In Defense of the Pro Bowl

Championship Sunday was last weekend, but the Super Bowl is still not for another nine days. For the first Sunday since September, we will have to try to find a way to get through the weekend without football. I suppose that the NHL and NBA are in full swing, and if you’re the type of person who has friends you can probably spend some time with them.

Or, if you’re like me, you can watch the Pro Bowl. Because while there may not be any football on this weekend, you can find something that bears a passing resemblance. The Pro Bowl has gotten a lot of heat in recent years, and calls for it to be abolished are only growing louder with each additional season. There is some justification behind that. Many players don’t want to risk injury and choose not to attend, and those that do play take things as easy as possible. Defense is optional, tackling is frowned upon, and the two lines seem to compete to see who can give the least effort possible.

But I’m not here to write about that. We’ve all heard those arguments, and we’ve all come to accept them. And while I agree that many of these points are valid, I find myself defending the Pro Bowl’s existence. Because even though it isn’t football, it is still a reasonably fun way to kill a few hours on a Sunday night.

The NFL has instituted a number of changes this year in an effort to make the game more entertaining, and it will be interesting to see how they pan out. This season instead of dividing based on conferences the teams were selected by a pair of captains picking one after the other to put together their rosters. In case you were at all curious, here are the rosters for Sunday’s game. 

There are a number of intriguing angles we could take from these rosters, the best being rarely seen matchups of teammates playing against each other. Patrick Peterson and Larry Fitzgerald could match up head to head. Jordan Gross and Ryan Kalil will have to find some way to slow down the nightmarish creature that is Greg Hardy. Who doesn’t want to see if Robert Mathis will have the nerve to sack Andrew Luck?

The other rule changes haven’t gotten as much attention, but they could prove just as interesting. One in particular is a disastrous idea—the elimination of kickoffs—that we can only hope won’t find its way into real games (it probably will within the next ten years.) Some are minor timing issues, such as starting the clock after an incomplete pass or shortening the play clock. Another minor rule change that most won’t notice is the allowance of press coverage and Cover-2, schemes that were previously banned from the Pro Bowl.

But they have made one major change that should affect the way this game is played in a positive manner. Each quarter will begin with the ball changing hands, as it does following halftime in a normal game. Timing in the final two minutes of the first and third quarters will now be the same as at the end of the second and fourth, a two minute warning after which all out of bounds plays stop the clock. The idea behind this is to create two new opportunities for the teams to run their two minute offenses, probably the most exciting part of the game of football.

All these rule changes could help make the game more interesting, but they don’t have anything to do with the most significant draw of the Pro Bowl. Because this game is meaningless, this is the one chance a year we get to watch these players simply go out onto a football field and have fun. Every other game they have to take seriously, but with the Pro Bowl no one cares whether they win or lose. Under no pressure, these players are allowed to attempt things they would normally never consider.

Check out this play from 2011. In it you can see examples of everything that is wrong with the Pro Bowl. The defensive line doesn’t bother rushing so the offensive line doesn’t try to block. The defenders make next to no effort trying to actually bring the ball carrier to the ground. In every way this play is a disgrace to the sport of football, until the very end.

Yes, that is Cleveland center Alex Mack taking the lateral, heroically sprinting down the field, and diving into the endzone. As a former center (who actually did score a touchdown in his nine year football career) this warms my heart. In the normal game he would never have the football with a chance to run, and if he ever did he would search out the quickest way to get on the ground. But the Pro Bowl is not a normal game, and it allowed him his moment of glory.

Or take for example this next play by Phil Dawson from last season’s Pro Bowl. As a kicker, you know he spends most of his time in practice attempting ridiculous maneuvers like this, but no sane coach would ever let him try it in a regular game. Sure it was an abysmal failure, only going seven yards, but it was a lighthearted moment that showed a professional football player experimenting with his craft.

Another great moment from last season’s game: Jeff Saturday switching teams to give one final snap to his long time quarterback Peyton Manning. Both had moved on to new teams, but both will always be remembered for the long years spent together in Indianapolis. It was fitting that Saturday’s career ended how it began, snapping the ball to Manning. It didn’t matter that this was against the rules of the game, that the invitation of Saturday to the event was a joke in and of itself. It was just a neat moment that football fans everywhere appreciated.

Or how about this from last year. Who among us hasn’t wondered who would win a jump ball between Jason Pierre-Paul and JJ Watt, two of the premier young athletes in the league? Well we finally got our chance to see.

And the answer was Jason Pierre-Paul. Apparently the ability to win a jump ball has no relevance to actual ability to play defensive end.

Let’s go back to 2011 one last time. Take a look at the picture below and tell me what you see. Just a regular old touchdown by Larry Fitzgerald against a blown coverage, right? Well look closer and tell me who that is in coverage. That’s right, the AFC team decided to give wide receiver Antonio Brown a chance to cover one of the best receivers in the NFL, and it was an utter disaster. It just goes to show you that there is so much more than athleticism involved in being a successful player in the league.

The Pro Bowl isn’t real football. I think we can all agree on that. But even though it isn’t football of the same quality we expect to see on Super Bowl Sunday, there are plenty of ways to still enjoy the game. If you have the time to kill and you have the stomach to stand up to the mockery of your friends, sit down and watch the Pro Bowl this Sunday. Look past the invisible pass rush, look past the poor tackling, look past the nonexistent coverage. And just enjoy the rare spectacle placed before you for what it is.