New NFL Pro Bowl

[The_Admiral]

How do you make a big deal out of picking an offensive lineman? Who cares?

They just did that - it was called the 2013 NFL Draft.

Yeah but even in fantasy dootball you don't draft linemen, just an entire team's line, right?

[LETSGOBLUEBEATMSU]

How do you make a big deal out of picking an offensive lineman? Who cares?

They just did that - it was called the 2013 NFL Draft.

Yeah but even in fantasy dootball you don't draft linemen, just an entire team's line, right?

But this isn't fantasy it's real life and with out good lineman you don't have a good offense.

[The_Admiral]

Yes, it's real life, but the whole premise is based in fantasy sports. I don't know, I like it better for hockey than for football. As a fan, I'm not a fan.

Also, my typo of "dootball" was unintentional (what would the intent have even been?) but I guess now it's locked in, huh.

[Lights Out]

To be fair, the last few Super Bowl winners haven't exactly had stacked O-lines. Having an elite quarterback allows teams to skimp a bit on the O-line and spend the money they save on playmakers instead.

[CS85]

OK, consensus seems to be that these changes suck.

Outside of outright elimination of the game, what do you people want?

[Gothamite]

Outside of outright elimination of the game, what do you people want?

That'd be fine, thanks.

[rams80]

So what if one of the team captains is playing in the Super Bowl?

[CS85]

So what if one of the team captains is playing in the Super Bowl?

This is why you schedule the pro bowl in March or April.

[Jer15]

I actually don't have a strong opinion either way.

It just drives me crazy they call it a fantasy draft, it's real life not fantasy.

But that's just my stupid little pet peeve.

[BBTV]

MAKE IT COUNT.

The champion of the conference that wins the Pro Bowl gets to host the Super Bowl the following week. HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE.

[The_Admiral]

I'm just annoyed that the NHL fell ass-backwards into a clever idea, only for the NFL to steal it while the NHL is off cancelling two All-Star Games in a row.

[Jer15]

I'm know in saying this I look like a complete hypocrite as I'm currently watching the MLS all star game, but just get rid of all the all star games.

I don't think they are really all that important.

Especially when it's inter-league.

Maybe if you had an NHL vs KHL all stars

Or something like what MLS is doing by playing all starts vs big European club.

I prefer the "league vs league" kind of thing, the inter-league stuff is just like trading all the best players to 2 teams....aka the NBA (sorry, couldn't resist)

[dbadefense1990]

I'm just annoyed that the NHL fell ass-backwards into a clever idea, only for the NFL to steal it while the NHL is off cancelling two All-Star Games in a row.

At least the NFL is consistent at setting a date for its All-Star Game (the Sunday after, but more recently before, the Super Bowl). The NHL has had such games play in mid-January, late-January, mid-February, Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays and all those times the league opted to suspend the game because of the Winter Olympics.

See, I'm a math/statistics kind of person, and If there's no consistency on the day to setup the All-Star Game, then there are serious issues with the NHL.

[HedleyLamarr]

Interesting idea, I'm holding out my judgment until I actually see it.

But, I don't watch the Pro Bowl on purpose, so I may be holding out judgment until at least 2019.

Seriously though, I think there are two points of particular interest:

1. "No Kickoffs: The coin toss will determine which team is awarded possession first. The ball will be placed on the 25-yard line at the start of each quarter and after scoring plays."

Anybody else think this is an experiment of sorts to potentially ban kickoffs in regular season games? I can see the NFL trying it in the Pro Bowl, then squeezing it into the preseason, then eventually into the regular season.

2. "Rosters: The rosters will continue to consist of 43 players per squad. The kick return specialist will be replaced by an additional defensive back."

So, we're eliminating kickoffs and, by association, the kick returner. This weird to anyone else? It's like the MLB eliminating the All-Star spot for a closer.

I'm guessing the team owners pushed the elimination of kickoffs for the all-star game.

I don't think the NFL will ever chunk the kickoffs. Those on the field for kickoffs (the ones without the football in their hands) are usually your second- or third-stringers at the positions with a lot of depth (linebacker, running back, receivers, tight ends, etc.) and there's little fear or regard of losing a depth guy to injury. However, for the Pro Bowl, these guys are starters for their respective teams, and owners don't see much of a benefit of their star players getting exposed to those freakish, high-speed-caused injuries in an exhibition game after the season. Plus, in these Pro Bowls, aside from the kicker and kick-returner....the rest of these guys are players that haven't played much on special teams, which leads to bigger returns and touchdowns. I can live with the elimination of kickoffs (and punts, for that matter) for an exhibition game.

I also don't think a 40+ round fantasy draft will keep the TV audience interested. Like admiral said....there's no excitement about offensive linemen getting picked. The skill players, yes....but not linemen or really many of the players on defense. Unless the NFL sets up drafting rules like the NHL did (all offensive linemen must be drafted before the 20th round, all defensive slots have to be filled by Round 35, etc.), this draft is going to get boring quickly, especially if it's a made-for-TV event.

[OnWis97]

All Star games are just exhibitions. Why not make them fun for the players as well as for the fans?

Well for me, as a fan, this makes it far less fun.

How is it less, let alone "far less" for you if you don't even watch it to begin with? For what it's worth, I don't / won't watch it either, so it doesn't bother me. I just think it should go away all together.

There aren't any real conference rivalries anymore, since so many players have played for several teams in their career and they all know each other. If the thing is an "all star" game, then it should be the best players or the biggest stars. If there are 5 star QBs in the NFC, then 2 of them shouldn't be left because 3 schlubs from the AFC have to get in. So it makes a little sense from that perspective.

The biggest (by far) implication here is that they won't have NFC and AFC uniforms. The door has been opened for all kinds of new colors and designs.

I was more or less referring to all-star games in general. I really hate it in hockey and it really does make it significantly less enjoyable. I don't like it in football either but, I probably catch an average of three clock minutes per year, so it's hard for it to really bring me down.

[NJTank]

Nothing will work with the Pro Bowl. Football is too rough of sport for a true All-Star exhibition worth watching and doing it after the Super Bowl is anticlimatic, doing t before takes away several top players, and many players withdraw any way. Its an idea that time has come and past let it die.

[oldschoolvikings]

Reading this thread, I'm struck by how many people have written about this "struggling game", "on it's last legs", "just let it die", etc. Also, on here, just like in real life, I've never met anyone who claims to watch it. But obviously someone is. From Pro Football Talk...

"But what’s really striking is the rating for the Pro Bowl, which drew 12.5 million viewers on NBC on January 29. Yes, that makes it the lowest-rated NFL broadcast of 2012, but that’s still an enormous TV audience. To put the ratings in perspective, the Pro Bowl drew more viewers than the Major League Baseball All-Star game, which is the highest-rated baseball game of the year so far. The Pro Bowl also got better ratings than any hockey game this year, better ratings than all of the NBA conference finals games except Game 7 between the Celtics and Heat, better ratings than the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, better ratings than the final round of the U.S. Open and better ratings than a great Sugar Bowl game between Michigan and Virginia Tech."

Doesn't sound like to me this is a game on it's last legs ready to die. Now, admittedly, I haven't watched it in a few years, but that's because I'm not usually home on a Sunday night, but if I was? And was flipping the channels looking for something to watch? Yeah, I'd probably stop at it. I'd probably watch it before just about any sporting event except for a real NFL game, or a college football game. Hell, I'd probably choose it over some of the dog CFB games espn trots out on Wednesdays. And, apparently I'm not alone. I think it's just become sort of uncool to admit to watching it, but the ratings are what they are. And it's the NFL... the last NFL you're gonna see for about 6 months. It reminds me of how everyone hates on preseason NFL, but the TV ratings are better than the ratings for playoff baseball.

[BlueSky]

How can you not like this? If it's between this and killing the game off entirely I'd probably go with this. Sounds fun and just silly enough to express awareness that the game itself is a celebration, not a competition.

Because all it does is change how the players end up in the Pro Bowl. The biggest problem is the quality of play. Nobody wants to get hurt and they're going through the motions so the game itself will remain a joke.

[NJTank]

How can you not like this? If it's between this and killing the game off entirely I'd probably go with this. Sounds fun and just silly enough to express awareness that the game itself is a celebration, not a competition.

Because all it does is change how the players end up in the Pro Bowl. The biggest problem is the quality of play. Nobody wants to get hurt and they're going through the motions so the game itself will remain a joke.

Exactly and that is why the game is likely going to end in the next few years. TV raitings has nothing to do with it.

[CS85]

All I'm saying is that the game has already been crap forever. They're trying to save it. I know people are obtuse and would rather things they don't like just go away, but that's not how this is going to work. If this weird fantasy whatever thing fails, then the pro bowl will take on ANOTHER change in probably 2 or 3 seasons. It's not going to just disappear. This is the NFL we're talking about.