The Pro Bowl came and went this week with barely a ripple in the world of the NFL. Here are the highlights and lowlights as I saw them.
Highlights:
DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles – This kid is all of 21 years old and has a promising career ahead of him. His enthusiasm on and off the field was electrifying. From the opening introductions to his two spectacular TD catches to his unspectacular pass attempt to his impassioned sideline defense of his QB when a McNabb interception was nullified by a defensive penalty, he was all over the place.
Brian Dawkins’ interception of former teammate Donovan McNabb followed by a series of increasingly ill-advised laterals as Dawkins and his AFC teammates had some fun on the field. It was nice to see professional athletes just enjoying the game, if even for a moment.
The lack of penalties – Other than the aforementioned defensive penalty that negated a McNabb interception and the offensive penalty on the same play that negated the negation, there were no penalties to speak of.
Lowlights:
It would be too easy just to write ‘everything else’, although that summarizes things fairly well. But here are a few aspects of the Pro Bowl especially deserving of mention.
The rules – Sure, everybody loves to see some offense, but the defensive players earned a place in the Pro Bowl, too. Hamstringing the defense with a bunch of restrictions isn’t the best way to showcase the crème de la crème of the NFL.
The effort – They may as well change the name to the “Play Not to Get Hurt Bowl”. The defenses of both conferences, partly because the rule changes already discussed, were mostly going through the motions out there while their offensive counterparts ran amok.
The timing – The week before the Super Bowl? The game always has been irrelevant. Trying to tie it in to the Super Bowl hype just fell flat. I’d rather see some kind of non-contact skills contest in the bye week.
The participation – Because of the timing, the top players from the top teams in the NFL could not play. Without Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Drew Brees and the rest of the 1st teamers, the Pro Bowl seemed more like a consolation prize for the also rans.
On the bright side, we’re that much closer to the game that counts next Sunday.
