Cameras crowded around the dais, trained toward the carpet as the commemorative Pro Bowl coin bounced, rolled and finally came up …
Tails.
"YEAH. It’s like that Prime!" came Jerry Rice’s taunt toward former teammate and rival Deion Sanders.
"That’s exactly how I saw it going," Sanders replied, his timing impeccable as ever. "This is right on point with our draft."
Just as the playful jabs the Hall of Famers exchanged on Tuesday played into the NFL’s plans for a livelier than usual start to Pro Bowl week, the league hopes this year’s experimental format can similarly invigorate Sunday’s game at Aloha Stadium.
With Rice and Sanders serving as alumni captains, the unconferenced rosters began to take shape at the Pro Bowl press conference at the J.W. Marriott Ihilani Resort with the teams to be finalized today in a draft melding fantasy football with the NFL’s annual all-star game.
Having won the coin toss, Rice chose to partner with player captains Drew Brees, the New Orleans quarterback, and Robert Quinn, the St. Louis defensive end .
That gave Sanders — along with his captain duo of Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles and Houston defensive end J.J. Watt — the first pick in today’s draft.
"Don’t think we forgot Jerry picked them first," a smiling Watt said.
Game-day intensity hasn’t been one of the Pro Bowl’s most prominent traits, but the event came under criticism from fans, players and most notably NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after a particularly lackluster performance in 2012.
While the effort picked up last year, the league introduced this year’s format change in an effort "to ratchet this game up in terms of its value, both competitively and in terms of what fans want, most importantly," said Ray Anderson, NFL executive vice president of football operations.
"What’s nice is everyone here is accountable for the future of this game and the format of this game gives us an opportunity for us to do something innovative."
Brees is back for his eighth Pro Bowl, although he might have more reason than most to find an excuse to stay home. He suffered a dislocated elbow in the first quarter of the 2007 game, but has continued to make the trip and said balancing the risk of injury with competing on game day "comes down to … pride. Pride in your effort and your performance."
"I don’t want to sit here and say this game hascompletely deteriorated, because I don’t believe that," he said. "We had maybe one year, two years ago, where early on there were just some things that happened in the game where you kinda sat back and said, ‘That’s not what we’re looking for here and that’s not what the fans deserve.’ I think that last year’s effort was great. I thought it was an extremely competitive game. I thought guys came in with a mentality to win.
"This whole draft and everything else just kind of adds a whole new level for it, draws more interest for fans."
The captains began assembling their teams Tuesday, with both Team Rice and Team Sanders selecting 12 players –interior linemen, fullbacks, punters and special-teamers — in the first phase of the draft.
Brees will have Saints guards Jahri Evans and Ben Grubbs up front with Team Rice. Watt will be joined on the Team Sanders defensive line by Kansas City’s Dontari Poe, Detroit’s Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy.
The remaining spots will be filled today with the draft televised on NFL Network starting at 3 p.m.
Practices start Thursday at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, with Ron Rivera and the Carolina Panthers coaching staff leading Team Rice and Chuck Pagano’s Indianapolis Colts staff directing Team Sanders.
Gonzalez in Pro Bowl
Tony Gonzalez, the Falcons’ tight end who is retiring, was named to his 14th Pro Bowl on Tuesday as a replacement for San Francisco’s Vernon Davis.
It is the fourth Pro Bowl selection for Gonzalez in five seasons with Atlanta. He had 79 receptions for 803 yards and eight touchdowns in 2013, adding to the best career totals for any tight end in NFL history.
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Associated Press
