[genna]

Just saw Clay Matthews grab the right knee and immediately head to the sideline...

Not good.

[AlekseyZubkov]

Mike Jenkins didn t get the memo that this isnt REALLY a 'tackle' football game.

At least he was the only one. I can't believe the O/U for the game was in the 50s. Easy money.

[CruzIzabella]

Not good.

LB Clay Matthews played extensively as a reserve, recording one solo tackle on defense and another on special teams. He pulled up lame on the final play of the third quarter, grabbed his right knee and jogged off gingerly, but he returned on the next series.


From Packersnews.com...

[BoomBully]

The only reason it is thought of as a success is because they have nothing else to talk about on NFL network.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP)—Other than a nosebleed, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell likes just about everything so far regarding this one-year test of having the Pro Bowl played one week before the Super Bowl.
Sometime soon, the league will decide if it wants to keep things that way.
“What we’re seeing is a lot more attention on the Pro Bowl than we’ve ever had before,” Goodell said. “And that in and of itself is a success.”
Goodell arrived Thursday in South Florida—the Pro Bowl will be played there on Sunday, followed one week later by the Super Bowl—and immediately went to work alongside some members of the NFL Players Association. But on this day, there was no talk about labor issues or an uncapped season.
Helped considerably by more than 200 volunteers, they built a playground at a school not far from downtown Fort Lauderdale, one of three stops by Pro Bowl players Thursday in what the NFL said was the largest community program in league history.

“When kids like this see us giving back and caring enough to help them build their playground, they’ll remember it for a lifetime,” said Tennessee’s Kevin Mawae(notes), the NFLPA president. “For me it’s nice, being the president, having to answer the questions about what-ifs, I can come out here and be part of the community. Right now, the rest of it, that is the most unimportant thing in the world to me.”
In six hours, the playground was built, even with constant stops by the NFL players for photos with anyone who asked.
Mawae spent part of his day filling wheelbarrows with a shovel. The Jets’ D’Brickashaw Ferguson(notes), his shorts and shoes splattered with concrete—a job he said he was fired from earlier in the day—took a paintbrush and applied stain to some newly built picnic tables. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb(notes), surrounded by kids half his size, led them in painting a mural on the school’s exterior wall.
“I painted my room once,” Ferguson said. “It took me a couple tries. This is very challenging. It’s a rough day right now.”
And the commissioner, he pushed mulch around the playground with a rake, then somehow got a nosebleed for his efforts. After an icepack, he was fine.
“I think the benefit is a couple things,” Goodell said. “First off, it shows how great our players are, what they do off the field here. So many people see them on the field and all the great contributions they make on the field, but these guys are great men and they do some great things in their communities. And number two, I think it shows how much the NFL cares about its communities.”
The Pro Bowl has traditionally been held the week following the Super Bowl. Sunday’s game marks the first time in three decades the Pro Bowl is being played somewhere other than Honolulu, where it will return for 2011 and 2012.
No decision has been made on whether it will be played before or after the Super Bowl in those years.
“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.”
NOTES: The contract between the NFL and players expires after next season and Goodell noted that dialogue between the sides is ongoing—but that no more formal meetings are scheduled yet. “I think everybody is frustrated with the lack of progress,” Goodell said. … Goodell said the decision on the timing on the 2011 and 2012 Pro Bowls could be known “in the next 60 days or so.”

[FoetAgerhot46]

It doesn't really matter when the Pro Bowl is. Noone is really going to go out of their way to watch it.

However, even if I was wrong, the dumbest thing is making the Superbowl participants that are Pro Bowlers, fly and show up to the Pro Bowl.

They should be with their teammates studying film, or doing whatever together preparing themselves for the Superbowl.

[viepedorlella]

It doesn't really matter when the Pro Bowl is. Noone is really going to go out of their way to watch it.

However, even if I was wrong, the dumbest thing is making the Superbowl participants that are Pro Bowlers, fly and show up to the Pro Bowl.

They should be with their teammates studying film, or doing whatever together preparing themselves for the Superbowl.

Read about that yesterday....starting to get sick of the NFL network and their spin on things.

[Aaron757]

Man...I thought I heard on E*PN the other day that the game was already scheduled to be moved back to it's normal time by next year.

Guess not.

This stunt is stupid. I think I heard there were like 35 players originally named that aren't playing. That's goddamn ridiculous. Even the players are saying it isn't as enticing because it isn't in Hawaii. Think about when the Super Bowl isn't even in Florida....oooh, beautiful Dallas! How about Detroit?

At least try to give them a reason to want to play.

[Terinalo]

I can understand wanting to make the "Superbowl" the culminating event of the season and have no game follow but having it the week before is stupid. Maybe it should replace the "Hall of Fame bowl" at the beginning of the following season.

[autoloanexpert]

I don't know if there is a right answer for the Pro Bowl, although someone mentioned an idea I thought wasn't too bad. Play it as the Hall of Fame Game every year. So the 2009 Pro Bowlers open up the unofficial 2010 season with the Hall of Fame Game.

As for the timing of the Pro Bowl, moving it back to it regular time table also means we're subjected to 2 weeks of Superbowl hype as well, which isn't exactly a great thing either.

[Michaelnewerb]

I think we had the same thougth at the same time.....scary

[KasaBalak]

moving the pro-bowl is stupid, but moving the draft is a fucking disgrace.

[UHlVExs7]

moving the pro-bowl is stupid, but moving the draft is a fucking disgrace.

isnt it on primetime now???

[Gvadelunar]

I don't know if there is a right answer for the Pro Bowl, although someone mentioned an idea I thought wasn't too bad. Play it as the Hall of Fame Game every year. So the 2009 Pro Bowlers open up the unofficial 2010 season with the Hall of Fame Game.

As for the timing of the Pro Bowl, moving it back to it regular time table also means we're subjected to 2 weeks of Superbowl hype as well, which isn't exactly a great thing either.

I know injuries are part of the game...and will happen at times. But at least with the pro bowl at the end of the season a player who gets injured has all offseason to recover. Imagine being a colts fan and have Manning get hurt in the Pro Bowl/Hall of Fame game and out 3 months.

They are already talking about cutting preseason games to possibly 2 now you want players to play in a preseason exhibition that means less then the regular presason games?

[yarita]

I don't know if there is a right answer for the Pro Bowl, although someone mentioned an idea I thought wasn't too bad. Play it as the Hall of Fame Game every year. So the 2009 Pro Bowlers open up the unofficial 2010 season with the Hall of Fame Game.

As for the timing of the Pro Bowl, moving it back to it regular time table also means we're subjected to 2 weeks of Superbowl hype as well, which isn't exactly a great thing either.

Would players/owners really be up for playing another exhibition game right before the season? Unless they get rid of one of the preseason games, I can't imagine they'd be up for putting their players at risk right before the start of the season.

[NikolaAAA]

I know injuries are part of the game...and will happen at times. But at least with the pro bowl at the end of the season a player who gets injured has all offseason to recover. Imagine being a colts fan and have Manning get hurt in the Pro Bowl/Hall of Fame game and out 3 months.

They are already talking about cutting preseason games to possibly 2 now you want players to play in a preseason exhibition that means less then the regular presason games?

Actually, I thought of that after I posted it. That would be the one thing (a major one) that would cause the Pro Bowl to never be moved to that date.

I agree with you that there would probably be even less players playing in a game just before the regular season in August.

[jojocomok]

isnt it on primetime now???

first round is thursday night, 2nd round friday night, 3-7 on the weekend.

thanks for fucking up everyone's traditional draft party nfl.

i wish nobody would tune in.

[Inettypofonee]

first round is thursday night, 2nd round friday night, 3-7 on the weekend.

thanks for fucking up everyone's traditional draft party nfl.

i wish nobody would tune in.

I know I wont.

[steansathtpos]

first round is thursday night, 2nd round friday night, 3-7 on the weekend.

thanks for fucking up everyone's traditional draft party nfl.

i wish nobody would tune in.

it's definitely bullshit. you don't make enough money that weekend? have to spread it out during the week now? when people already thought it took too long and the NFL was trying to speed up the picks....now they're making it even longer.

they're expecting a lot more trades now too, with the additional time between the 1st and 2nd rounds to work things out.

[Zugaxxsn]

I can understand wanting to make the "Superbowl" the culminating event of the season and have no game follow but having it the week before is stupid. Maybe it should replace the "Hall of Fame bowl" at the beginning of the following season.

There is no way coaches would abide players leaving training camp for that.
The thing that bother me about Goodell's statements is him kind of blowing off the CBA talks. I think he is finding out that the Players Association is not as accomodating without Upshaw to push around.

[GECEDEANY]

Why do they even have to play a Pro Bowl? I mean, seriously? You can still have Pro Bowl squads, and an All-Pro team, but make them both solely for the recognition and not the meaningless competition.

Isn't the point of All-Star games for the fans to watch? If the fans don't care or watch, what's the point of playing it?