Pro Bowl 2015: NFL’s best put on a show in Arizona

The NFL experimented with slimmer and taller uprights, shrinking the distance between goalposts from 18 feet to 14 feet. Additionally, extra points were pushed back to make them 35-yard attempts.

SB Nation presents: How to fix the Pro Bowl

As usual, there wasn’t a ton of room for defenders to shine in the Pro Bowl. Nobody is going to put up a ton of sacks or interceptions, so the offense mostly dominated the discussion. With the quarterbacks at play and the kind of playmakers at the wide receiver positions, there were a ton of big plays.

Watt was a different story, however. Watt was only credited with one tackle, but he had an interception (of course he did) and was credited with three passes defensed on top of that. Watt was always a big favorite to win the award.

At the very least, it was a competitive game throughout. Of course, the word “competitive” comes with a big asterisk, since both sides took unnecessary risks on fourth down and ran trick plays with reckless abandon. But there was plenty of scoring throughout, which is always fun to see.

The second half wasn’t quite as exciting as the first, with Team Carter leading for most of it and not nearly as many scoring opportunities. Still, the lead change late in the fourth did drum up a bit of interest, and the late drive led by Andy Dalton was exciting.

First, Chris Berman got caught unaware that the camera was rolling at halftime of the Pro Bowl:

Then after the halftime show, he looked like he was ready to flip his desk:

Jordy Nelson made a pretty touchdown grab. So pretty, that Green Bay Packers teammate Clay Matthews briefly forgot that he technically isn’t on Nelson’s team.

Okay, sometimes the Pro Bowl is kinda fun, I guess.

This is why rules are tested first, and the early returns are promising if it means PATs aren’t just gimmes.

If there’s still beef between Richard Sherman and Patrick Peterson, it’s hard to see it. Sherman called out Peterson a month ago saying he’d be benched if he allowed as many touchdowns as the Cardinals’ star, now the two are locked in a warm embrace.

We also learned that the NFL uses the term “frienemies,” who knew?

We’ve got video of it below:

Obviously, the Pro Bowl isn’t as big a deal as the Super Bowl but the NFL sure is trying its best to make it close. Sparks is a big name and talented singer, and is from Glendale, where the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl are being played at University of Phoenix Stadium. Sparks is best-known for her time on American Idol in 2007 and for hit songs like “A Broken Wing,” “This Is My Now” and “Tattoo.”

Hall of Fame wide receivers Cris Carter and Michael Irvin will captain teams that square off in the NFL’s annual postseason exhibition Sunday night at the University of Phoenix Stadium. After shedding the conference format, the NFL is again pitting two legends against each other as alumni captains who handpicked their players in a real-life version of fantasy football. But the all-star game will also feature a few new twists. This year, the Pro Bowl will include narrower goal posts, longer extra points and more timeouts.

Headlining Team Carter is Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who was drafted with the first overall pick for the second year in a row. Michael Irvin loaded up on Dallas Cowboys stars when he selected Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray with his first two picks, and then drafted five more players from his former team.

Go ahead, overthrow J.J. Watt while you’re playing catch. He’ll still come down with it:

Just your occasional reminder that Watt is as good a receiver as some actual receivers. I don’t know if he upstaged the usual Odell Beckham Jr. show, but it’s close:

Though the Pro Bowl is perhaps the most derided all-star game in sports, it still draws huge numbers. The NFL expects the game to garner another large TV audience this Sunday.

For the majority of the Pro Bowl’s lifespan, the teams were divided by conference. However, the league changed the format in 2014 to spark interest in the event. Now, both teams will field rosters selected in fantasy draft conducted the week before the game. This year’s alumni captains were Hall of Fame receivers Michael Irvin and Cris Carter.

It’s finally here -- the biggest game of the season, featuring the best talent in the league. It’s the one you’ve all been waiting for ... the 2015 Pro Bowl! Of course, that’s how the league would like reality to look, and that’s certainly how they try and bill it, but the Pro Bowl has struggled to maintain viewers in recent years.

Whatever the case, the latest iteration of the game continues to evolve as the league tries to find the sweet spot that keeps people interested, and it’s set for Sunday night on ESPN. This year, they had two former players serve as captains to draft the respective teams to play in the Pro Bowl, something they started doing last year. That event drew some attention, though it also did as much last year while the game itself saw its ratings drop.

The Pro Bowl draft is over and the teams have been chosen. The NFL’s version of an all-star game comes to your television this Sunday.

As part of the league’s effort to make the Pro Bowl actually digestible, the rosters are no longer conferenced as they had been for the majority of the game’s lifespan. The rosters were completed Wednesday when Hall of Fame wide receivers Michael Irvin and Cris Carter drafted their players and coaches.

Some of the best players in the league are set to take part in the 2015 Pro Bowl, a game that the league continues to change to generate more fan interest. Fortunately for the league, it it may have found a format that is actually intriguing. By doing away with the traditional AFC vs. NFC matchup and instituting a fantasy draft, the NFL injected some spontaneity into the proceedings, and a different take on bragging rights.

It’s always interesting to see what the jerseys look like for the Pro Bowl, specifically since Nike took over the design. Last year’s look received mixed reviews, and little has changed this year. But at least they’re distinctive, right? Whatever the case, here’s a look at Team Irvin’s jerseys, featuring orange neon on gray:

Jason Garrett and the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff will join captain Michael Irvin in an effort to upend Team Carter in the 2015 Pro Bowl on Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The game will be shown live at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Naturally, Irvin loaded up on Cowboys, starting with the offense, and will stick with his guys in this relatively new format. Irvin is a Hall of Fame receiver who won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys between 1992-95.

Some -- a crazy few -- are interested in the actual game. Others will find little to hold their attention, but should still pay attention to the new uniforms from Nike. The neon color palette is still in the mix this year, with Team Carter accentuated by green neon and Team Irvin accentuated by orange neon.

Here’s a look at Team Carter:

The 2015 Pro Bowl fills the gap between the AFC and NFC Championships and Super Bowl 49. The Pro Bowl has been a strange and disappointing thing over the years, but a few recent changes have added a little bit of excitement to the game.

Last year was the first year of the modern era without the traditional AFC vs. NFC matchup. The league picked captains to select the teams in a draft/fantasy format. Former NFL receivers Michael Irvin and Cris Carter are the captains this year, assisted by Pro Bowlers Antonio Brown, DeMarco Murray, Joe Haden and J.J. Watt.

The Pro Bowl has been of waning interest to NFL fans for years now. Despite a few gimmicky rule shakeups like longer extra points, a new draft format and a public relations campaign attempting to package the game as real life fantasy football, the 2015 game doesn’t look to put a charge back into the fan base.

But if you appreciate the Pro Bowl for what it is -- a group of really good football players screwing around in a pickup game for a couple of hours -- it can still be somewhat enjoyable.

When Jason Garrett and his offensive coordinator, Scott Linehan, take the sidelines to coach the Pro Bowl, it probably won’t feel too different than coaching a normal game. That’s because the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff has a whopping six members of their offense playing for them in the NFL’s annual all-star game.

Unsurprisingly, Michael Irvin, one of the alumni pickers for the Pro Bowl squads, loaded up on players from his former team. Quarterback Tony Romo, running back DeMarco Murray and three of the offensive linemen who block for them -- Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin -- are all suiting up for Team Irvin.