Man, am I the only one who is sick of American Idol winners taking over everything on the green earth? The American Idol eight winner, Kris Allen, sang the National Anthem at the Hawaii based Pro Bowl this year. Yawn! I’m so sick of them, but I love Ray Lewis. I wish he had played since his rookie year for the Oakland Raiders. Who is the Baltimore Ravens owner? I don’t know, but I know Ray Lewis plays middle linebacker for them.
Is it me, or is it ironic that Michael Vick started the Pro Bowl for the NFC at quarterback with four Atlanta Falcons on the field with him? Halfback Michael Turner, wide receiver Roddie White, tight end Tony Gonzales, and fullback Ovie Mughelli would take the field with Vick, the former dog fighting NFL MVP candidate.
On the other side of the ball, Phillip Rivers, the Oakland Raiders divisional rival from the San Diego Chargers, would prove just how pointless his leadership skills are by throwing two interceptions in the AFC’s first three possessions. On their first possession, however, the AFC team would go for it and not make it on fourth and two. Rivers would be replaced by Peyton Manning, who was in turn replaced by Matt Cassell before the end of the first half. But Rivers would take the field again to start the third quarter and throw two touchdown passes, one to Reggie Wayne and one to Mercedes Lewis.
Raiders’ tight end, Zach Miller had two things working against him in this game, one was Bill Belichick being the head coach for the AFC, and the other was being thrown at by mainly Phillip Rivers. Neither of these figureheads had any intention of making a Raiders’ tight end look good on this day. Miller would be used on mostly blocking situations for the AFC. Most notably on the AFC’s first touchdown drive, during which Patriots Junior (Kansas City Chiefs) running back Jamaal Charles would have five carries for 57 yards and score on an off tackle run behind the blocking of Zach Miller.
But the first four scores in this game would come from the AFC, the first of which came from the aforementioned Mughelli on a FB handoff inside the five yard line, the second by Adrian Peterson on a draw play. The third touchdown followed a Peyton Manning interception by Falcons’ cornerback Brent Grimes resulting in a 21-0 lead. Then, a Wes Welker fumble was recovered by former Raiders cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who returned it for a touchdown. That capped an eight play series for the AFC which resulted in three turnovers. The AFC’s first punt came with 9:33 in the second quarter, which went a Shane Lechler pathetic 36-yards to the NFC 44-yard line.
Following the Lechler “punt” – if you can even all it that – the NFC would take a 35-0 lead on a touchdown pass from Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan’s drop in to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The AFC was clearly missing Nnamdi Asomugha’s presence at this point in the game.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassell made his debut with 7:01 left in the second quarter. His first throw was intercepted by Minnesota Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield, leaving me to ponder if Raiders’ quarterback Jason Campbell is actually the best quarterback in the AFC West, though he was not a representative of the AFC team.
Following the Cassell interception, Steven Jackson would punch in another NFC touchdown, making it 42-0 in favor of the NFC. The bad part about it was that it was not even halftime yet. At this point, I got bored and took a nap. Clearly, the NFC is the dominant division, and it was about this point in the game that my wife asked me why the AFC even had a representative in the Super Bowl.
The AFC tried to make a triumphant comeback in the second half, and got the score within reach at 45-28 at one point. But it was David Akers putting the game away with a career high mark of 51 points scored in his fifth Pro Bowl appearance, making the game unreachable at 48-28 with 4:06 left to play in the game.
Following the second consecutive Akers field goal, Matt Cassel would confirm my belief that Jason Campbell was elite with another interception, this time in the direction of Carolina Panthers linebacker, John Beason, resulting in another NFC touchdown with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter. The NFC took the lead, 55-28.
Jaguars’ special teamer, Montrell Owens, would end up with a final touchdown catch for the AFC from Matt Cassell. It would be Owens’ second touchdown after recovering a muffed kickoff reverse from Devin Hester to DeAngelo Hall. Hall was named the game’s most valuable player. Apparently, Hall is talented or something. And Zach Miller still had no catches. It must be just me.
Final score, NFC 55, AFC 35. See you in February.
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