John Radux/AP Photo.
We made it to the final edition of the Pro Bowl Sunday fun day festivities. You can see the other Sunday parts and the Thursday skills session deets here. In this final article, we are covering the fourth quarter of the annual Pro Bowl flag football game and the ensuing award show. Let’s get into it!
Final Quarter of Pro Bowl Flag Football
Maye is still out for the AFC, and he completes a pass to a person I didn’t catch the name of. The ball was subsequently intercepted by Byron Murphy. The excitement was so high the Rams mascot took his turn in the foam pit. Mayfield attempted a one-pointer to Justin Jefferson on top of the pick-six. No dice, although Jefferson almost repeated one of his famous one-handed catches.
Around and Around We Go
Maye was replaced after flubbing his turn. Russ was the man for the job—he has heart and works hard at whatever he does, Pro Bowl or not. He also has a veteran touch that Drake Maye will learn with time. Wilson has forgotten more about being a quarterback than Burrow and Maye know combined.
Russ is fire hot on the grill as he makes a pass to Mixon. Next, the ball was caught by Thomas Jr., just mere inches away from being intercepted. The wide receiver went out of bounds at the one-yard line. Once again, the commentators remind us that the flag football rules are malleable and subject to vary based on the particular crew. This one is worryingly permissive.
Nico Collins secured a TD. Russ attempted a two-pointer bonus, but it didn’t work. NFC’s Murphy almost caught the ball, which could have been a dangerous pick-six, but he caught it out of bounds.
Mayfield is still on the 1s and 2s for the NFC. Nabers is a beast and catches a fantastic pass with Bijan Robinson on him like lint on a roller. Next, Russ makes an incomplete pass. Kyle Hamilton picked his ego off the grass when he fell on it and tried to blitz Mayfield.
A controversial TD pass to Nabers, who was being valiantly guarded by Fitzpatrick, commenced. The three musketeers agree that a call was missed on the play—the ball appears to have touched the ground during the pass. Hodge went out of bounds for his catch from Baker for the extra point. Better luck next time.
As a distraction from the AFC being brutalized on the field, we pan to the foam pit. The mascots from both conferences competed. Even then, the AFC can’t catch a break and lose this one too. At least they all wear gloves—something some of the actual players didn’t have the sense to do.
We’re on Fire
Russ is cooking so hot there’s almost a kitchen fire. He throws a ball to Chase, and the wide receiver makes the TD in just one play. It was such a dramatic play that Chase’s hat got knocked off and his glasses almost came off. He fixes his frames mid-run because he can’t lose all of his accessories. The two-point attempt didn’t go quite as well.
Mayfield throws to an individual (I couldn’t see the name, sorry!) who gets the ball to the 1-yard mark. We have completely dropped the rule that you can’t run in the last five yards before the goal line.
We then once again pan to the sideline where Peyton is coming a bit undone. He’s honest about the team morale being low to quite low. He says you might have to go there mentally, that he may be the problem. He may just be a bad head coach. Working with some of the most talented people in the league for three years in a row does lend credence to his theory. A joke was made about ‘Black Monday’ for coaches coming Peyton’s way.
We zoom in on Peyton Manning’s son. Those Manning genes are strong in that particular family line. Eli Manning’s children are adorable. But as my grandma said, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. I digress.
After all that, Mayfield brings our attention back to the field as Bowers gets a TD. We have another ball pit run, and this one is overly exciting. Nabers can’t seem to get out of the pit easily, and we all think about how hard it would be to struggle our own way out of a foam pit. Faced with our own mortality.
Another Round
I have a note saying that there was a lot of swearing and mating on the AFC sidelines. Somehow I think I got the second word wrong. Wilson makes two passes to Bowers. Russ is cooking, but Peyton isn’t as much, so Chip Kelly is now the play caller. Rough. Another ball goes to Mims, who is deflagged. Lastly, with a flea flicker, the ball makes it to Mixon, who secures a TD. No extra points, though. Nabers broke up the pass between Russ and Nabers.
After another foam pit rendezvous, Juszczuk accidentally hits Jefferson with some painful-looking friendly fire. I don’t have footage, but I do have this hilarious tweet.
On the NFC side, things are getting creative. Mayfield switches to center, and Smith-Njigba is the quarterback. The ball is intercepted by Hamilton, but it doesn’t count because there was an illegal blitz on the play.
Because this game is as mentally distracted as I usually am, we are now back on the sideline. Eli gets gatorized by Goff and Lawrence II. It was beyond wholesome.
Back on the grass, we see Njigba pass to Gibbs. He then gets intercepted. The NFC is struggling because Baker is breaking the rules by looking back through his legs (Jason Kelce breaks that rule down for us), and Njigba gets more interceptions than Sam Howell.
Final Round
Russ is intercepted to finish off this game. Gibbs makes the play. We have some more ball juggling, involving ball-hog Turpin, that can work on the offensive side of the thing. There is field laundry everywhere after there are players literally from the sidelines running to tackle Gibbs.
The final play of the 3-peat is Mayfield doing a flea flicker to half the squad with Bijan hauling it down the field before getting deflagged. And that was that. The final score is 76-63.
Post Pro Bowl Ceremony
We see Bobby Wagner on the sidelines. Has he been there the entire time? Did he participate in anything?
Things are pretty quick. Eli has a supportive and thoughtful winners speech where he highlights positives and praises the guys for all of their ‘practice.’ Byron Murphy is the defensive MVP. He shouts out Eli and his teammates, of course. Goff is the offensive MVP, and he gives kudos to Eli and his teammates as well. How nice.
In Conclusion
The Pro Bowl was as entertaining as ever. We saw some excellent skills competitions, the flag football game was eventful, and the NFC won. Tis the way of things. I know MVPs are always QBs, and Goff did really well with ”Passing the Test,’ but can we not give Turpin some credit for being a master deflagger? What was your favorite part of the Pro Bowl? Did you agree with the award winners? Sound off below!
