So Pro Bowl's going back to AFC vs. NFC? What would get you to watch the Pro Bowl?

[ReMeDy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/pro-bowl-back-to-afc-vs--nfc--it-would-be-a-start--at-least-163833830.html

Makes sense. I didn't know which players played for which team, and even if I did, why should I care whether Irvin beats Carter?

I say the NFL puts down the cash to retired athletes and gets them back on the field, and I don't mean with highschool kids, either. Get Barry Sanders on the phone, ask him how much he will take to play real contact football, tell him he has a year or whatever to prepare, and let's see what happens. It would be doing a lot of these retired athletes a favor; some are broke, some are lazy, and some are broke AND lazy. Tie it into the Kid's Play 60 program and remind these kids it doesn't matter what your age is, anyone can compete!

 

If that fails, make it a comedy routine where they get JaMarcus Russell vs. Ryan Leaf. You telling me either one of those guys would pass up free drug money? I think not! Pay them a bonus based on their game's fantasy football rating to keep everyone honest. Yea, some players will fight over playing time, but the coaches can agree to all that before the game.

The other option is a skills competition, but the only way I'm getting satisfied off that is seeing Barry Sanders or JaMarcus Russell taking a hit, so unless there's a Sumo Wrestling competition, count me out.

[jvan1973]

14 minutes ago, ReMeDy said:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/pro-bowl-back-to-afc-vs--nfc--it-would-be-a-start--at-least-163833830.html

Makes sense. I didn't know which players played for which team, and even if I did, why should I care whether Irvin beats Carter?

I say the NFL puts down the cash to retired athletes and gets them back on the field, and I don't mean with highschool kids, either. Get Barry Sanders on the phone, ask him how much he will take to play real contact football, tell him he has a year or whatever to prepare, and let's see what happens. It would be doing a lot of these retired athletes a favor; some are broke, some are lazy, and some are broke AND lazy. Tie it into the Kid's Play 60 program and remind these kids it doesn't matter what your age is, anyone can compete!

 

If that fails, make it a comedy routine where they get JaMarcus Russell vs. Ryan Leaf. You telling me either one of those guys would pass up free drug money? I think not! Pay them a bonus based on their game's fantasy football rating to keep everyone honest. Yea, some players will fight over playing time, but the coaches can agree to all that before the game.

The other option is a skills competition, but the only way I'm getting satisfied off that is seeing Barry Sanders or JaMarcus Russell taking a hit, so unless there's a Sumo Wrestling competition, count me out.

Most retired nfl players can barely walk without pain killers.    That's never going to happen

[WoolMagnet]

I watch because its still football (sort of) and they're still highly skilled and talented athletes.

its cool to see them fooling around , acting like kids, relaxed and playing with players as teammates you don't get to see every day.

[21isSuperman]

The NFL is wasting the Pro Bowl.  Use it as an opportunity to interact more with the fans and show your appreciation for their support.  One idea is to let fans and former stars (or current ones) play a game of flag football.  I highly doubt any of the old stars can play tackle football in their current shape....Herschel Walker aside.  But let the fans play some friendly flag football with the stars.  Another idea is to bring back the skills competition so we can see who can lift the most or who is the fastest.  There are so many ways the NFL could make the Pro Bowl relevant again, but they only do what will get them money instead of making it a fun experience for the fans.

[Lucky Colts Fan]

Good.  That was pretty much the only good thing for the fans in the first place.  Yeah, the players get a trip to Hawaii with their families (although not anymore, "I'm going to Disney World" when you get voted to the Pro Bowl.), but the only thing that came from the game (for the fans) was bragging rights when it came to AFC vs NFC.

 

Maybe that doesn't matter to some fans, but some remember the NFC (NFL at the time) disrespecting the AFC (AFL at the time) before the merger.  There were long spans of only NFC SB winners, creating an air of dominance.

 

Personally, I want to see the AFC, with lots of Colts players, beat the NFC in the Pro Bowl.  I don't like the way it is now, where Colts players have to play against Colts players in the same game.  It just doesn't seem right.

---

[Carlos Danger]

I don't think there is really anything that could get me interested in the pro bowl game... It's just not my cup of tea.

 

I am somewhat (just a little) interested in pro bowl voting and who makes it in, but I can't get into watching the game... It's like watching a practice, only there isn't a real game to look forward to. JMO... I'd probably rather watch it if it were a softball or basketball game..

[ReMeDy]

2 hours ago, Lucky Colts Fan said:

Personally, I want to see the AFC, with lots of Colts players, beat the NFC in the Pro Bowl.  I don't like the way it is now, where Colts players have to play against Colts players in the same game.  It just doesn't seem right.

---

 

Yea, that was another flaw with the Bruce vs. Carter system. Thankfully, I think they kind of realized that, so you'd have them taking two players on the same team, like one time I think one of them picked Luck AND Hilton. Makes sense, because of their chemistry together.

[Valpo2004]

Ultimately I think it's hard to make the pro-bowl interesting.  

 

A skills competition would bore most people and players arn't going to play hard and risk injury in a game that doesn't matter.  

 

Honestly flag football sounds like the best idea for it.  

[WoolMagnet]

15 hours ago, Valpo2004 said:

Ultimately I think it's hard to make the pro-bowl interesting.  

 

A skills competition would bore most people and players arn't going to play hard and risk injury in a game that doesn't matter.  

 

Honestly flag football sounds like the best idea for it.  

Maybe some of you are too young to remember the skills challenges and flag football games they used to do betore the game.

  If i remember correctly, that ended about the time that running back tore up his knee in a beach flag football game.

too much money invested in these guys to risk that, or even a "real" football game.  I'm not sure what the answer is.

[Coffeedrinker]

IMO, the NFL needs to quit trying to make the Probowl interesting for the fans and just make it a reward for the players like it used to be.  Make it after the superbowl, in a place that is nice to visit in February.

 

I have absolutely no problem with a business trying to make money every way it can but the things they have tried to make it a more watched game have failed miserably.  And it's been detrimental for the players.

 

The one thing I think would be it fun to watch is have a drawing a select a fan to be the OC or DC of the AFC and one to be the OC or DC of the NFC.  You would still have the coaching staffs like they have now to run practices, etc But let a fan call the plays, the formations, etc.  You wiould have millions signing up for the drawings and hundreds of thousands, if not millions watching to see how they do.

[chad72]

1 hour ago, Coffeedrinker said:

IMO, the NFL needs to quit trying to make the Probowl interesting for the fans and just make it a reward for the players like it used to be.  Make it after the superbowl, in a place that is nice to visit in February.

 

I have absolutely no problem with a business trying to make money every way it can but the things they have tried to make it a more watched game have failed miserably.  And it's been detrimental for the players.

 

The one thing I think would be it fun to watch is have a drawing a select a fan to be the OC or DC of the AFC and one to be the OC or DC of the NFC.  You would still have the coaching staffs like they have now to run practices, etc But let a fan call the plays, the formations, etc.  You wiould have millions signing up for the drawings and hundreds of thousands, if not millions watching to see how they do.

 

I agree.

 

I'd love to call a few blitzes

[Gavin]

2 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:

IMO, the NFL needs to quit trying to make the Probowl interesting for the fans and just make it a reward for the players like it used to be.  Make it after the superbowl, in a place that is nice to visit in February.

 

I have absolutely no problem with a business trying to make money every way it can but the things they have tried to make it a more watched game have failed miserably.  And it's been detrimental for the players.

 

The one thing I think would be it fun to watch is have a drawing a select a fan to be the OC or DC of the AFC and one to be the OC or DC of the NFC.  You would still have the coaching staffs like they have now to run practices, etc But let a fan call the plays, the formations, etc.  You wiould have millions signing up for the drawings and hundreds of thousands, if not millions watching to see how they do.

How would that work though? The playbook would have to be understandable, self explanatory and as little as football jargon as possible in many cases like Counter Weak, Quick Slant, PA rollout Left/Right, Inside/Outside Zone, Half Back Toss, Half Back Misdirection which is all pretty self explanatory. I agree though millions would be interested

[oldunclemark]

      I would go back to the old 'college all-star'; game concept.

Have a team of college all-Americans face NFL all-stars minus the Super Bowl teams.

They could face the NFC stars in the first half and the AFC stars in the second half.

The college players would have the advantage of more practice time and enthusiasm for the matchup

 

I think folks would watch. They used to

[crazycolt1]

Just go back to the way it used to be. 2 weeks after the super bowl so the super bowl players can play in the game. It would be the last game of the year and I think more people would watch it like they use to do.

[Coffeedrinker]

18 hours ago, Gavin said:

How would that work though? The playbook would have to be understandable, self explanatory and as little as football jargon as possible in many cases like Counter Weak, Quick Slant, PA rollout Left/Right, Inside/Outside Zone, Half Back Toss, Half Back Misdirection which is all pretty self explanatory. I agree though millions would be interested

Easily.  The playbooks for the probowl are pretty basic anyways, the coaches don't want to give away their plays to other players.  And even though Chad72 would like to call some bltizes, blitzes aren't allowed in the Propbowl.

 

And the people that win would have to work and study to learn the playbook.  The real coaches would still run practices, etc. While they are doing that the honory OC/DC would have to be studying as well. But again the game is supposed to be fun for the players, it's not like they develop an extensive game plan, etc.

[Coffeedrinker]

18 hours ago, chad72 said:

 

I agree.

 

I'd love to call a few blitzes

I would too, but bltizes aren't allowed in the Probowl.

[shakedownstreet]

On 6/1/2016 at 10:53 PM, ReMeDy said:

So Pro Bowl's going back to AFC vs. NFC? What would get you to watch the Pro Bowl?

 

Never start a sentence with "so".

[ColtsBlueFL]

The only way to make the Pro Bowl interesting and acceptable is to have the pro-bowl players paid like they are pro-bowl caliber.  For one game, I estimate it would take around 150k for each losing team player, and 200k for each winning team player. Otherwise, they have no incentive to get (or stay) in shape and risk injury for next season. Do whatever else around it for fan experience but if you want a serous game that is fun and interesting to watch, then serious pay is necessary. 

 

If the NFL doesn't want to do that, then drop the pro-bowl, just make it a list and then do some stupid pro-am celebrity "Skills" contest, which will be run at half speed (injury thing again) anyway.

[OffensivelyPC]

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 3:10 PM, Coffeedrinker said:

The one thing I think would be it fun to watch is have a drawing a select a fan to be the OC or DC of the AFC and one to be the OC or DC of the NFC.  You would still have the coaching staffs like they have now to run practices, etc But let a fan call the plays, the formations, etc.  You wiould have millions signing up for the drawings and hundreds of thousands, if not millions watching to see how they do.

Yeah, I'd watch the pro bowl just to see that.  I'd especially love to be that guy.  They could do up to 1 fan per coordinator for each quarter or something.  Or at least in the first half where it's not "as competitive." 

[shakedownstreet]

On 6/1/2016 at 10:53 PM, ReMeDy said:

What would get you to watch the Pro Bowl?

 

Either $200 cash or gratuitous nudity! 

[shakedownstreet]

On 6/1/2016 at 10:53 PM, ReMeDy said:

What would get you to watch the Pro Bowl?

 

Either $200 cash or gratuitous nudity! 

[Synthetic]

 

I've never watched the pro bowl once in my life.