AFC Pro Bowl Roster: Disappointed QBs Head List
The NFL Pro Bowl Game in Hawaii is a place none of the AFC quarterbacks want to be this weekend. Why? What could be better than a week in Hawaii? It’s an honor to play in your league’s All-Star game isn’t it? Well, maybe in the NBA, MLB or NHL when they play their All-Star games in mid-season it is. And maybe this is something the NFL might want to take a look at doing in the future. But when you’re All-State game is being held a week before your championship game, that means the guys playing in the game are not going to the championship event. In the others sports, everybody is still in the running. For this reason, the NFL Pro Bowl is more of a consolation prize than it is a big event.
Look at the roster of AFC quarterbacks. You have Peyton Manning, the quarterback of the top seeded Denver Broncos. Do you think he’s happy to be in Hawaii? Hardly. He was probably almost certain he would be in his hometown of New Orleans this week preparing for the Super Bowl. If not for a defensive collapse in the waning seconds in the Divisional Round against the Baltimore Ravens, and the controversial call the not try to win the game in regulation time with 31 seconds and two timeouts, he likely would have been. Now he will have to watch the team they had all but beaten play in the Super Bowl.
Tom Brady made the Pro Bowl roster, but he will miss the game due to injury. That’s just as well, because he definitely would not have been happy about being in Hawaii after the New England Patriots lost to those same Ravens in the AFC Championship a week ago. It was the first time the Pats have lost an AFC Championship game on their home field.
Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans is probably disappointed to be in Hawaii this week too. His Texans were the last AFC team to lose a game this year. They had high hopes of getting to New Orleans but a late season fade sent them on the road to New England in the playoffs where they were beaten in the Divisional Round.
That leaves us with Andrew Luck. Luck should be happy to be in Hawaii. His Indianapolis Colts were also a victim of the Ravens in the post-season. But the colts were not supposed to make it that far. So they probably have a different attitude about being in Hawaii. For Luck, getting there as a rookie quarterback is very impressive.
So of the three AFC quarterbacks, look for Andrew Luck to be the most productive.
BetOnline has the odds on the game for you. The AFC is -115 while the NFC is -105. Over/under is 83. We would advise you to take the over -110. We will also go with the AFC -115.
The score of last year’s Pro Bowl was 59-41. However, be careful assuming there will be no defense played in this year’s game. Commissioner Roger Goodell was not amused by last year’s lack of effort on the defense and has said if things don’t improve this year, there may not be a Pro Bowl game after this. So there should be a bit more effort this year, but it won’t be a 10-7 type score. Points will still be plentiful.
