Pro Bowl 2015 preview: Team Carter, Team Irvin battle in Glendale

We can’t have a Sunday without football, right? The Pro Bowl is set to kick off this weekend at the site of the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., pitting this season’s best players against each other in the NFL’s version of an all-star game. Several rule changes in the past few years have made the game more exciting, and this year’s contest should be a fun and entertaining showcase of the league’s elite talents.

One of the big changes came last year when the NFL decided to remove the traditional AFC vs. NFC head-to-head format. Instead, the league now picks two honorary captains, who then choose their teams and fill out the rosters via a fantasy draft. This year’s captains are two Hall of Famers, Michael Irvin and Cris Carter.

Irvin, the former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, surprised no one by picking every Cowboy available. This includes DeMarco Murray, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, three-fifths of the Dallas offensive line, and even the Cowboys’ long snapper. Carter took Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck with his first pick, and then gave him a multitude of weapons to work with on the outside, selecting top receivers Antonio Brown, A.J. Green, T.Y. Hilton and Jordy Nelson.

The major change implemented for this year’s game is that the width of the goal posts will be narrowed from 18 feet to 14 feet. Goal posts have been a standard width of 18 feet 6 inches in the NFL since the 1920s, but with field goal accuracy reaching historic highs in recent years, the league is trying to find ways to make kicks more challenging.

If you like offense and highlight-reel plays, then you don’t want to miss the Pro Bowl. Thirteen of the last 15 Pro Bowls have seen the winning team score at least 30 points, with the exceptions coming in last year’s game and the one following the 2005 season. The most combined points in a Pro Bowl is 107, when the NFC beat the AFC, 55-52, on Feb. 8, 2004. That remains the only matchup in which both teams scored at least 50 points in a Pro Bowl.

Although we can likely expect a ton of scoring, there’s a chance the game won’t be all that competitive. Before last year’s exciting one-point contest, there had not been a Pro Bowl decided by fewer than seven points since 2007. However, the good news is that maybe the new format -- without any conference affiliation on the teams -- is ushering in a new era of more evenly matched Pro Bowls, and we’ll get another nailbiter this year.

Regardless of the outcome of the game, there is no doubt that there will be loads of talent on the field Sunday night. The game features three of the top-five quarterbacks in passing yardage (Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan), along with the league’s leader in passer rating (Tony Romo). The leading rusher (DeMarco Murray) and leading receiver (Antonio Brown) in the NFL will also be on hand in Glendale, along with the unofficial league leader in ridiculous catches (Odell Beckham Jr.).

J.J. Watt - Defensive players don’t often get a chance to shine in the Pro Bowl, but Watt is no ordinary defensive end. Watt not only ranked second in the league with 20.5 sacks, but also had a ridiculous five touchdowns, three of which came on the offensive side of the ball. That’s the same number of scores that Andre Johnson and Reggie Bush had combined this season. It’s likely that everyone in the stadium (and watching at home) is hoping the Team Carter coaches come up with a few scripted plays in the red zone for Watt.

Odell Beckham Jr. - After delivering perhaps the Catch of the Year -- a one-handed, twisting, near-impossible grab against the Cowboys in late November -- the New York Giants wide receiver is a safe bet to make at least one incredible reception in this game. But Beckham is more than just a guy that created a memorable Twitter meme, he is legitimately one of the league’s elite receivers after his historic 2014 season. Beckham set the NFL record for most receptions (91) and receiving yards (1,305) in a player’s first 12 career games, and became the only third player in NFL history with at least 1,300 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns in a rookie campaign.

Traditionally a fixture at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, the Pro Bowl will be played on the mainland for just the second time in the last three decades. This is obviously the first time that the University of Phoenix Stadium has hosted the Pro Bowl, and the second time it has hosted the Super Bowl since opening in 2006. One of its more notable features of the stadium is the Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza, which honors the memory of the former Cardinal with an 8-foot tall sculpture of his likeness. If you are going to the game, be sure to check out this Gameday Guide from the NFL, which details some of the changes to the stadium from what fans usually experience at Cardinals games, including revised security and tailgating procedures.

Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

When: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Announcers: Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters