Minnesota Vikings Kyle Rudolph named 2013 Pro Bowl MVP. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

What We Learned in the NFL Pro Bowl:

• Defensive-struggle Pro Bowl edged out by NFC
• Players plead to keep Pro Bowl alive

Another year, another Pro Bowl where not many people watched and not many players put a lot of effort.  The 62-35 win for the NFC seemed a little more competitive than previous years, but it’s too early to tell if it was competitive enough for Goodell to keep it going.  Rogeez has already stated that if the Pro Bowl wasn’t “competitive” enough, it would be the last one played.  Was this Pro Bowl competitive enough to keep it going?  Does anyone care?

The NFL Pro Bowl is arguably; ok inarguably the worst pro-sports All-Star game out there.  No contest.  Surprisingly, the Pro Bowl is also still the highest television rated All-Star game of all professional sports because, football is king and always will be.  Yet each year the debate heats up about how awful the Pro Bowl voting is, how meaningless the label of Pro-Bowler is after all the drop outs and replacements are made, and how pointless the game itself is.  People act as if the Pro Bowl’s existence physically affects them somehow.

First off, each year when the Pro Bowl teams are named the NFL “experts” take their time to weigh in on how stupid the fans are for voting or not voting in certain players, as if a sports All-Star game should have nothing to do with the fans at all.  And let me just at this real quickly; is there any other sport where fans are criticized as much as they are in the NFL?  In the NBA fans will scream at players and throw things enough to provoke player to jump into the stands and physically fight them but somehow NFL fans are the barbaric morons who don’t know anything about the game they’re watching.  Ok, getting off my soap box now.  After the Pro Bowl teams are announced, the players start dropping like flies.  Whether it’s injuries of the season that the players drop out of the game for, the fact that now it’s the week before the Super Bowl and naturally all players named in the Pro Bowl playing in the Super Bowl can’t fly to Hawaii, or just plain disinterest that causes the Pro Bowl teams to look for 5^th and 6^th replacement players by the time the ball is snapped that creates more criticism of the game.  Now that makes the label of being a “Pro Bowler” a little less significant when you think about by the time the game is played, those playing in it were likely no one’s first choice to play.

Then the actual game is just painful to watch in it of itself.  Naturally, players aren’t going to play full force for an exhibition game, and we don’t really expect them to.  I don’t understand why all of a sudden for the sake of the Pro Bowl, the term “exhibition game” becomes a dirty word when critiquing how the game is played.  I don’t want players to injure themselves for an All-Star game.  I don’t really care if they’re not going full force; I’m not expecting them to.  I think the Pro Bowl is a time for the players that end up going there to enjoy themselves and the fans that actually watch it, are looking to watch players having fun rather than hitting hard.  The Steelers had only one representative at the game this year with Maurkice Pouncey starting at Center.  Heath Miller was also named to the Pro Bowl but could not play due to his knee injury.  Pouncey not only flew his twin brother Mike out to Hawaii with him, but he also flew the entire Steelers offensive line out for the week of festivities.  Gotta love the big men sticking together.

What’s the solution to the Pro Bowl?  Does it need a solution?  I think something needs to change if not just to stop the bitching about it every friggin year.  I do not agree with the sentiment that the way the NFL game is played it does not lend itself well to an All Star game, I think it does.  Probably not in this same format, but an All-Star weekend of festivities isn’t a bad idea to keep in the NFL.  First off, the “experts” need to stop complaining about the fans voting their favorite players over who they deem worthy of an All-Star appointment, a fan vote is always going to be part of the process, if it isn’t then why the hell would we watch it at all?  Second, if the All-Star voting is tainted because of the fan participation and the amount of players that drop out and have to be replaced, why does the Pro Bowl nomination still count as a way to validate a player’s career?  Why, for years, did the NFL shove Philip Rivers’ “elite” status down our throats by touting the Pro Bowls he’d played in if those very same experts state that we don’t know what we’re doing when we’re voting players in?  I think the Pro Bowl, or any All-Star game for professional sports is more about the connection between player and fan and the “experts” need to take themselves completely out of the equation.  I think the format of the Pro Bowl should be more about fan and player interaction and less about playing an actual game.  If there needs to be a list of players nominated each year as the best players in the league for evaluation purposes, let those all-knowing experts name those guys themselves.

After all the ranting and raving the actual highlights of the game included Houston’s DE JJ Watt going out for a few passes at WR, Jeff Saturday (now in the NFC with Green Bay) actually taking a snap with Peyton and the AFC, and Ed Houchuli getting laughs calling an actual penalty in the game.  Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph was named MVP with 5 catches and 122 receiving yards.  Several players including Watt and Giants WR Victor Cruz spoke to the camera and Goodell saying they were playing hard in attempts to keep the game going.  I doubt Goodell is actually going to abolish the game entirely, but then again I wouldn’t put it passed him either.  Brace yourselves for the week ahead, Steeler Nation; it’s going to suck with the Super Bowl coverage.  The only highlight will be when hopefully Jerome Bettis is named to the Hall of Fame class of 2013 on Saturday.

Follow me on Twitter @Kimmy_KimKimM and follow all of NPC’s posts @NicePickCowherC

Here is the second installation of my picks/predictions for the 2012 season.  This volume deals with the AFC.  I attempt to not be too much of a homer with this conference, and keep honest with how the Steelers more than likely will fair.

AFC East

Patriots  11-5

Bills  9-7

Jets  5-11

Dolphins  4-12

AFC North

Steelers  11-5

Ravens  10-6

Bengals  10-6

Browns  4-12

AFC South

Texans  13-3

Titans  10-6

Colts  8-8

Jags  5-11

AFC West

Broncos  12-4

Chiefs  10-6

Chargers  6-10

Raiders  1-15

AFC Offensive Player of the Year:  HOU Andre Johnson

AFC Defensive Player of the Year: PIT LaMarr Woodley

AFC Championship: Pats vs Texans

AFC Champions: Texans

Analysis:  With Peyton Manning taking the helm at QB in Denver, it actually makes a team in the AFC West GOOD and throws a wrench in the AFC North’s dominance in the playoff hunt.  Houston’s Andre Johnson will have the best year of his career with over 1,600 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns.  He’s going to make folks forget about Megatron and Mike Wallace (you know the guy who runs fast for the Steelers?).  LaMarr Woodley will FINALLY have his breakout year while trying to salvage the linebacker core as they struggle over injuries over the season (can’t shake that feeling).  The Team Who Shall Not Be Named will be back again in the AFC Championship, but I really think this is the Texans’ year to make it to the big show.

For fifteen minutes during yesterday’s 31-0 destruction of the hapless Cleveland Browns, the world stood still.

Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lay motionless on the sloppy tundra of Heinz Field with a crowd of trainers, teammates, and medical personnel around him.  When I say motionless, I mean not so much as his pinky finger appeared to be moving.  Then, in a scene reminiscent of Jason Street’s ill-fated tackle on “Friday Night Lights,” they slowly removed his facemask before carting him off the field.  Ben did manage a weak Thumbs Up to the crowd as he disappeared into the tunnel but I doubt anybody was feeling very optimistic at that point.

In the aftermath of this colossal disaster, tests revealed Ben suffered a mild concussion.  To which I call B.S.  Minor concussions are when you stumble off the field thinking you’re back at Miami of Ohio, not when you’re immobilized and ambulanced to the hospital.  Not to mention this is Ben’s third or fourth concussion since his motorcycle accident.  It’s a known fact that once you have a serious head injury, it becomes easier to be concussed in the future.  At this point, you have to be concerned about his long term durability when you’re only in year five and already have four concussions.   Steve Young retired due to concussion syndrome after only suffering from three (that he knew of).

The Steelers are circling the wagons on this one.  The team shills doctors are claiming Ben could possibly be at practice this week.  They appear to have no doubt he’ll be ready for the playoffs in two weeks.  Mike Tomlin has already come out saying he has absolutely no regrets about playing his starters.  To which I have to ask:

ARE YOU INSANE?

I like Tomlin.  I think he’s a smart coach.  But he has a disturbing habit of refusing to admit mistakes.  Like, oh say, putting your franchise quarterback in peril in a meaningless game right before the playoffs are about to begin.  Let’s review the logic at play here.

BEN IS A WALKING INJURY REPORT WITH A BAD HAND, SEPARATED SHOULDER, AND SPRAINED KNEE.

THE GAME MEANT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE IS LEAKIER THAN THE LOUSIANA LEVEES AFTER KATRINA.

Sorry for all the shouting but I am totally baffled by the reasoning behind playing Ben in the first place.  Where is the upside?   It worked for the Giants last year but they had a healthy quarterback and an O-line that didn’t allow 8 sacks per game.  Use your damn head, Tomlin.

Anyway, the rest of the game was only slightly above a preseason game in Tijuana in terms of excitement and intensity.  When QB Dennis Dixon gets in a game, you know it means less than nothing.  Fast Willie Parker finally looked like Fast Willie Parker in rushing for 116 yards, highlighted by a sweet 34 yard scamper in the first quarter.  The defense had 3 sacks and 2 INTs (one returned for a TD by Tyrone Carter) in limiting the mighty Browns to 126 yards of total offense.

But the story of this game begins and ends with #7 lying motionless on the turf.  Let’s hope that’s not some sort of omen of things yet to come.

Over the previous three hours, the Tennessee Titans did something similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers, ending any hopes of a number one overall seed with a devastating 31-14 victory.  To call it the worst loss of the season would be a bit of an overstatement.  However, to say the game didn’t raise a number of alarms heading into the playoffs would also be a case of looking at the world through Black and Gold colored glasses.

The Steelers played a flat and listless game, showing little of the fire which ignited them to four straight victories over top ranked teams.  The first quarter was better suited to Halloween than Christmas as it was one horror after another.   First, LB James Harrison was lying on the ground with an injured hip.  Then QB Ben Roethlisberger was piledriven on a scramble which resulted in a fumble and backup Byron Leftwich loosening up on the sidelines.  Although Ben didn’t miss a snap and Silverback did return to the game later on (even collecting his 16^th sack, a new Steeler record), injuries to our star players were not what we needed this close to the post season.

Most disturbingly, we finally learned why Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians might not be patient with our long neglected running game.   The Titans, playing without key run-stoppers Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch, were ripe to be run on.  Arians obviously read the injury report this week because he dialed up run after run.  Unfortunately, Fast Willie Parker only managed 29 yards on 18 carries.  Brutal.

Almost as brutal as the draw play Arians called at least three times yesterday and lost 5-8 yards EVERY TIME he tried it.  Does this numbskull react to what is happening in front of him at all?  He also tried his beloved Empty Backfield set several times and every time Ben ended up sacked or running for his life.  I don’t know if its arrogance or stupidity which compels him to keep trying plays which fail over and over again.

I’ll go with stupidity.

When we couldn’t run on a terrible Indianapolis run defense, I figured it was due to FWP just coming back from injury.  When we couldn’t run against the mediocre San Diego run defense, I figured it was due to weather conditions.   Now that we couldn’t run against a team missing their key run stoppers, I’m starting to think maybe we can’t run against anybody at all.  And one dimensional teams seldom last long in the playoffs.

Not that the passing dimension looked all that hot either.  Big Ben had a miserable game, fumbling four times (losing two) while throwing two picks for good measure.  Once again, he fell into the trap of thinking he had to do everything himself and in trying to be Superman he wound up looking like the Joker.  The fumble where he was concussed, for example, was a perfect example of this shortcoming.  From the Tennessee 7 yard line, Ben scrambled around trying to make a play.  Without even looking at the end zone (where Nate Washington stood wide open), he put his head down and tried to plow forward himself.  Moving slightly faster than a club-toed sloth, he got swarmed at the one.  His other turnovers were all similar in that he tried to force passes or make plays where plays weren’t there to be made.  Also, Ben scrambling to buy time for a big play is good, Ben scrambling to try and pick up first downs/TDs is NOT GOOD.

Previous weeks, our offense has been varying shades of bad but our magnificent defense has bailed them out.  This week, thanks to that idiotic cover by the fine folks over at Sports Illustrated, our defense was merely good when it needed to be great.   For the first time this year, they allowed over 300 yards of total offense.  The most egregious defensive lapse occurred in the third quarter when RB Chris Johnson blew by the entire defense for a 21 yard TD on Fourth and one.  A similar defensive lapse occurred in the second quarter when WR Justin Gage scored on a 31 yard bomb.  Single player stats for the Titans don’t look all that impressive but their inability to stop big plays was really the uncharacteristic weakness of the defense yesterday.

The 17 point loss was the worst defeat for the Steelers this season.  Next week is a bye week with a meaningless game against the Cleveland Browns and then a real bye week before hosting a divisional playoff game at Heinz Field.  At this point, it is too late to work on things we need to improve on or worry about correcting deficiencies we’ve seen all season long.  We have the team that for better or worse is what it is going into this year’s playoffs.  We have a great defense, as long as it stays healthy.  Injuries to Harrison and S Ryan Clark (who popped his bad shoulder out again) got banged up yesterday but will hopefully be okay in a couple weeks.  We can’t run the ball and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.  We can pass the ball but letting Ben Roethlisberger chuck it 30+ times is an iffy proposition between his penchant for mistakes and the offensive line’s mediocrity (they gave up 5 more sacks yesterday).

Last minute miracles are great but it’s not something you can count on happening week in and week out.  Luckily for the Steelers, they only need three more to hopefully get where they want to go.

Going into this season, the Tennessee Titans were considered an afterthought in a division which contained the perennially powerful Colts and up-and-coming Jaguars.  Although they also made the playoffs last year, losing to the Chargers in the Wild Card Round, people seemed to think Jacksonville was the team primed to make the jump to the next level when Peyton Manning and company began their eventual decline.

The Jags were quickly exposed as an overrated farce of a team while Indianapolis stumbled out of the gate due to injuries to key players.  Meanwhile, Tennessee got off to a fast start and never looked back.  Throughout the majority of the season, the Titans have consistently been ranked the top team in the AFC.  While it was easily justied when they were undefeated, the team has gone 2-2 over the past four games and could even wind up losing the #1 seed in the playoffs if they were to lose this weekend.

While their opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have marched through the toughest schedule in NFL history, a close examination of Tennessee’s year reveals an assortment of creampuffs and pushovers.  Rather than just knee-jerk declaring them the best team in the AFC due to their record, it becomes more and more apparent that this is a team whose reputation is built on a lie.  In fact, going week by week through their schedule, it becomes more and more clear that this team hasn’t beat anybody at all.

1 – Jacksonville W (17 – 10)     Jacksonville (5-9) stinks.

2 – Cincinnati W (24 – 7)       Cincinnati (2-11) stinks.

3 – Houston W (31 – 12)     Houston (7-7) came on late but stunk early.

4 – Minnesota W (30 – 17)     Winning record but Gus Frerotte?  Really?

5 – Baltimore W (13 – 10)    Rookie QB on a team that we beat twice.

7 – Kansas City W (34 – 10)     KC (2-12) stinks.

8 – Indianapolis W (31 – 21)     Manning, Harrison, and Sanders were all hurt.

9 – Green Bay W (19 – 16)     Green Bay (5-9) stinks yet came thisclose.

10 – Chicago W (21 – 14)     Kyle Orton?

11 – Jacksonville W (24 – 14)     See above.

12 – NY Jets L (34 – 13)      Jets are overrated yet blew them out at home.

13 – Detroit W (47 – 10)     Detroit (0-14) really really stinks.

14 – Cleveland W (28 – 9)       Cleveland (4-10) stinks.

15 – Houston L (13-12)        Another loss, this to a non-playoff team.

From what I’m seeing, they have two quality wins (Baltimore and Indianapolis).  The games against the NFC North teams don’t count because that division is the NFL’s version of a Cripple Fight.  Two of them don’t have quarterbacks, the one that does has no defense, and the fourth is the Pittsburgh Pirates of football.  Every other game is either against a bottom 5 team or a loss.  Color me unimpressed.