I made it through watching almost the full first half of the NFL’s Pro Bowl this year, which is an improvement upon last year’s viewing. I made a point to give the new format of the game a chance and committed myself to paying attention to the so-called “improvements” the league claimed it had made. I mean, what else would fulfill my football needs during the break before the Super Bowl?
This time around I had much more hope for the entertainment value of the Pro Bowl, especially because the NFL very wisely combined the personalities of greats Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders with the unconventional drafting style of Fantasy Football. Giving these legends the opportunity to draft from a master list of Pro Bowl selectees, regardless of whether they play for the AFC or the NFC, brought with it the possibility of teammates competing against each other.
Before the game, though, I worried that forcing teammates to compete would only lessen the pace and intensity even more so than in previous years. The reason for the lack of effort and intensity in the Pro Bowl in years past is mainly blamed on the fact that players either don’t want to get hurt or don’t want to hurt fellow competitors in a game that has zero significance outside of the handsome monetary rewards for both winners and losers. This is an obvious and reasonable concern since football players are the most likely to be injured in a game over any other major sport played in the United States. I don’t think there has ever been a football game that I have watched where at least one player hasn’t gone down with an injury. Whether those injuries are serious or not is beside the point. What really matters to these players is their future performance and if getting hurt in a Pro Bowl game will affect their future salary or chances of winning a Super Bowl, why risk it?
This problem of soft play was all too apparent in the 2012 Pro Bowl game when players would give up on plays early and barely make an effort to run someone down or even block for their own team. After this embarrassing performance, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell threatened to get rid of the Pro Bowl unless the level of competition significantly improved. To many people, this sounded like the right call and even applauded this plan of action. At the time I hoped that Goodell was simply tossing out a threat in order to force the game to improve and after a better showing in 2013, it was visible that the players were taking the game more seriously and putting more effort into the plays they were involved in. For me, it wasn’t enough to actually make the game entertaining. After watching a whole season of guys putting themselves on the line physically and sacrificing everything they can in order to get a win each week, no Pro Bowl will ever match the excitement of a true league game. Sure those games don’t have stacked rosters on each side, but the most amazing plays in sports are the ones that cannot be expected and occur when a player is putting his all into his craft.
My biggest complaint with past Pro Bowls has definitely been with the lack of big hits. Yes, offensive grabs and runs can be impressive, but my favorite aspect of football is defense. Linebackers are huge for a reason and that reason is so that they can bring guys to the ground. There is nothing better than seeing a running back or slot receiver get lit up by a linebacker. When you take big hits out of football, it’s not really football anymore. The crux of football is that the players use all of their physical might to compete with the other team. When that objective no longer exists, they might as well just put on some flags and stop teasing us with high school level tackles and blocks.
This year’s Pro Bowl definitely had a couple big hits that really surprised me, mainly because the two seemingly biggest hits of the game were teammate-on-teammate. In the first half, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson, who would be named defensive MVP for Rice’s team, laid a helmet-to-helmet punisher on teammate Jamaal Charles, who had to leave the playoff loss to the Colts with a concussion just a couple weeks ago. Later in the half, defensive back T.J. Ward of the Cleveland Browns hit teammate Josh Gordon mid-thigh, causing him to do a full flip in the air before crashing back down. I can only imagine the horror on the faces of the head coaches for these two teams.
With the 22-21 final score going in favor of Team Rice, the game ultimately seemed, yet again, pretty lackluster, despite improvements from previous years. But, the NFL is stuck with the Pro Bowl because they have not come up with a better way to make money the weekend before the Super Bowl. Suggestions like having players switch positions or play on the opposite side of the ball from their usual offensive or defensive specialty are a stretch. Having players in unfamiliar positions performing unfamiliar plays and tackles is a recipe for injury. Just imagine a wide receiver being rushed by a quarterback while throwing to a lineman. Also, this wouldn’t improve the intensity of play since players having their weakness exposed would be less willing to give it their all or even participate.
So the Pro Bowl appears to survive being cut year by year for lack of a better alternative. It’s not a detriment to the NFL and many players and fans still do enjoy it, but without some kind of skills competition or player showcase, it rarely keeps my attention for more than a half or so. If only they could create some kind of football equivalent to the NBA’s dunk competition or the MLB’s Home Run Derby. Maybe the NFL should haul a basketball hoop out to a court at midfield and see what some of these wide receivers and cornerbacks can do with a basketball. I know I’d like to find out.
