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.

Pro Bowl Back in Hawaii

For the first time since 1979, the Pro Bowl was not played in Hawaii last year. Instead, it was moved to Florida. In all likelihood, the Pro Bowl will no longer be played in Hawaii yearly, but rather every other year, or else once ever few years it will be played outside of Honolulu.

This year, however, it is back where it should be, at least in my mind and in the minds of many in my generation. Now, I don’t particularly care too much about the Pro Bowl. The only reason I’ve ever watched was because the red and blue jerseys with different helmets for each player just look cool. I’ve never watched an entire Pro Bowl, and I won’t tomorrow either. However, this is a special treat for the players who have stood out during the 2010 season, and so I’m going to put up a short post honoring them.

In the cases of most of the players, there is no surprise that they will be playing tomorrow. However, there are a few players who were not expecting to be in Hawaii and are now on the All-Star teams for various reasons, most notably in place of those competing in Super Bowl XLV next weekend. This is not a complete list of replacement players, but the following is a list of the 13 replacements named after the Conference Championship games were completed.

1. Safety – Eric Berry, Chiefs (Troy Polamalu, Steelers)
2. Safety – Roman Harper, Saints (Nick Collins, Packers)
3. Cornerback – Antoine Winfield, Vikings (Tramon Williams, Packers)
4. Cornerback – Brent Grimes, Falcons (Charles Woodson, Packers)
5. Linebacker – Tamba Hali, Chiefs (James Harrison, Steelers)
6. Linebacker – Jon Beason, Panthers (Lance Briggs, Bears (injury))
7. Linebacker – London Fletcher, Redskins (Brian Urlacher, Bears (injury))
8. Linebacker – Brian Orakpo, Redskins (Clay Matthews, Packers)
9. Defensive End – Randy Starks, Dolphins (Brett Keisel, Steelers)
10. Center – Alex Mack, Browns (Nick Mangold, Jets (injury))
11. Center – Jeff Saturday, Colts (Maurkice Pouncey, Steelers (Super Bowl & injury))
12. Offensive Tackle – Donald Penn, Buccaneers (Chad Clifton, Packers)
13. Wide Receiver – Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals (Greg Jennings, Packers)

If you are interested in a detailed roster, you can visit nfl.com. The link to the exact page is at the end of this post. The roster on that page is a detailed one. It has the entire list of players by position, by team (regular season, not AFC/NFC), and which players are not participating and for what reason. When you see that Brady is not on the list, remember that he just had foot surgery on Thursday.

One more note: since the Pro Bowl became NFC/AFC in 1971 (previously it had been East/West), the series is tied between the two conferences, 20-20. The NFC took the lead in the 1979 game and held the series lead until the AFC battled back and tied it in the 2002 Pro Bowl. The winner of tomorrow’s game has bragging rights on the line.

Tomorrow evening I’ll post a little blurb about the Pro Bowl, nothing long since I won’t be watching it, and Monday starts Super Bowl week. Later this evening will be a recap of some of this past week’s highlights. Thanks for reading!

AFC/NFC Pro Bowl Rosters can be seen at:
http://www.nfl.com/probowl/story/09000d5d81d470fb/article/2011-pro-bowl-rosters