Yesterday was the Pro Bowl, and I think I write about it every year, and say "this game has run its course" every year. But they keep on playing it, and another year has passed without the kind of injury occurring that will stick a fork in it for good, so I guess they'll keep playing it until it happens.
They make it difficult for players to get hurt. Whistles blow the instant defenders gets within a couple yards of the quarterback or ballcarrier. Players look to run out of bounds on every carry or reception, and tackling is optional. Merely the threat of a possible tackle results in a whistle, or a player sliding gently to the turf. Hence the quotes around "Football," above. And it's understandable, since players, fans, coaches and organizations watch this game largely consumed by dread of some star player or pending free agent getting injured. Right? Surely it's not just me.
Yes, there's some fun in seeing Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliott in the same backfield, or rushing the passer while playing defense, or Jalen Ramsey catching a touchdown pass. None of this should be surprising, we all know they're fantastic athletes who probably played both ways in high school at the very least. But I spend most of my time worrying that one of them will get hit low or fall awkwardly and ruin the first round of next year's fantasy drafts.
Setting aside all that, a couple of things stood out.
Dang Patriots. I know there are Patriots fans out there, and they'll obviously disagree. But watching Tyreek Hill zip around the field on runs and receptions at 100 miles per hour, I felt a lot of regret that we're not getting Kansas City in the Super Bowl. Similar with Patrick Mahomes, who led a couple of scoring drives, tried a no-look pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster that was incomplete (Smith-Schuster wasn't expecting it, natch). Brady's fantastic and some people are making Hall of Fame cases for Julian Edelman this week, but watching those guys in action with their 5-to-10-yard completions over the middle isn't remotely comparable to holding your breath on a potential long completion to Hill or a zig-zag run through traffic. Maybe next year?
Nobody players stepping up. So, who started fullback Anthony Sherman in their daily fantasy league competitions? Anyone? You probably won some money if you did, with Sherman going for 103 total yards and a touchdown. Sherman had 98 total yards all of last season. Was Andy Reid carefully watching and dreaming up ways to work Sherman into the offense more next season? Probably not (if he was watching, it was to make sure his stars didn't get hurt).
Speaking of nobodies, how many people had to drop out of the Pro Bowl for Lamar Miller and Mitchell Trubisky to make it in? You don't have to look it up for me. Bottom line, when the 2nd and 3rd QBs for the NFC are Trubisky and Dak Prescott, that's kind of a problem.
Usually the interviews with players are interesting. They talked to Kansas City pass rusher Dee Ford, who will spend at least the offseason (and perhaps longer) being known for lining up offsides on what could have been the game-sealing interception against the Patriots. They asked him several subtle variations on "How do you feel about blowing the AFC Championship?" which he handled pretty well. I felt bad for him; I suppose he could have been Cody Parkey, who had to see his employers working out new kickers in JANUARY. Speaking of interviews, did even Patriots fans tune into the Tom Brady halftime interview? Geez. I think the last interesting Brady interview happened in about 2011.
Anyway, no one got hurt, a lot of the star players looked like stars, and the broadcast ended with the high comedy of announcer Jason Witten breaking the Pro Bowl trophy in half. I think most of kind of feel the same should happen to the game itself, but we have at least another year of it. Hopefully Anthony Sherman isn't the standout performer again.