priest Holmes, Curtis Martin (twice), Clinton Portis, Edgerrin James, Travis Henry (twice), Ahman Green, Jamal Lewis and LaDainian Tomlinson.
* Cris Carter is downplaying the motivation for his homecoming game, but don't be shocked to see the Dolphins try to get him at least one touchdown pass attempt.