The second half opens with some razzle dazzle that we saw the AFC special teams work on during the practice week. Leon Washington fields the kickoff at his 7, then flips to the Titans' Michael Griffin.
The play looked better in practice. Griffin gets to the 41 but there's holding on the Dolphins' Ronnie Brown at the 26, so it's first down at the 16. Thomas Jones gets three carries for 12 yards but the AFC has to punt.
The defense holds and Feagles punts a third time to Washington. This one is inbounds and Leon fields at his 10 but can spin away from the coverage and is taken down after a 2-yard gain by Zak DeOssie, who (1) is the Giants' long-snapper, so he floored it downfield, and (2) is the son of former Jets LB Steve DeOssie. Small world, eh?
After Kerry Collins is intercepted, the Giants' Eli Manning proceeds to hits the Falcons' Roddy White on a slant past Darrelle Revis for a 26-yard gain to the AFC-44.
But Revis gets payback two plays later. Manning goes for the Cards' Anquan Boldin down the right sideline with Revis in blanket coverage. The throw is inside and Revis comes down with the one-handed interception in the end zone, not unlike the pick way back in the season opener to seal the win over the Dolphins. Nice pick, Darrelle.
But it goes for naught. Minnesota DE Jared Allen blows past LT Joe Thomas for a strip-sack of Collins, which Allen recovers at the AFC-10. On the next play, the Vikes strike twice as Adrian Peterson bursts off right guard for the TD to give the NFC its first lead of the day at 17-14.
Washington gets a kickoff return but he's hemmed in so this time he tries a backpass to Michael Griffin that doesn't look as planned as the first-half flip to Griffin and the Americans start their drive at their 13.
After a three plays lose 3 yards and a delay-of-game is called, Shane Lechler has to punt from his end zone. All he does is launch a 65-yard punt, the third-longest in Pro Bowl history (all three punts are by Lechler) to get the AFC out of trouble.
Fourth Quarter
Washington can do nothing with Feagles' punt, which hugs the sideline, but Leon then turns it on out of the backfield with a darting 20-yard run, the longest rushing play for either side so far, to get the ball to the 31.
That run sends the AFC, with Jay Cutler at the offensive controls, on a 13-play, 89-yard drive that gives them back the lead back, 21-17. The score comes on more razzle-dazzle, as Cutler takes the snap and pauses briefly to hand the ball to Ravens FB Le'Ron McClain through McClain's legs — a reverse center snap. As most of the offense moved right, McClain bulled left for 5 yards and the score.
But the Nationals were up to the task. Eli Manning led a half-field drive to a perfeclty placed fade to the 6'3" Larry Fitzgerald over the 5'10" Cortland Finnegan to retake the lead. The Americans couldn't move, the NFC tacked on two more John Carney field goals, and the 30th and last Pro Bowl in Hawaii (at least for a year or two or three) ends with the NFC winning, 30-21.
I'll have one more Radar entry in a few hours. I talked with all six of the Jets who played in this game and so they'll all have a few more things to say before they work their way back to their homes and then on to North Jersey and the Atlantic Health Training Center to begin the off-season strength and conditioning program next month.
And check the multimedia page of *newyorkjets.com *because we are attempting to put up some of the Jets players' postgame remarks in an audio interview format on the site on Monday. For now, aloha from Aloha Stadium.
