The Week in Review
Pro Bowl
by Jon Fowke
13/2/2008
 
The 2008 NFL season came to a close on Sunday as the league's best gathered in Hawaii for the season ending Pro Bowl, eager to show off their skills in front of a packed Aloha Stadium.
 
They didn't disappoint as the NFC and AFC put on a great display of football under extreme heat, with the NFC coming from behind, eventually taking the game 42-30.
 
The star of the game was Minnesota's Adrian Peterson, who impressed with 129 yards on the ground and 2 touchdowns, handing him the game's MVP in his very first Pro Bowl. Tony Romo also impressed, finishing with 87 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. He hooked up with team mate Terrell Owens on several occasions, and Owens logged over 100 yards receiving and 2 scores himself.
 
On the other side of the ball Peyton Manning had a typical steady day with 147 yards passing and a touchdown, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing the only other TD for the AFC, both to Cincinnati receiver T.J Houshmandzadeh. The AFC's running game was virtually non existent, with QB Roethlisberger topping the running charts with 18 yards, which came on a scramble.
 
The AFC started brightly in a first half which would tie a Pro Bowl record for most points in the first two quarters – 48. Manning came out gunning the ball for long completions of 31 and 25 yards hitting Tony Gonzalez and Braylon Edwards along the way to a Lorenzo Neal 1-yard TD.
 
The NFC replied immediately with Romo finding Larry Fitzgerald for a 6 yard touchdown strike to tie the game at 7 apiece.
 
T.J Houshmandzadeh made a big impact in the game catching touchdown passes, firstly from Manning, and following an interception by cornerback Antonio Cromartie, who had an excellent day on defense, Ben Roethlisberger found him again for a 1 yard toss. Both touchdowns came either side of a Rob Bironas field goal, which came following a fumble by linebacker DeMarcus Ware on a kickoff return.
 
The NFC began to rally, closing the gap before half time in scoring two touchdowns. The first came from Romo who found team mate Owens for a 6 yard TD strike and then following another AFC field goal, Matt Hasselbeck hit Chris Cooley for a touchdown to close the gap to 27-21 in favour of the AFC.
 
Adrian Peterson was to make his mark on the second half for the NFC scoring his first touchdown in a Pro Bowl on their opening possession in the third quarter running in from 17 yards out. He was helped a long the way by some questionable blocking from WRs Owens and Fitzgerald, but officials gave them the benefit of the doubt, in typically relaxed Pro Bowl fashion.
 
The AFC's only score in the second half was to be a 28 yard field goal by Bironas which briefly gave them the lead back, but only for a short while as the NFC added two more scores.
 
The first saw Jeff Garcia finding his old 49ers team mate Terrell Owens for a 6 yard touchdown. Soon after Peterson capped off a great second half running in for his second TD late in the fourth giving the NFC an unassailable lead, handing them a 42-30 victory, and taking bragging rights with them for the next year.
 
Despite the intense heat both sides put on an excellent display for the fans and brought to a close a thoroughly entertaining NFL season which saw countless records broken and a host of upsets.
 
More of the same next year please!