2012 Pro Bowl Preview

Two rookie quarterbacks will be on their conferences’ rosters tomorrow in Hawaii. Neither was selected to the Pro Bowl when the initial rosters were announced. The lone rookie who was initially selected, Robert Griffin III, will not participate due to knee surgery after the season ended.

Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson will serve on their teams as alternates after several quarterbacks pulled out of the post-season all-star game. For the NFC team, Drew Brees replaces RG3 while Eli Manning is replacing Aaron Rodgers and Wilson is replacing Matt Ryan.

For the AFC, the only change is that Andrew Luck will replace Tom Brady, who pulled out due to an unspecified injury, probably to his ego.

For the 33^rd time, Hawaii is the location for the NFL’s all-star game. It’s a good way to end the season for the league’s best players whose teams didn’t do so hot, or fell just short of every team’s ultimate goal.

The Pro Bowl, however, is in danger of termination. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has stressed that if the game’s level of play is not significantly higher this year, the game will be cut from the league’s schedule.

Most fans are perfectly fine with this. I mean, who even watched the Pro Bowl? I will tomorrow, but the last time I watched and entire Pro Bowl from start to finish was probably four or five years ago, and that was the only complete Pro Bowl I’ve watched. It’s typically a boring game and the most interesting part is the mismatched helmets.

But the Pro Bowl is important, if only for being a way to recognize the best talent the NFL has to offer. Whether they change the setup to purely a skills competition or do something else with the format, the annual trip to Hawaii is a well-deserved treat for the best players in the NFL. They have worked their butts off all season to try and help their teams win and to provide their fans with something to cheer for even as their teams struggled.

Peyton Manning delivered a speech on the first day the players arrived in Hawaii, poking fun at himself and other players, but also very seriously imploring his peers on both the AFC and NFC squads to put their best foot forward this week. He doesn’t want to ruin this treat for future generations of NFL stars.

Monday I will recap the Pro Bowl. Tuesday marks the start of my Super Bowl XLVII coverage. Keep up with new posts by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.