I've never understood all of the complaints about the Pro Bowl. I've never understood the expectations that the game should be anything but a fun exhibition game. An all-star game will never have the intensity of a postseason game. It will never even have the intensity of a regular season game. For me, it's always been a fun way to say goodbye to the most recent NFL season. I hope that the game continues.
The NFL did it a little different this year. No AFC. No NFC. Unconferenced. All of the selected players went into a pile. Team captains Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders selected teams from the pile of players. We have Team Rice and Team Sanders. I was on the side of Team Sanders as a result of Minnesota Vikings receiver Cordarrelle Patterson being on that team. He made the team as a kick returner and was the sole Vikings representative in Hawaii. Running back Adrian Peterson was selected to the Pro Bowl but he had groin surgery last week. He stayed home.
I'm usually slow to adjust to change so I was skeptical of the Pro Bowl changes. I was skeptical because I'm one of the few/foolish that thinks that the Pro Bowl is just peachy the way that it is. The player draft was held and televised last week. It was actually a pretty entertaining little twist. Maybe this unconferenced thing wasn't such a bad idea.
11 players from the Denver Broncos(5) and Seattle Seahawks(6) skipped the game for obvious reasons.
There were a couple of significant rule changes for this game. No kickoffs. Offensive teams started possessions at the 25-yard line instead of returning kicks. Seeing as Cordarrelle Patterson made the team as a kick returner I was a little disappointed with this change. The other significant rule change added some fun. There was a two-minute warning at the end of each quarter and possession alternated at the beginning of each quarter. I think that it might a good idea to give each team a fourth timeout for each half.
I liked that they had stars on the back of the player jerseys signifying the number of Pro Bowl appearances. The stars didn't show up as well on the white Team Rice jerseys.
As for the actual 2014 Pro Bowl, we had a real nice game. Team Rice wins 22-21 with a touchdown in the final minute and a 2-point conversion. DeMarco Murray scored the touchdown, catching a short pass from Alex Smith and taking it 20 yards. Mike Tolbert scored on the 2-point conversion.
This game was dominated by the defensive lines. J.J. Watt couldn't be blocked. A lot of offensive linemen tried. None did much to even slow him. Robert Quinn, Mario Williams, Gerald McCoy, Marcel Dareus. Most of the defensive linemen spent most of the game in the opposing backfields.
I would have given the Defensive MVP to Watt, but it went to Derrick Johnson. Johnson did play great and his team won.
No one really stood out on offense since the defenses dominated but Nick Foles took home the Offensive MVP. I think that his name was simply pulled from a hot. Foles did toss a nice touchdown to Jordan Cameron. I wonder if Cameron Jordan was on the field.
The first touchdown of the game was Stanford-to-Cal. Andrew Luck tossed a long touchdown to DeSean Jackson. Jackson had to steal the ball from UCLA's Alteraun Verner to secure the touchdown and prevent an interception.
The potential for players going against teammates was the most intriguing possibility of the unconferenced format. That did spice up the game. Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson had a helmet-to-helmet collision with teammate Jamaal Charles in the hole. Cleveland Browns safety TJ Ward sent teammate Josh Gordon head over heels on a hit.
Cris Collinsworth said that this Pro Bowl was the most physical in years. He's right. It was good to see.
It looked like the playmakers from the Eagles thought that they were playing basketball. They kept putting the ball on the ground. DeSean Jackson did it twice. LeSean McCoy did it once.
I was skeptical of the changes to the Pro Bowl. I think that the changes were terrific. The game was entertaining. The effort was great. It was fun to see Sanders and Rice involved in the entire process.
I wish that Team Sanders had found a way to get Cordarrelle Patterson involved in the offense. He handled about three punts with no room to get loose. He was spotted on the punt coverage team doing next to nothing. He was around the ball but he looked more than a little lost. He'll be back in Hawaii.
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