The AFC defeated the NFC, 26-7, in the 2019 Pro Bowl on a rain-soaked Sunday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Here’s what we learned from the annual all-star showcase:
1. Patrick Mahomes knows we’re marveling at what he’s doing on a weekly basis. The AFC starter moved the team down the field with ease on its opening drive and went for more social media traffic by attempting a no-look pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster. The pass glanced off Smith-Schuster’s hands, which haven’t received enough passes from Mahomes to expect such a feat — or if you’re old school, such nonsense.
2. Coaches like to have fun in this game, as evidenced by Ezekiel Elliott running a read option with Saquon Barkley. That begs the question: Is there a running back duo that could do that in an actual game? The pseudo-QB running back would have to have a decent arm, or else it would get blown up in the backfield, so our pool shrinks. It probably wouldn’t happen. Then again, neither would Elliott and Barkley rushing the passer, which also happened in the third quarter. Mike Evans played defensive back later, too, recording an interception. Other offensive players joined in on the side-switching fun, and Melvin Ingram came this close to scoring a rushing touchdown. The capper: Jalen Ramsey caught a touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson with 0:19 left to cap the dominant day for the AFC. Where better than the Pro Bowl?
3. The word of the day: drops. Jarvis Landry dropped a pass over the middle that would’ve gone for a touchdown. Amari Cooper separated from Chris Harris Jr. and was in perfect position for an over-the-shoulder catch of a pass from Cowboys teammate Dak Prescott. It bounced off his facemask. There were more, and the rain can be blamed for some of it, but in an all-star game, we expect the all-stars to make all-star plays — or at least the more frequent ones.
4. When Jamal Adams sacked Mitch Trubisky on an ill-fated flea-flicker attempt, he celebrated the then-challenged result by running off the field with his helmet in the air. I asked fellow Around The NFL writer Jeremy Bergman if an interception would secure a Pro Bowl Defensive MVP for him. Minutes later, he intercepted a pass thrown into the gray sky by usual receiver Adam Thielen, securing the honor. Adams comes away with the award after doing a little bit of everything this week — including tackling a mascot — while the offensive MVP predictably goes to Mahomes.
5. Sunday’s honorable mention award goes to the sound of steady precipitation, which made a consistently audible microphone pop that sounded similar to a plate of leftovers on the verge of exploding inside a microwave. The towel used to clean up that metaphorical explosion could have been useful to wipe off some of the camera lenses that featured water droplets distorting some of the game’s images. But in all, the production crew and everyone involved deserves a lot of credit for toughing out some uncomfortable conditions to bring the world an exhibition game filled with most of football’s stars.
6. With less than 10 minutes to play, we were facing the threat of a shutout in the Pro Bowl for the first time in the game’s long history. Prescott helped us avoid such disaster by tossing a touchdown to Falcons tight end Austin Hooper before we reached the nine-minute mark. This definitely wasn’t the most, um, explosive Pro Bowl we’ve ever seen.
7. Mic’ing up players was a nice touch. Hearing Andrew Luck call plays and tell his receivers he wants a thumbs up before the snap if the corner route will be open was a great look inside the game that we typically don’t receive. The rainfall was a downer on the audio, but the intent was nice, and really only possible in a game like this.