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 The
2006 Pro Bowl was an extreme
contrast to what fans had
come to expect in the
previous years. Instead of a
scoring barrage, the Pro
Bowl was a low scoring
affair which was typified by
miscues. The defenses
exerted themselves and the
most exciting plays came
from that side of the ball.
The coaches for the game
were Mike Shanahan of Denver
and John Fox of Carolina. A
crowd of 51,190 attended,
making it the 27th straight
Pro Bowl sellout since the
game moved permanently to
Hawaii in 1980.
In the Super Bowl the week
before, the officials had
drawn criticism for
questionable calls. In the
early stages of this Pro
Bowl a controversial call
also came into play. The
Colts’ Peyton Manning threw
a 16 yard touchdown pass to
Miami’s Chris Chambers to
cap a 45 yard AFC drive
following the Broncos’ John
Lynch's 40 yard interception
return. Chambers landed with
one foot inbounds after a
leaping catch. The play was
ruled a touchdown, however,
as the officials ruled that
Chambers had been pushed out
of bounds by defender,
Atlanta’s DeAngelo Hall. The
crowd booed as the replay
seemed to show that Chambers
could not have caught the
ball in-bounds anyway. Hall
called for instant replay in
the Pro Bowl following the
game.
In
the second quarter, Neil
Rackers of Arizona kicked a
32 yard field goal for the
NFC's first points before
the Bengals’ Shayne Graham
connected from 31 yards
away. Atlanta's Michael Vick
threw a 14 yard TD pass to
Atlanta teammate Alge
Crumpler with 2 seconds left
in the half. The TD came
three plays after Roy
Williams intercepted a pass
by Manning and ran 11 yards
before handing off to Hall,
who dashed another 57 yards
to the AFC 20. The score was
10-10 at the half.
Tampa Bay’s Derrick Brooks
made the game's sixth
interception when he picked
off a pass by Kansas City’s
Trent Green and ran it back
for a score with 5:01 to
play in the third quarter,
giving the NFC a 17-10
lead. The AFC tied it with
12:47 remaining on a 1 yard
sneak by Green, capping a 68
yard drive after Denver’s
Champ Bailey recovered a
fumble by Santana Moss of
Washington. Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck moved the NFC 59
yards before its drive
stalled and Rackers kicked a
22 yard field goal with 6:29
left to give his side a
20-17 lead.
Tennessees’s Steve McNair
mishandled two snaps from
center after that, and the
NFC recovered both.
Philadelphia’s Jeremiah
Trotter fell on the second
one at the AFC 18 and
Rackers kicked a 20-yard
field goal with 1:10 left to
end the scoring. The AFC
reached the NFC 49 before
McNair threw three
incompletions and was sacked
by New York’s Michael
Strahan on the game's final
play. The final score was
23-17.
Brooks was awarded the
game’s MVP award, playing in
his ninth Pro Bowl. In
winning the award, Brooks
became the first defensive
player to claim that honor
since Jerry Gray of the Rams
in 1990. The
AFC's Peyton Manning threw
three interceptions, the NFC's Hasselbeck and Michael
Vick one each, and there
were several false starts
and overthrows. The turnover
situation was complicated by
the fact that a steady rain
began falling at kickoff
time, although it subsided
early in the second quarter.
A total of 10 turnovers,
including six by the AFC,
stopped many a drive before
they could get started.
It was the lowest-scoring
Pro Bowl since the AFC's
23-10 victory in 1999. The
teams averaged a combined
73.7 points in the past six
Pro Bowls including the
NFC's 55-52 victory two
years ago and the AFC's
38-27 triumph last year. The
series, that went to its
present format in 1971, is
tied 18-18.
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