2024 Pro Bowl Games winners, losers: NFC dominates skills challenges, Manning bro fatigue

For the second year in a row, the NFC are the winners of the Pro Bowl Games.

Thanks to a dominant showing in the skills competitions, the NFC also had a late scoring flurry in the second half of the flag football game to win the overall competition, 64-59. The AFC was outscored by a margin of 19-6 in the final quarter and a half, even though the AFC ended up winning the flag football game, 50-34.

The result is also a nice little payday for the NFC players, each of whom takes home a bonus of $80,000 — as opposed to the AFC players, who bring in half of that. The entire event started Thursday and was held in Orlando, Florida, with the flag football game and some of the final events on Sunday held in Camping World Stadium.

Here are the winners and losers from the Pro Bowl Games.

WINNERS

The fun level for the players comes through

Whatever your thoughts may be on the format, it’s clear that the players enjoyed the experience, even in the other events. A perfect example came early in Sunday’s flag football game. NFC starting quarterback Jalen Hurts (Eagles) fired a quick pass to Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb, who was met with a charging AFC cornerback. As Lamb escaped, Hurts had leaked out to the left side of the field on a wheel route, where Lamb threw a perfectly-placed ball for Hurts. Hurts mistimed his jump and the pass slipped through his outstretched hands as he tumbled to the turf. Hurts, Lamb, NFC coach Eli Manning and most players on the field immediately laughed, in what made for a nice moment on the broadcast.

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While the viewing experience perhaps remains a little disjointed, the Pro Bowl should be a reward for the players who earned their nominations. At the very least, that experience came through.

CeeDee Lamb and Keenan Allen

It’s hard to extrapolate any conclusions actually pertaining to football, but a pair of receivers — one from each conference — each had nice showings in the flag football game. For the NFC, Lamb hauled in five catches for 44 yards with a team-high three receiving touchdowns.

For the AFC, Keenan Allen also had three receiving scores, but also had a passing touchdown on a 7-yard trick play to Jaguars tight end Evan Engram and led the AFC in both catches (nine) and receiving yards (90).

Mic’ed up

This is arguably the best thing about the entire slate of programming, the access to sound and conversations between players and coaches, as well as in-game sideline interviews. The ability to hear play calls as they come in, the play calls being relayed to players in the huddle and all the little strategy adjustments through the course of the game make for fascinating little glimpses that satisfy even the most old-fashioned football fans.

NFC dominates skills challenges

Give credit to the NFC for being far more focused on the skills competitions throughout the entire weekend. The NFC absolutely controlled, winning all but one skills competition event, the kick tic-tac-toe. In all, the NFC outscored the AFC, 30-9, in all the skills competitions, making it the primary reason the NFC won the entire event.

The gridiron gauntlet obstacle course event

This continues to be one of the better events in the Pro Bowl games. There’s a child-like simplicity to this relay-style game that recalls the nostalgia of early 90s game shows like "American Gladiators." It blends agility and strength events like footwork challenges and sled pushes. The AFC and NFC compete side-by-side and the variety of the events and relay nature of the competition lends itself to tight, dramatic finishes.

LOSERS

The best catch event

Just like last year, this was easily the most disappointing and underwhelming event. It was a previously recorded event shown on tape delay. It only featured two players, one from each conference and there was no buildup, erasing any hope of tension or drama. And while it’s an event perhaps trying to simulate the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest, it just does not create very much interest or excitement. It needs to be completely reimagined.

Maybe it’s time for someone other than the Mannings

For the second year in a row, the Manning brothers coached both Pro Bowl teams, Peyton for the AFC and Eli for the NFC. The Mannings, even in retirement, have become fixtures in the NFL season, with their endorsements and presence on the ESPN ManningCast show during "Monday Night Football." They are very skilled at being on camera for funny soundbites, but we’re at the point where Manning fatigue might be setting in.

If we may offer a couple of suggestions: former Seahawk great Marshawn Lynch for the NFC and former journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick for the AFC, both of whom have done plenty of media and would inject freshness into the Pro Bowl.

Geno Smith

Again, it’s difficult to extrapolate any actual football conclusions from the Pro Bowl, but Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith easily had the worst day of any player. Smith completed 15-of-21 passes for 154 yards with a pair of touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions — a game high. One of those picks came on a fourth-and-goal and directly took points off the board. His QB rating of 84.3 was lower than Keenan Allen’s was for the AFC, 135.4. Allen, of course, is a receiver for the Chargers.

Now, getting all that out of the way, it’s important to remember here that the pace of play is more akin to a walkthrough practice, only with some competition. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter much at all.