2023 Pro Bowl

The 2023 Pro Bowl Games (branded as the 2023 Pro Bowl Games presented by Verizon for sponsorship reasons) was the National Football League's all-star game for the 2022 NFL season. For the first time, the event consisted of skills competitions and non-contact flag football games, rather than an actual tackle football game. It was held at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center in Henderson, Nevada, and Bear's Best Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 2 and 5, 2023. Voting began on November 15, 2022, and the rosters were announced on December 21, 2022.

Background

The NFL announced on August 9, 2022, that Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, would host the Pro Bowl for the second consecutive season.

On September 26, 2022, the league announced they would be replacing the traditional Pro Bowl game with skills competitions throughout the week, culminating with a non-contact flag football game at the end of the week. The NFL has partnered with Peyton Manning and his Omaha Productions to revamp the events. A. Smith & Co. produced the skills competition. On December 5, 2022, it was announced that the coaches for the Pro Bowl would be Peyton and his brother Eli Manning.

Format

The event consisted of various skill competition events and three 7-on-7 flag football games, with the first block of events being held on February 2, 2023, at the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, which is the Las Vegas Raiders' practice facility and Bear's Best Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada. On February 5, the remainder of the event program took place at Allegiant Stadium with the exception of Kick Tac Toe which was held at the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center. The first portion took place behind closed doors, while the last contests took place around the flag football games.

Points were scored across the events, with up to 24 points available in the skills competitions. The first two flag football games awarded six points each to the winning conference's total score (with the conferences splitting three points each in the event of a tie, with no overtime being played). Both teams' total scores were carried into the final game, which decided the overall winner.

Rosters

AFC

:bold player who participated in the game
:''italics'' signifies a rookie
: signifies the player has been selected as a captain
: Replacement player selection due to injury or vacancy
: Injured player; selected but did not participate
: Selected but did not play because his team advanced to Super Bowl LVII ''(See Pro Bowl "Player selection" section)''
: Selected but chose not to participate

NFC

:Bold, player who participated in the game
:''italics'' signifies a rookie
: signifies the player has been selected as a captain
: Replacement player selection due to injury or vacancy
: Injured player; selected but did not participate
: Selected but did not play because his team advanced to Super Bowl LVII ''(See Pro Bowl "Player selection" section)''
: Selected but chose not to participate

Number of selections per team

Results

Thursday

Precision Passing

Derek Carr won the event for the AFC with a score of 31.

Lightning Round

The AFC won the event after dunking NFC head coach Eli Manning in confetti in the final round.

Longest Drive

A long drive competition among players was held at Bear's Best Golf Course in Summerlin South, Nevada, during the week, and broadcast on tape-delay during the Pro Bowl Games.

Jordan Poyer won the event for the AFC by having the longest drive with a drive of 320 yards (292.608 meters).

Dodgeball

The NFC won the event after the NFC offense team defeated the AFC defense team in the final round.

Sunday

Flag Football Game 1

The NFC won the first flag football game by a score of 33 – 27.

Kick Tac Toe

The event was shown as pre-recorded segment and was held at Intermountain Healthcare center from Thursday's events.

The AFC won the event after being the first team to get three in a row.

Gridiron Gauntlet

The NFC won the event after Eli Manning crossed the finish line first.

Flag Football Game 2

The AFC won the second flag football game by a score of 18–13.

Move The Chains

The AFC won the event after taking the first and third rounds.

Best Catch

Amon-Ra St. Brown outscored Stefon Diggs by a score of 177.0–145.4 (St. Brown outscored Diggs 85.0–74.7 in round 1 and 92.0–70.7 in round 2), winning the event for the NFC.

Diggs and St. Brown were selected as finalists in a fan vote over Justin Jefferson and Patrick Surtain II retrospectively. Each were shown doing special catches in pre-recorded segments during Thursday's events before the fan vote began.

Flag Football Game 3

The NFC was down 21–15 entering the game based on the opening scores, but Kirk Cousins led the NFC to a comeback win. The final score was 35–33.

Aftermath

The players who participated on the winning NFC each won $84,000 while the players who participated on the losing AFC team won $42,000 each.

This was the first time Eli Manning beat his brother in the NFL (though as a coach and not a player), as Peyton went 3–0 against him during their NFL careers.

Following the event it was revealed that Myles Garrett suffered a dislocated toe during the Gridiron Gauntlet event. He later stated in April that he would decline participating in future Pro Bowl Games events, saying the Gridiron Gauntlet "doesn't make sense to me", and proposed replacing it and other events with those that would allow fans to take part alongside players. Garrett would later recover from his injury and would play in the opening games of the 2023 NFL season. He would later change his mind and participate in the “Move the Chains” event during the 2024 Pro Bowl Games.

Broadcasting

ESPN and ABC served as the broadcaster for all Pro Bowl events while the Thursday block of the skills competition were held on the Saturday afternoon after the event on ABC. As in previous years, the events held on Sunday were simulcast live by ESPN+, ABC, and Disney XD. Kirk Herbstreit and Pat McAfee called the games. Robert Griffin III, Marcus Spears, and Laura Rutledge called the skills competition, joined additionally on the first night by Ryan Clark and Dan Orlovsky.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pro Bowl
2023
2022 NFL season
2023 in American football
February 2023 sports events in the United States
Flag football competitions