A Not So Pro Bowl … Sunday Cup 1-31

From Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

The Pro Bowl was so important to Minnesota Vikings OT Bryant McKinnie that he failed to show up for practice on Friday … and Thursday … and Wednesday.

McKinnie’s absences finally got him sent home, kicked off the team by NFC Coach Wade Phillips, with help from the NFL office. He will not receive any sort of paycheck for his time spent here in south Florida, where he missed three of the four practices and did not attend any meetings.

It’s just another black mark on the Pro Bowl ledger for this year, and there’s little doubt in the mind of most around pro football that the idea of moving the all-star game to the site of the Super Bowl and then playing it a week ahead of time was a mistake.

Everyone save NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“What we’re seeing is a lot more attention on the Pro Bowl than we’ve ever had before,” Goodell said this week, “and that in and of itself is a success.”

The change in location – south Florida rather than Hawaii – and timing – coming before the Super Bowl rather than after – were meant to look at two things: whether more excitement could be created with the Pro Bowl being the first event of Super Bowl week, and whether it would have an impact on TV ratings.

The game Sunday night at Joe Robbie/Dolphins/Dolphin/Land Shark/Sun Life Stadium is sold out and a crowd of some 70,000-plus is expected. The game begins at 6:30 p.m. CST and can be seen on ESPN.

Certainly that qualifies as a plus; normally the games in Honolulu were not sold out. But those fans that have purchased tickets will see a watered down version of the NFL’s best. Right off the bat, 14 players on the Colts and Saints won’t be taking part because they have a much more important game to prepare for next Sunday.

“You take 14 guys from the Super Bowl teams that are not here,” said San Diego TE Antonio Gates. “Does it mean it’s a true all-star game now?”

Nearly 40 percent of the original Pro Bowl roster will not participate, pulling out for various reasons, most of them because of injuries, real and imagined. Moving the game up eliminated two more weeks of rest that players used to have before playing the game.

“We knew that not having the Super Bowl players was something that was going to be a negative to doing this,” Goodell said. “But everyone felt that there was a real chance to put this Pro Bowl on a higher platform and be a positive thing. We did that and I think it has worked for us. Super Bowl players will be on the biggest stage of all a week later.”

Even with all the defections and additions, no member of the Chiefs will take part in the game. They are five teams without a representative for the game: Atlanta, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Detroit.

The players themselves have not been thrilled by the changes, especially the departure from Hawaii after 30 years.

“I like Hawaii a lot better,” Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison told the media this week.

Said Gates: “Hawaii is considered kind of a vacation. A lot of these guys are from Florida, and a lot of people come to Florida on a regular basis.”

And then there was McKinnie and his antics. He claimed to be recovering from a long season, with ankle and foot injuries. “Been having some problems with my feet and ankle and I gotta give it a break,” McKinnie tweeted on Saturday. “I had a long season + my body is hurting.”

Then, he should have done is never shown up in the first place like so many other players..

“I can’t speak for him,” said New York Giants tackle David Diehl. “All I can speak for is me. I was here for everything. I was prepared and I’m ready to go. I’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”

Whether the TV watching fans of football will be ready to go for the broadcast on ESPN remains to be seen. It’s hard to work up any kind of lather about the Pro Bowl, since the game holds no significance of any kind. Experimenting with the location and timing of the game is fine. But this time it did not work. The best players of the NFL are not taking part. It’s not really an all-star game as much as it’s a game for good players who agreed to show up.

That tells us a lot about how many players feel about this game.

SIGNINGS, FIRINGS, MOVEMENT AROUND THE LEAGUE

• BILLS – are pursuing George Cortez as their quarterbacks coach. Cortez is the offensive coordinator of the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.
• PATRIOTS – announced that TE Shane Waldron will not return to New England’s coaching staff.
• REDSKINS – hired Jim Zorn as their quarterbacks coach.

FROM THE PAGES OF SUPER BOWL HISTORY

On January 31, 1993, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was the third straight championship game loss by the Bills, who compromised their chances to win with nine turnovers – four interceptions and five lost fumbles.

The Bills got on the scoreboard first, as RB Thurman Thomas found the end zone on a two-yard run. Dallas got the next two touchdowns, as QB Troy Aikman and TE Jay Novacek connected on a 23-yard scoring play. The Dallas defense picked up a touchdown by Jimmie Jones on a fumble return of two yards.

Aikman threw three more TD passes, hitting 18 and 19-yard throws to WR Michael Irvin and a 45-yard play with WR Alvin Harper. RB Emmitt Smith scored on a 10-yard run and LB Ken Norton Jr. returned a fumble nine yards for the last of Dallas’ seven touchdowns. Aikman was named the game’s MVP, hitting 22 of 30 passes for 273 yards and the four touchdowns. Smith ran for 108 yards and Irvin caught six passes for 114 yards.

Dick Hantak was the game’s lead official. The national anthem was sung by Garth Brooks. The half-time show featured Michael Jackson. NBC handled the TV broadcast, with Dick Enberg and Bob Trumpy calling the game. Advertisers paid $850,000 and the estimated audience for the game was 90.9 million viewers.

SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY …

Born on January 31, 1938 in Oakland, California was WR Chris Burford. He was the first player coming out of college that the Dallas Texans signed in early January 1960. Burford ended up playing eight seasons for the Texans-Chiefs (1960-67), appearing in 103 games and he led the team in receiving in four of his years. Overall, Burford caught 391 passes for 5,505 yards and 55 TDs. In the 1962 season, he caught what remains a team-record 12 touchdown passes. At Stanford University, he set a then NCAA record with 61 catches during the 1959 season. Burford was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1975. After his career was over, Burford practiced law in the San Francisco area.

Born on January 31 1961 in Dalton, Georgia was P James Arnold. He was selected in the fifth-round of the 1983 NFL Draft out of Vanderbilt University. Arnold kicked for three seasons with the Chiefs (1983-85), appearing in 48 games. He punted 284 times for the Chiefs, averaging 42 yards a punt, with a net punting average of 34.2 yards. Arnold went on to kick for nine more seasons in the NFL, eight of those years with Detroit.

Born on January 31, 1982 in Pontiac, Michigan was WR Jeff Webb. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of San Diego State University. Webb spent three seasons with the Chiefs (2006-08), appearing in 31 games. He caught 36 passes for 382 yards and one TD. Webb also returned 17 kickoffs for an average of 21.9 yards a return.