Pro Bowl Gets Facelift

The big news from the NFL on Tuesday is the Pro Bowl teams will be wearing newly designed uniforms this year. Earlier in the summer the new rule changes were laid down by commissioner Roger Goodell. Here is the list of rule changes incase you missed it.

» Game within the Game -- A two-minute warning will be added to the first and third quarters and the ball will change hands after each quarter. This will increase the opportunities for quarterbacks to direct "two-minute drills," which are especially exciting for fans.

 

» No Kickoffs -- The coin toss will determine which team is awarded possession first. The ball will be placed on the 25-yard line at the start of each quarter and after scoring plays.

 

» Rosters -- The rosters will continue to consist of 43 players per squad. The kick return specialist will be replaced by an additional defensive back.

 

» Cover Two and Press Coverage -- The defense will be permitted to play "cover two" and "press" coverage. In previous years, only "man" coverage was permitted, except for goal line situations.

 

» Stopping of the Game Clock -- Beginning at the two-minute mark of every quarter, if the offense does not gain at least one yard, the clock will stop as if the play were an incomplete pass. This rule will make the team with the ball attempt to gain yardage toward the end of each quarter.

 

» Game Timing -- The game clock will start after an incomplete pass on the signal of the referee, except inside the last two minutes of the first half and the last five minutes of the second half.
 

» Play Clock -- A 35-second/25-second play clock will be adopted instead of the typical 40-second/25-second clock.

 

» Sacks -- The game clock will not stop on quarterback sacks outside of the final two minutes of the game. Currently, the game clock stops in these situations outside of two- minutes of the second and fourth quarters.

 

Did these changes really improve the Pro Bowl? Every year fans around the league say the Pro Bowl is useless and should be gotten rid of. Every year the Pro Bowl also has the highest viewership of an professional All-Star game. 

So regardless of how useless the Pro Bowl is, how ugly the new uniforms are, or what rule changes have been made it still nets a huge profit for the NFL and the media outlets it is viewed on. Prepare yourself’s now for an out cry from the twitter universe about all the flaws of the Pro Bowl, because Roger Goodell and his media friends will be laughing all the way to the bank.

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Zachary Cintron is a pre-junior in Drexel's Sport Management program with a minor in Music Theory and Composition.  Zach also writes for his personal blog, Sports and Music Weekly. You can follow Zach on Twitter at @cintronz.

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