Pittsburgh Steelers not getting any love in terms of Pro Bowl votes at midway point of the season

When you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers' roster, especially on the offensive side of the football, you see some star studded names. Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Maurkice Pouncey and Heath Miller, just to name a few. You would figure a handful of those players would represent the team in the Pro Bowl at season's end, but at the midway point there are few players even listed in the Top 10 at every position. Only two players, to be exact.

Antonio Brown is 4th on the list of wide receivers getting votes for the annual All-Star game, and Jordan Berry is ranked 7th on the list of punters. Other than that, no one.

It is truly a testament of what injuries can do to a roster, and their potential. Ben Roethlisberger's knee injury did more than hurt his hopes of a Pro Bowl selection, but also the production of Brown, Miller, Bryant and even the running backs. With Roethlisberger in the lineup defenses can't "stack the box" to stop the run. Include Pouncey's injury in the preseason and you get a true feeling of how injuries can impact some of the statistics which buoy rankings like the Pro Bowl voting process.

Le'Veon Bell would be a sure-fire Pro Bowler if he hadn't started the year suspended, and was lost for the season in Week 8 when he tore his MCL against the Cincinnati Bengals. A similar story could be sculpted around Martavis Bryant missing the first 5 games of the season due to a 4-game suspension and a knee injury.

Nonetheless, the biggest snub in the voting process might be Cameron Heyward being left off the list. Heyward is not just the leader and captain of the Steelers' defense, but he has been ridiculously productive as a 3-4 defensive end. When it comes to dynamic ends in a 3-4 scheme, it would be difficult to find one better than Heyward.

As fans should be filling the voting ballots for some of their favorite players in the black and gold, hopefully the team gets healthy in the second half of the season and proves to fans of the NFL everywhere they have some solid playmakers worthy of the postseason honor of being named a Pro Bowler.