Jan 27, 2013, Honolulu, HI, USA; NFL cheerleaders pose after the 2013 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL should move the Pro Bowl back to the weekend after the Super Bowl.  Who’s with me on this one?

As much criticism as the Pro Bowl takes for not even living up to exhibition game status, I do find myself missing it this Sunday.  As lame as it is, the Pro Bowl used to be kind of a going away present from the NFL.  A little bonus, like the mint on your pillow at a hotel before you go to bed.  Or maybe better yet, like the little bowl of mints on your way out of the restaurant.  You don’t eat the mints between the main course and dessert do you?  No, you eat them AFTER dessert.  When everything is all over with and you thought you were finished, you get one extra little treat for the road.

Let’s face it.  That’s all the Pro Bowl is.  A little extra treat.  For those that love to bitch about the players mailing it in and not playing hard, or even the players that don’t even play due to “injury”, all I have to say is “Don’t Watch It”.   There’s a lot of crap I don’t like on T.V. and guess what? I don’t watch it.  I don’t spend my time condemning the networks for showing it.   The Pro Bowl is what it is, and actually used to be something you could kind of look forward to.  Not because it was a riveting game, but because it was a last ditch effort at soaking up some football.

I’m okay with the 2 week build up between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.  We’ve had football on every Sunday since the first of September and I can live with one Sunday off before the big game.  What benefit is there to cramming the Pro Bowl in to the week before the Super Bowl?  The Sunday after the Super Bowl I would watch all the camps and challenges before the Pro Bowl.  All the old quarterbacks running around playing flag football with old receivers, or them trying to throw the football through moving tires.  Did they even do that this year?

Dear Roger Goodell,

As football fans get ready to embark on the longest off season in sports, it sure would be nice to have that mint on the way out of the door.

What do you think?  Before, After or really Don’t Care?

You can find me on Twitter  @gunnelsj

Sep 16, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jurrell Casey (99) gets up off of San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers (17) during the second quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

At least one Tennessee Titans player will be making the Pro Bowl this season. Unfortunately, it’s not the real Pro Bowl rosters, it’s ProFootballFocus’s Pro Bowl rosters. But who cares about the Pro Bowl anyways. It’s a popularity contest anymore and hardly has anything to do with who really deserves the “honor.”

But enough of the pity party; let’s take a look at the Titan who made PFF’s AFC Pro Bowl roster:

DT Jurrell Casey (TEN)

…While we appreciate how excellent Vince Wilfork has been in recent weeks, we plumped for the more consistent Casey. There’s a player who produces week in and week out.

Casey came in behind the Bengals DT Geno Atkins and Buffalo’s DT Kyle Williams. I guess that’s pretty good company to be with.

While Casey hasn’t done anything shocking this season, he’s been solid all the way through. His stats look like they’ll end up pretty close to his rookie year’s stats, plus a forced fumble or so. He was a little slow coming on this season, due to an elbow injury that hinder him through some of the first games.

Casey was the only Titans player to make PFF’s AFC Pro Bowl roster, which makes sense. The Titans have been the definition of inconsistency on both sides of the ball this year. An ever growing injury report certainly hasn’t helped any.

With another solid draft and some good growth from all the young players on the team during the offseason, the Titans could show up as an entirely different team this next year, something much closer to what we were expecting to see this year.

There’s something to put faith in, or at the very least, some hope. The Titans had things in their favor as they headed into this season, but whether it was due to poor coaching, unfortunate injuries, or a combo of the two, the Titans underwhelmed us all.

Here’s to a better next year, perhaps with a few more Pro Bowl worthy candidates.

You can find me on Twitter @JustinLStewart

Courtesy: TheSportsMinion

No Titans will be going to the Pro Bowl this year. As much as it is disappointing, it really isn’t surprising. The Titans have been completely inconsistent in every phase of the game this year and that’s just not how players make it to the Pro Bowl. Jason McCourty has really blossomed this year but his production seemed to have dropped off after suffering a concussion in the Titans vs. Bills game. Had he continued playing as he did at the beginning of the season he would have been a shoe in, but his maturity at the corner position will do. He’s not the only Titan who fell just short. (more…)