Can the NFL save the Pro Bowl?

[meatface]

Yes the Pro Bowl, somehow still around even though its not in Hawaii anymore. The players obviously don't care about playing in at that much as somehow Andy Dalton is playing in the game; ANDY DALTON, he of 19 TD and 17 INT this season and was the 7th alternate. Who would have played if Dalton didn't is probably the scarier question and one that I really don't want to dwell on. The reason nobody goes is that the Players are banged up and they don't want to get hurt playing this joke of a game; its not unique to the NFL in anyway, in the NHL Sidney Crosby is one of the many players who has dropped out of Saturdays All-star game. Obviously the Pro Bowl has been even less of a thought for patriots fans as we are usually playing in the Super Bowl so Pats players don't even get the chance to play.
The NFL has decided to implement some new rules for the Pro Bowl so they will have smaller goal posts, longer extra points and for some reason more time outs. Obviously we also have the captains format now instead of the NFC vs AFC one with Teams Irvin and Carter this time. The NFL keeps trying to do things to make this game interesting, for some reason Frank Caliendo is going to be in the booth ad its obvious the NFL really wants to make this thing work. My real question is what could they possibly do to make this game interesting? This gimmick stuff really hasn't appealed to people and it just makes this game seem more and more like a joke, obviously this would work better if some of the star players would actually play but as of now there is no incentive for these guys to do so. What can the NFL do to make this be a game that anyone cares about?

 

[nabwong]

Nothing. They cannot do anything to make this game interesting. I would be more interested in a skills competition or the lingerie bowl,

 

[Hammer of Thor]

There's a Pro Bowl now? I thought the air pressure in footballs is the only thing that matters.

 

[Haley]

I've always thought they should replace the Pro Bowl with the Toilet Bowl, where they could have the 2 worst teams play for the #1 draft pick slot in a muddy field. Epic. Win.

 

[cardiak]

Only way to make anything like this interesting is to give an incentive. Give each player on the winning team $1,000,000 and the losing team players get $50,000 each. Trust me a million on the line in a game..... They will play for real

 

[SalemPats]

It's an all-star game that has no impact and never has. It is what it is a fun game where you can see Andrew Luck throw the ball to AJ Green and so and so forth.

 

[Deus Irae]

Can the NFL save the Pro Bowl?

I sure hope not.

 

[woolster22]

Having it the week before the super bowl, and moving it out of Hawaii has killed any interest in the top players, and often precludes many from attending based on playing in the super bowl.

Without the top players, who cares? The Jack ass, Oregon duckesque, gimmick jerseys simply promote the lunacy of these idiotic "teams." Once again, they took something and shat all over every conceivable aspect of it. Third tier players, literally no meaning to the game, stupid rules and **** announcers...
Sign me up Rog! In definitely going to drop everything and sit down and drool all over myself while some hack "comedian" tries to convince me Andy ****ing Dalton is not only a decent quarterback, but a ProBowl caliber quarterback.

 

[meatface]

Only way to make anything like this interesting is to give an incentive. Give each player on the winning team $1,000,000 and the losing team players get $50,000 each. Trust me a million on the line in a game..... They will play for real

yeah but I dont think the NFL would make money in that arangment

 

[cardiak]

They would make plenty of money if they turned it into a real game that people would watch before the Super Bowl. Nobody watches it now since it's a joke but you turn that into a real game with some great matchups with players actually playing defense and a ton of people would tune in...

 

[Baboon]

I'd rather see a skills competition too.

Maybe a new skill category: A ball squeezing contest. Gather up all the patriot hating players, sports writers and espn goons, and have them guess the air pressure of a variety of pressurized balls. The one that gets the most correct gets a crown with a set of balls resting on their forehead, the losers get a kick to the balls.

 

[meatface]

It's an all-star game that has no impact and never has. It is what it is a fun game where you can see Andrew Luck throw the ball to AJ Green and so and so forth.

I think im just really annoyed that Andy Dalton is in this game. This game is supposed to be fun, maybe they should only be able to play with four O-lineman and have to play at least one defensive player on offense

 

[Guts]

At this point I wonder if they can save the superbowl

 

[NYCPatsFan]

I wish the Pats pro-bowlers announce a deflating illness that prevents them from joining it.

 

[tasmlab]

Move it to Father's Day.

By the time June comes around, I'm so missing football that it would be satisfying enough just watching NFL players play-act a meaningless game.

Plus then I could ignore my kids properly for three hours.

I could see it being replaced with an awards ceremony, like the Oscars. Come up with a dozen award categories, have player presenters (active, retired) and show lots of highlight real. It would still function to honor the best players, something the pro-bowl itself doesn't seem to do (reference the Andy Dalton mention in the OP)

 

[dales804]

I was just talking about the Pro Bowl with someone. It's so boring. I never watch it or care to. It doesn't mean anything. They should just do away with it. At least when it was AFC vs NFC some fans might have had a rooting interest but now it's just "drafted" teams by some past players. Who cares? Maybe some do but certainly not me.

 

[pheenix11]

I've always thought they should replace the Pro Bowl with the Toilet Bowl, where they could have the 2 worst teams play for the #1 draft pick slot in a muddy field. Epic. Win.

The new Winter Classic! Love it!

 

[Tunescribe]

The Pro Bowl has devolved into a clown show. This fantasy football version they're doing is nonsense. Just have an awards show and skills competition and be done with it.

 

[GaryfromTO]

In a word NO. But they have taken steps to ensure it has become a more meaningless and irrelevant game than it previously was.
First off, who do you root for? Previously you had the AFC vs the NFC so if you're team was in the AFC you would generally be cheering for them. But now, well does anyone give a flying rats ass whether team Carter beats team Irvine?
Secondly the game was previously played one week after the Super Bowl, SO you might actually be seeing players from the Super Bowl squads playing in the Pro Bowl. But now, they sandwich this game in the 'off' weekend leading up to the Super Bowl and no Super Bowl team is going to risk injury to any of their players by letting them participate in the Pro Bowl

So they have managed to make a crappy meaningless football game even crappier .

 

[varjao]

Make it a prisoners game with freedom at stake, of course teams should be formed with ethnical and racial components, It could be a tournament between 4 teams, black, nazis, latino and mid east terrorists.