The AFC defeated the
NFC, 26-7, in the 2019 Pro Bowl on a rain-soaked Sunday at Camping World
Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Here's what we learned from the annual all-star
showcase:
1. Patrick Mahomes knows
we're marveling at what he's doing on a weekly basis. The AFC starter moved the
team down the field with ease on its opening drive and went for more social
media traffic by attempting a no-look pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The pass glanced off Smith-Schuster's hands, which haven't received enough
passes from Mahomes to expect such a feat -- or if you're old school, such
nonsense.
2. Coaches like to have fun in this game, as evidenced
by Ezekiel Elliott
running a read option with Saquon Barkley.
That begs the question: Is there a running back duo that could do that in an
actual game? The pseudo-QB running back would have to have a decent arm, or
else it would get blown up in the backfield, so our pool shrinks. It probably
wouldn't happen. Then again, neither would Elliott and Barkley rushing the
passer, which also happened in the third quarter. Mike Evans played
defensive back later, too, recording an interception. Other offensive players
joined in on the side-switching fun, and Melvin Ingram came this close
to scoring a rushing touchdown. The capper: Jalen Ramsey caught
a touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson with
0:19 left to cap the dominant day for the AFC. Where better than the Pro Bowl?
3. The word of the day: drops. Jarvis Landry dropped
a pass over the middle that would've gone for a touchdown. Amari Cooper separated
from Chris Harris Jr.
and was in perfect position for an over-the-shoulder catch of a pass from Cowboys teammate Dak Prescott. It
bounced off his facemask. There were more, and the rain can be blamed for some
of it, but in an all-star game, we expect the all-stars to make all-star plays
-- or at least the more frequent ones.
4. When Jamal Adams sacked
Mitch Trubisky on an ill-fated flea-flicker attempt, he celebrated the
then-challenged result by running off the field with his helmet in the air. I
asked myself that interception would secure a Pro Bowl Defensive MVP for him.
Minutes later, he intercepted a pass thrown into the gray sky by usual
receiver Adam Thielen,
securing the honor. Adams comes away with the award after doing a little bit of
everything this week -- including tackling a mascot -- while the offensive MVP
predictably goes to Mahomes.
5. Sunday's honorable mention award goes to the sound of
steady precipitation, which made a consistently audible microphone pop that
sounded similar to a plate of leftovers on the verge of exploding inside a
microwave. The towel used to clean up that metaphorical explosion could have been
useful to wipe off some of the camera lenses that featured water droplets
distorting some of the game's images. But in all, the production crew and
everyone involved deserves a lot of credit for toughing out some uncomfortable
conditions to bring the world an exhibition game filled with most of football's
stars.
6. With less than 10 minutes to play, we were facing the
threat of a shutout in the Pro Bowl for
the first time in the game's long history. Prescott helped us avoid such
disaster by tossing a touchdown to Falcons tight
end Austin Hooper before
we reached the nine-minute mark. This definitely wasn't the most, um,
explosive Pro Bowl we've
ever seen.
7. Mic'ing up players was a nice touch. Hearing Andrew Luck call
plays and tell his receivers he wants a thumbs up before the snap if the corner
route will be open was a great look inside the game that we typically don't
receive. The rainfall was a downer on the audio, but the intent was nice, and
really only possible in a game like this.
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