The NFL has finally stopped pretending that its All-Star Game is actually a game. And he has decided to inject some liveliness into today’s exhibition.Pro Bowl Games
Welcome to the Pro Bowl Games. There will be no American football takedowns – not that there were many before when players rather placed a pair of hands on their opponents for fear of hurting them. A flag football game will be the main event.
Will this format work differently? The league is desperately betting that it does.
More than a match between stars where the winning team takes everything there will be a series of events, each of which allows to accumulate three points. Then, there will be three flag football contests to determine which conference wins.
Two players from the American Conference are not so convinced of the format. Running back Josh Jacobs even called him “stupid.”
“They need to come up with a way to make sense of actually because I don’t enjoy this,” said Jacobs of the Raiders hosts. “Send everyone’s family on vacation and say this is over.”
Defensive end Maxx Crosby, another Las Vegas player, was one of the few who treated last year’s Pro Bowl as a real game. He had two sacks and three takedowns for loss of yards, in addition to diverting three passes.
He took the Most Valuable Player honors defensively, and the American Conference won 41-35 over the National Conference.
It’s just about being with the other guys,” Crosby said. “The Pro Bowl is a blessing and a dream come true. I don’t see it as something insignificant… We’ll see what happens next year. I hope we can play some football.”
Two National Conference players gave favorable opinions.
“I think the format is nice because it’s less demanding on the body,” Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander said. “A lot of guys finished the campaign injured. They come here and run around with some flags. Who wouldn’t like that?”
“It’s fun,” New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley said. “For a guy like me, it’s special to participate in a flag football game and the talent challenge. I’m competitive. This makes me feel like a kid again AND hopefully, I will draw smiles on the faces of fans and children.”
