NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was vocal in his displeasure with last year's Pro Bowl, disparaging the level of play and openly broaching the possibility the game could be eliminated.
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Goodell had a much different opinion Monday, one day after Team Rice edged Team Sanders in a revamped version of the league's all-star game.
"It was real football," Goodell said, according to The Associated Press. "It was something that I give a lot of credit to the players."
The NFL ditched the conference affiliation for teams this year in favor of a fantasy football-like draft with Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders each leading a team. A NFL Network-televised live draft seemed to raise the competitive stakes. The game play was certainly superior to last year's 59-41 slopfest that, as Goodell pointedly remarked at the time, left fans "actively booing in the stands."
"I believe it was a very, very positive step and I salute the players and I'm glad they had so much fun," Goodell said Monday. "And I think fans had a fun time watching -- I know I did."
It certainly sounds like the Pro Bowl has been granted a temporary reprieve from death row. The two big questions on our end: 1) Will the game remain in Hawaii?; and 2) Will the play remain passable after the novelty of the new format is gone?
*We handed out awards for the 2014 coaching class and talked all the latest headlines in the latest "Around The League Podcast." *
