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The 2011 Pro Bowl kicks of Sunday evening in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since no Pittsburgh Steelers will be present, you are not mandated to watch this circus-like event. Watch at your own risk!
Philip Rivers and the AFC will take on Michael Vick and the NFC in the 2011 Pro Bowl on Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. The game will be broadcast on FOX.
The Steelers, naturally, won’t play in the Pro Bowl, since they’re playing in the Super Bowl. You can check this storystream for full Pro Bowl rosters. The starters are listed here. The AFC has been working harder than the NFC in preparation for this one, and of course it would be nice to see the Steelers’ conference win. (Brandon Lloyd, in particular, apparently wants to win badly.) But as Jeff says below, there won’t be a ton of hard-hitting football here, since no one wants to get hurt in what is essentially an exhibition game, and the Steelers aren’t involved. So feel free to sit this one out, if you like. The most likely headline is Rivers trash-talking Jay Cutler some more.
You can check out the Pro Bowl program here.
The media circus that is the NFL Pro Bowl returns to Hawaii this year, after a brief fling with Miami in 2010. With the Steelers deep in preparation for Super Bowl XLV, Pittsburgh fans don't have much of a rooting interest in individual players. It's nice to see your conference win events like this, but at the end of the day, the Pro Bowl is more about the atmosphere surrounding the game than the game itself.
The game is a watered down, vanilla version of football, so don't expect any strong defensive showings. The event is more about who said/wore/did what than anything else. It gives players and coaches like Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco, Jay Cutler, Joey Porter, and Rex Ryan an outlet to further vent their feelings and frustrations about the past season. That is if any of those notorious loud mouths had made the Pro Bowl.
As for the game itself, your conference rosters are as follows:
| AFC | POS | NFC |
| OFFENSE | ||
| Philip Rivers | QB | Michael Vick |
| Arian Foster | RB | Michael Turner |
| Vonta Leach | FB | Ovie Mughelli |
| Reggie Wayne | WR | Roddy White |
| Brandon Lloyd | WR | Calvin Johnson |
| Marcedes Lewis | TE | Jason Witten |
| Joe Thomas | OT | Jordan Gross |
| D'Brickashaw Ferguson | OT | Tyson Clabo |
| Kris Dielman | OG | Jahri Evans |
| Logan Mankins | OG | Chris Snee |
| Jeff Saturday | C | Andre Gurode |
| DEFENSE | ||
| Robert Mathis | DE | Julius Peppers |
| Jason Babin | DE | John Abraham |
| Haloti Ngata | DT | Jay Ratliff |
| Vince Wilfork | DT | Justin Smith |
| Cameron Wake | OLB | DeMarcus Ware |
| Terrell Suggs | OLB | Brian Orakpo |
| Ray Lewis | ILB | Jonathan Vilma |
| Darrelle Revis | CB | DeAngelo Hall |
| Devin McCourty | CB | Brent Grimes |
| Brandon Meriweather | FS | Antrel Rolle |
| Eric Berry | SS | Adrian Wilson |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||
| Shane Lechler | P | Mat McBriar |
| Billy Cundiff | K | David Akers |
| Marc Mariani | KR | Devin Hester |
| Montell Owens | ST | Eric Weems |
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Photographs by
dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.
2011 Pro Bowl: NFC Dominates First Half, Wins By Score Of 55-41
The NFC defeated the AFC in the Pro Bowl Sunday night, 55-41. The NFC dominated the first half, running up a 42-0 score thanks in part to a turnover on downs and several interceptions by the AFC. Ovie Mughelli, Adrian Peterson, Tony Gonzalez, DeAngelo Hall (on a fumble return), Larry Fitzgerald and Steven Jackson all scored touchdowns in the first half for the NFC. The AFC added a score shortly before the end of the first half as Matt Cassel completed a drive by giving the ball only to players from his own team (Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe).
The AFC got back into the game, such as it was, in the third quarter, with touchdowns by Reggie Wayne, Montell Owens (on a fumble return), and Marcedes Lewis. Jon Beason scored for the NFC in the fourth quarter on an interception return, but Owens scored again for the AFC. The scoring concluded with a rather absurd play in which there were a couple of laterals and Browns offensive lineman Alex Mack wound up with the ball and charged into the end zone.
Like most Pro Bowls, it wasn’t very good football, and I’m not sure why I watched any of it, but I did.
Jan 30 10:47p by Charlie Wilmoth - 0 comments