NFL Pro Bowl Notes and Nuggets

The Pro Bowl will be played this Sunday in Hawaii (7:00 PM ET, NBC). I know you are all enthralled by this. For a game that is supposed to be for the benefit of the fans, it’s become anything but. Most fans would not miss the game if the league chose to discontinue it.

From the NFL…..

The NFL All-Star Game will take place once again at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii and will be the signature event to start the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans (Sunday, February 3, CBS).

For the fourth consecutive year, the Pro Bowl will be played the week before the Super Bowl. The 2012 Pro Bowl on NBC was watched by an average of 12.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched All-Star game of any sport for the third consecutive year.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Pro Bowl will be played the week before the Super Bowl. The 2012 Pro Bowl on NBC was watched by an average of 12.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched All-Star game of any sport for the third consecutive year.

Last year, the AFC set a single-game Pro Bowl scoring record by defeating the NFC, 59-41. Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who had six catches for 176 yards with a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns, was named the MVP of the 2012 Pro Bowl. The 2013 game is the 43rd between the AFC and NFC All-Stars with the all-time series tied, 21-21.

The 43-man teams are comprised of 21 offensive and 17 defensive players plus five specialists, including a long snapper. The AFC All-Star team will be led by John Fox and the coaches from the Denver Broncos while Mike McCarthy and the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff will guide the NFC Pro Bowl squad for the second consecutive year.

The NFL is the only professional sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players in determining its All-Star teams. The consensus vote of each group counts one-third towards the total. Each team submits two ballots – those of the coach and the players with no one permitted to vote for a player on his own team. This year, more than 100 million fan votes were cast on NFL.com and mobile devices.

Under terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each player on the winning Pro Bowl team receives $50,000, while each player on the losing squad earns $25,000.

High Score: It has been a banner year for offenses across the National Football League, thanks in part to high-flying passing attacks led by some of the game’s best quarterbacks. The 2013 Pro Bowl roster will feature two record-setting QBs – New Orleans’ Drew Brees, who became the first player in NFL history to throw 40+ TD passes in consecutive seasons, and Denver’s Peyton Manning, whose 12 All-Star selections are the most ever by a quarterback in AFC-NFC Pro Bowl annals.

For the second time in Pro Bowl history – and the second time in as many years – this year’s game will feature two rookie quarterbacks, Andrew Luck of Indianapolis (AFC) and Russell Wilson of Seattle (NFC). Luck passed for an NFL-rookie record 4,374 yards this season, surpassing Cam Newton’s mark of 4,051 set last year. Wilson had 26 touchdown passes in 2012, tying Peyton Manning’s rookie record from 1998. In 2012, Newton and Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton became the first pair of rookie QBs ever to play in the same Pro Bowl.

Other quarterbacks taking part in the game include Eli Manning of the New York Giants, who became the franchise leader in career TD passes this season (211), and Matt Schaub of Houston, winner of the 2010 Pro Bowl MVP award.

High scores have been a recent trend at the Pro Bowl. In fact, the nine highest combined scores in Pro Bowl history have all occurred since 2000, including 100 points last year, the second-highest in Pro Bowl history.

Elder Statesman: A pair of Denver Broncos – quarterback Peyton Manning and cornerback Champ Bailey – rank among the most frequent participants in Pro Bowl history and have made the trip to Honolulu once again in 2013.

Playing in his 12th All-Star Game, Bailey will tie Pro Football Hall of Famer Randall McDaniel and former Kansas City guard Will Shields for the most All-Star appearances in the history of the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.

The players with the most Pro Bowl games played since 1971:

Manning, who will play in his 11th Pro Bowl, not only owns several career and single-game Pro Bowl records, he’s significantly ahead in many of those categories. Manning holds the following Pro Bowl records (next closest player in parentheses):

· Attempts, Career: 184 (Dan Fouts, 120)
· Completions, Career: 109 (Dan Fouts, 63)
· Completions, Game: 22 (Joe Theismann, 21)
· Passing Yards, Career: 1,508 (Dan Fouts, 890)
· Passing Yards, Game: 342 (Dan Fouts, 274)
· Highest Average Gain, Career: 8.20 yards per attempt; min. 50 attempts (Rich Gannon, 8.19)
· Passing Touchdowns, Career: 14 (Rich Gannon, 7)

Three by Six: Six players each from Georgia, Miami (FL) and Tennessee have been named to the 2013 Pro Bowl roster, tied for the most among college programs.

Below is a breakdown of schools with at least five players named to the 2013 Pro Bowl squads:

Georgia (6): DT Geno Atkins, CB Champ Bailey, WR A.J. Green, LB Justin Houston, CB Tim Jennings, K Blair Walsh

Miami (FL) (6): RB Frank Gore, WR Andre Johnson, C Chris Myers, S Ed Reed, WR Reggie Wayne, DT Vince Wilfork

Tennessee (6): S Eric Berry, P Dustin Colquitt, RB Arian Foster, QB Peyton Manning, LB Jerod Mayo,
TE Jason Witten

California (5): ST Lorenzo Alexander, S Thomas DeCoud, TE Tony Gonzalez, RB Marshawn Lynch,
QB Aaron Rodgers

Texas (5): RB Jamaal Charles, K Phil Dawson, LB Derrick Johnson, DT Henry Melton, S Earl Thomas