As I make my way to Arizona, I realize how many avid football fans don’t realize that the Pro Bowl is being held in the same city as the Super Bowl. It’s no surprise as this is only the third year for the NFL to hold the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl in the same city. On this beautiful day in Scottsdale, Arizona, Michael Irvin a Hall of Famer, Team Captain and one of the greatest receivers to play the game of football stated, “that this is the perfect Super Bowl weather”.
As the week starts off the events are stacked thick, opening with the Pro Bowl Draft. This is only the second year for an unconferenced Pro Bowl, with the teams being led by Hall-of-Fame wide receivers, Michael Irvin and Cris Carter. Irvin talks about how in awe he was with the fans. He jogs his memory of the real NFL Draft and how he walks around shaking the hands of fans, players, stars, and media ready for the big event, and pointed out that the fantasy draft of the Pro Bowl, was up to the same caliber. He was shocked. The variety of jerseys that packed the house, waiting in line for over 24 hours to get in, was up to par with that of the Red Carpet in New York. Irvin states, “It just shows you it’s the greatest game in the world and in this country we consume it as such. It’s the greatest game because unlike basketball and baseball you can’t have individual successes. In the game of football there is no such thing. You need someone else to have success and in life you won’t do anything great all by yourself either.”
The two have less than a week to get drafted players their game plans together and create what once were some of the strongest rivals into teammates. Irvin talks about his confidence in his team and how he feels, “our first day of practice we were more organized [than Team Carter], we looked sharper than they did, we got a good jump on them and that was part of the game plan. I tried to put players with this coaching staff that understood the system that this staff [Dallas Cowboys] runs.” Irvin and his team captains made sure to pick up every Cowboy’s player that was a part of the Pro Bowl. Irvin knowing that he was going to pick the Cowboys coaching staff, even took it a step farther to draft players who were athletes under the direction of coaches and/or coordinators from years prior. He later touched on picking up Matthew Stafford, who currently plays for the Detroit Lions, which were once under the direction of offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who is now a part of the Cowboys coaching team. Scott Lineham recently signed a 3-year deal as the play caller and offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, so this was another edge that Team Irvin could maintain.
After Saturday’s practice, before Sunday’s game, Irvin touched on how serious they were about gaining traction on this game. “We want to give people things to think about. We have a lot of talented gifted guys out here that really can do more than the position they play all season long. The whole idea is to keep these guys intense keep them in the game. You allow those guys to show off some of those other talents and man, it keeps the intensity up. You are going to see a whole lot of stakes in this game on Sunday,” states Irvin.
With all that in mind, who will take home the ‘W’, will it be Team Irvin, with the goal of getting a team that has a majority of players under the same ‘family’ or will it go to Team Carter? All I know is it’s a game full of the best of the best at their skill, so either way it will be impressive to see them all out on the field at once.
