My favorite Pro Bowlers (Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA Today Sports).
If you’re here because you missed the 2024 Pro Bowl Sunday activities or you just want to hear an excellent narrator break it down, you’re in the right place!
This is a summary of all things Sunday. For information on the Thursday night activities, read my breakdown here.
Sunday Pro Bowl Shenanigans
The second day of the Pro Bowl was a mixture of the flag football game and several skill competitions.
This year, the flag football game was structured differently. There was only one game, broken up into four quarters. All points earned during the game were added to the overall score for the division.
The skill competitions were spread apart between the quarters and before the game. There truly was never a dull moment.
For example, something about Jason Kelce’s bucket hat took me out. Like he thought he was in his backyard cooking up some steaks or something. He wasn’t the only man to sport the hat, but he did it best.
The First Pro Bowl Skills Competition
The Sunday festivities kicked off with ‘Kick Tac Toe’ (pun intended). ‘Kick Tac Toe’ is a skills competition for the kickers at the Pro Bowl. Players must kick a ball at a giant tic-tac-toe board and either hit five squares total or get three squares in a row (straight or diagonally).
Jason Myers managed to jump over the fence and sneak his way into the Pro Bowl, which put the NFC at an immediate disadvantage. I’m a Seahawks fan, so I can say that.
AFC’s AJ Cole kicked in his Vans. It was a strange method, but it must have helped the AFC because it was one of the few skills competitions the AFC could do well at. Justin Tucker sealed the deal, creating a row at the top of the ‘Kick Tac Toe’ board.
Before the game even started, the NFC was still ahead with 9-12.
The First Quarter Of Flag Football
I broke down the coaching staff and flag football participants in great detail here.
My prediction that Peyton would have Tua starting in the game was correct. Eli opted for Hurts.
What ended up hurting was how much Jalen struggled with the four-second limit to throw the ball. He found it hard to pass quickly, earning the NFC a flag. Jalen Hurts and Eli Manning were both bummed at the call, but it took a while longer for Eli to assert himself as head coach with the refs.
The NFC head coach did spice up the sideline with his high knees run over excitement when the NFC got their first touchdown. Along with the announcers naming a play “pitchie pitchie woo woo,” the first quarter was popping.
Overall, there were three touchdowns in the first quarter. First (if I number these TDs wrong, I apologize; it was hard to keep track of) was Tua to Tyreek Hill. Next came Hurts to CeeDee Lamb, with a successful extra point from Hurts to Swift.
The quarter ended with Tua throwing a TD pass to Chase. The extra point was timed out due to the quiet but mighty NFC defense.
It’s worth pointing out that the NFC was much, much better at skills competition but was sub-par in the Pro Bowl flag football portion of the game.
Second Pro Bowl Skills Competition
The second Pro Bowl skills competition really ‘moved the chains.’ Competitors had to pull a weighted sled that came in at 2000 pounds. The men had to either push or pull the sled 10 yards.
The Pro Bowlers this year learned from last year’s ‘Move the Chains’ segment. Both teams strategized, with each player taking all of the weight off their sled. In 2023, some NFL players attempted to move the sled with all or some weights still on the sled.
The NFC took the win, with all the competitors having pushed or pulled their sleds the 10 yards first. This is despite the fact that Eli Manning was nowhere to be seen. Peyton Manning was literally in the middle of his players, encouraging them, but it didn’t seem to help. The younger Manning brother did decide to show up for the victory. How nice.
Third Skills Competition
In a pre-recorded moment, we saw Charissa Thompson for the first time. Is it an NFL event without her? Two men from the AFC and the NFC faced off in the new competition ‘Head-to-Head, playing Madden.
Nacua was in basically every competition, and he repped the NFC in this one as well, along with Micah Parsons. The equally involved AFCs David Njoku and The Cheetah represented as well. There was a notable absence of either head coach at this event.
It goes without saying that the NFC won this one as well.
Flag Football – Second Quarter
The second quarter heated up a bit. There was a QB exchange (thank goodness), and Stroud and Geno Smith are taking their turns.
It’s clear that Peyton Manning and everyone else could see Stroud’s talent right away. Fresh off the bench, the rookie QB made a TD pass to Keenan Allen but missed the extra point.
The AFC defense was strong, occasionally too strong. A penalty on defense had Ray Lewis completely and utterly incensed. He shouted at the refs, the other coaches, and even vented on National TV. I don’t think he ever got over that call.
Lewis was so angry; I was grateful that they had security at the entrance of the Pro Bowl. Peyton Manning usually has a lot to say, but with what looked like either a heavy dose of experience and common sense or apathy, he said very little to Ray.
Penalty number two against the AFC defense had Ray Lewis put out to the max. The holding call was more obvious and clear, unlike the miscommunication and ambiguity of the first call.
A pick by AFC’s Denzel Ward had everyone on the sidelines take a breather. Stroud takes a note from Tua’s book and connects with Chase for the game’s fifth TD. The extra point was picked by Budda Baker.
Geno actually completed a pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who proceeded to get a touchdown. Someone needs to tell him that his TD celebration dances are absolutely terrible. This is a crime against humanity that just doesn’t stop.
A two-point conversion to DK had Geno looking competent for a time.
To embarrass any progress the NFC had made in the art of flag football, the AFC humiliated them with the 7th overall touchdown of the game. Stroud made a pass to Allen, who made a pass to Engram, scoring another six. The AFC also got extra points this time with a successful two-point conversion to Engram.
Geno was intercepted again by Pat Surtain II, who got another TD for the AFC.
A flag in the endzone from a possibly overzealous Ward for PI gave Geno an opportunity to make up for lost points with a TD pass to CeeDee Lamb. The extra point was missed, and halftime began.
Pro Bowl Half-Time Shenanigans
During half time, we enjoyed another skill competition, the Gridiron Gauntlet. The ‘Gauntlet’ is a five-step course. Different players participated in each section and then hit a buzzer, which signaled the next portion to start.
Firstly was Breaking Walls, where players broke through multiple walls (a big surprise). Next came the agility portion, which required a lot of lifting and maneuvering on an obstacle course. Thirdly, there was a tire flip.
After that, ‘High Point’ required the Pro Bowlers to slam a ball outside of what resembled a basketball backboard with the help of trampolines. Last but not least was the ‘Sled Push’ where two players worked together to push a sled with an individual inside of it to the finish line.
The Gridiron Gauntlet was repeated twice, and the NFC won both times.
Remember the ‘Best Catch Vote’ based on the videos we saw of David Njoku and Puka Nacua catching footballs under some pretty fascinating circumstances on Thursday?
Well, they announced the winner during halftime. It was Puka Nacua (boo!). I really liked Njoku’s catch. Anyway, three more points for the NFC.
Second Half Of The Flag Football Game
The third quarter bean with Geno getting intercepted again, this time by Sauce. Minshew made his presence as a starter known when he threw a pass to Allen, who secured another TD.
Following that, the AFC had a few setbacks: they missed the two-point conversion, and they got another penalty on their defense. I couldn’t imagine Ray Lewis having a less aggressive defense, but at the same time, they have enough yellow flags to make a quilt.
Geno got the boot (a bit early), and Baker came to the field. Baking was immediate when the QB threw a TD pass to CeeDee Lamb. Baker made a successful completion for St. Brown, and the extra point was good.
NFC discipline was at an all-time low, with flags back to back. The AFC took advantage of the weakness, and Minshew got another TD thanks to Allen. The extra point wasn’t because of the final LOB member starting, Bobby Wagner.
Baker was making baked goods back to back (with no extra points). He made his first TD after throwing to LaPorta, and he made his second with Gibbs.
The NFC’s lack of discipline reared its ugly head again. They got in trouble for flag guarding. Don’t get me started on my flag football story from high school, where I absolutely did not accidentally slap someone.
Kyle Hamilton was on fire during the Pro Bowl, and he got a pick-6. Stroud replaced Minshew, apparently just because he’s better because Minshew did well. CJ attempted to run the ball in himself, but the ball was already blown dead. In another controversial moment, the next play, Witherspoon allegedly grabbed Chase’s flag before he caught the ball; it looked a little iffy.
Eli Manning showed the most spiciness at the entire Pro Bowl at the end of the fourth quarter. He wanted to call a timeout, and he was Ray Lewis adamant about it.
On fourth down, the AFC decided to take a chance to get the points that would lead their conference to the win. With Peyton Manning and CJ Stroud working together, it’s clear they would always go for it. Stroud narrowly missed Chase in the end zone due to expert NFC defending. Boom.
The NFC took the win at the culmination of the game with a score of 64-59. Don’t worry, Stroud; you probably have a thousand more Pro Bowls to avenge your loss.
Final Pro Bowl Skills Competition
The debut of the ‘Tug of War’ happened between the 3rd and 4th quarters of the flag football game. Had I made a division in my notes between quarters, I would be able to say exactly what happened when.
However, I made notes that would make my college professors cry, so here we are.
Tug of War was fairly traditional, but a football in the middle replaced the knot. One of the AFC’s players turning the other way around to pull the rope was also non-traditional and not effective.
It was a best-of-three situation, or whichever conference won twice in a row. You can guess how this went.
Shockingly, there were 1480 pounds on both sides of the rope in the first round. The NFC took the round, and the AFC got weird.
Under the careful eye of Peyton Manning, the teams lined up again. In the second round, the AFC had a weight advantage of 1523 pounds, while the NFC remained at 1480. Having a heavily involved coach and the extra pounds mattered not. The AFC lost—and fast.
NFC takes this skill competition too.
The NFC’s ability to win those competitions (or the AFC’s inability to do so) is what saves us each and every year, despite the results of the flag football game.
If the NFC got better at flag football, they would be unstoppable. Meanwhile, if the AFC got better at skills competitions, they would be… better. They only played two of the competitions (snap shots and kick-tac-Toe) as well as half of the dodgeball game. Do better.
Pro Bowl Award Show
As a grand finale, the award show culminated the evening. While Peyton Manning stalked off to the locker room with the AFC Pro Bowlers, the NFC once again went to the stage for their trophy and awards.
We will likely be seeing the Pro Bowl trophy in Eli Manning’s background during the Manning Cast. Peyton is always the big brother who is the biggest achiever. Except for the Pro Bowl. Take that, AFC.
The MVPs of the Pro Bowl were picked perfectly. DeMario Davis was the defensive MVP. Which is something the New Orleans Saint deserves each and every time.
Baker Mayfield took the offensive MVP award. Based on flag football, this felt like an easy win. Hopefully Tampa Bay is watching—make sure he’s back next season, please! Let the baker bake!
Did I miss anything exciting during the Pro Bowl? Did you love watching it as much as I do? If you didn’t because it’s not like the past, please google ‘adaptability’ and ‘accepting change.’
Great work, NFC!
