Pro Bowl Preview

Does the Pro Bowl really need a preview? Yeah! Sure why not?! The Pro Bowl is like the ultimate “just for fun” football game.  I do hate that they moved it out of Hawaii though. That seemed like it was such a fun trip for players, coaches, and fans to all make.  They have tried to add so much to the pro bowl to make it more exciting.  They had the skills competition, took it away, and then brought it back last year. The competition might be even more exciting to watch than the game. Then they wiped out AFC v.s. NFC and made it draft style, just to bring it back to AFC v.s. NFC. Everyone knows that nobody wants to get hurt, and nobody is really going to try.  Most of the fun players sit it out, and I don’t think we’ve seen a Patriot play in it for the last five years. But hey, its the pro bowl.

It’s clear that generally, the NFC has way more talented QB’s than the AFC this season. When trying to figure out who would replace Brady, Roethlisberger and Rivers are already in, and then there’s Alex Smith. After that, there was a considerable drop off in talent this season, and they ultimately went with Derek Carr. Good QB, not a Pro Bowl season. And its a shame, because their running backs are so talented, but nobody wants to watch running plays in the pro bowl. The real question will be: How many pumps does Antonio Brown get when he scores? And will he get fined?

Another fun aspect is to see how some of these top receivers and cornerbacks play against eachother. A lot of time it isn’t very serious, but Larry Fitzgerald v.s. the young and talented A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey? AB v.s. Pat Peterson? Xavier Rhodes v.s. anybody? I wish I could say the same about the pass rushers, but there really isn’t much pass rushing aloud. I just look forward to all the trick plays so I can break one out in my flag league.

The uniforms have been changing ever so often last year, and personally I’ve never been a fan of the neon colors they’ve used in the past. They went back to red and blue, but still slid in the neon last year. This year it is a much cleaner look, with faded colors for numbers. Definitely more appealing to the eye, but I do muss when they had stars all over the uniforms. I hope they let the players get creative with their equipment again too, like when Josh Gordon wore a chrome/orange visor. Score prediction? Does it matter? 52-48 NFC.

Written By: Jake Kobierski (@TheRealKobe83)