But, it gives guys like Chris Johnson (who just had a great run), Darrelle Revis, and Adrian Peterson a chance to show how much better they are than everyone else. The rules are changed, the defense is kind of handicapped, but no one wants to look like an idiot even if no one cares about the final score. You're still getting about an 80% effort from some of the best players in the league, so that's better than a 100% effort from any random group of guys on an NFL team.
I think that moving the game to the week before the Super Bowl will actually help it in the long term, even if no one's watching tonight. They made it at a bad time and people are still adjusting to the fact that it's not the week after the Super Bowl, but, ultimately, it all comes down to the product on the field. This game will serve as a nice primer for the Super Bowl and gives everyone a chance to watch some actual football while they're waiting for the game they really want to see.
And, since there's a ton of substitutions, it gives a lot of guys the opportunity to play in the game. Since it's their first shot -- 30 guys in the line-up tonight are playing in their first Pro Bowl -- they'll play harder, because they want everyone in the league, the fans, and their front office to take notice of what they can do against the best the league has to offer. In previous years, the game was usually a letdown after the Super Bowl, especially since so many recent Super Bowls have been such great games. Fans were expecting something of that level and the Pro Bowl ultimately was a disappointment.
That's why this needs to be a good, close game with lots of big plays and excitement. If people who didn't watch the game hear the re-caps and find out what they missed, they'll tune in next year. The NFL has enough money in the bank to shuffle the deck just so they have something to do with their hands.
As always, the compelling story lines, competition, and excitement of the game is on the shoulders of the players. If they deliver, this will be a good move. If they don't, it won't. I'm sure that Honolulu will take the NFL back if they come calling, so this was a calculated risk by Kaiser Goodell. And I think it pays off, because the players will make sure that the product on the field is high quality.
A few thoughts from the Championship games:
- Wow. I did not think the Colts had it in them to put a 30-spot on the Jets. That's the best defense of 2009 and Indianapolis shredded them for 500 total yards. They're a tough, dangerous team.
- Everyone seems surprised that Brett Favre through a crazy, across-his-body, across-the-formation pass that got intercepted. Hey, that's how he rolls. In 2003, he would've had enough to complete that pass. That's the issue with old quarterbacks. The mind is still nimble, but the body is weak. That's why you don't see a lot of 40 year old quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. At some point, when you make a throw that your arm can't cash, it catches up with you. And it caught up with Favre. He was a crazy, talented, egotistical quarterback when the Vikings signed him and he was a crazy, talented, egotistical quarterback in the Championship game. Minnesota knew he was a snake when they took him in, so why were they surprised when it bit them? He had a tremendous season and brought them within one game of the Super Bowl, but he can only take them so far.
- The Saints lucked out. They need to play much sharper to beat the Colts.
- The line on the Super Bowl opened at 4. It's now at 5.5. That's not a good sign for New Orleans.
- But, the Saints are a very talented and explosive team. They have a higher ceiling than the Colts, but a lower floor. If they come out hot, they can pull off an upset. They just need to take advantage of their immense potential.
A few thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. David Garrard and Vince Young should never be close to the Pro Bowl, and the fact that they played so much in it devalued the game as a whole.
2. The defense essentially doesn't play. That's ok, because the worst thing that could happen is for one of the best players in the league to get hurt in a meaningless game. It also is fun to see high scoring games, even if it's like playing Madden on easy.
3. It is great to see the best players play with each other. But there should be some sort of asterisk system for the real best players in the league so people won't get confused and think David Garrard was a real pro-bowl caliber player (do they already do that and call them all pros?)
4. Despite that one poor throw, Favre actually had a decent game. If the rest of his team didn't crumble and give up 37 fumbles, the Vikings would have won -- they deserved to win.
5. Favre never should have been put in that position anyway -- why the hell on the most important play of the season, where they really only needed to pick up 3-5 yards if any, did they send too many players on the field? That was just a dumb penalty at the worst time to take one, and that really cost them the game, not Favre trying to stretch a bad bootleg. That and 2 fumbles inside the 10 yard line.
I had no favorite in that game, but as it went on, I really started pulling for Favre, especially b/c the Vikings were controlling the game. It's a shame he couldn't have gone out on top.