by Flag football and dodgeball are on the agenda this weekend.
This week, the NFL’s first-ever Pro Bowl games will be shown on ESPN, and on Wednesday all of the competitions and their competitors were announced. Events begin Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET with five skill challenges, and games end Sunday at 3:00 p.m. with more skill events and a trio of flag football games.
Peyton Manning will coach the AFC team while Eli Manning will coach the NFC. The aim of the skill competition is to earn points for your conference and you earn points by winning competitions. The conference with the most points at the end of the weekend will be crowned the winner of the first Pro Bowl games. Here are the events and their competitors:
Best Catch Competition (First Round Thursday; Final Sunday)
This competition pits two wide receivers against each other in each conference to see who can pull off the most impressive and creative pass catches. Thursday’s first round will feature highlights from players shot at iconic Las Vegas locations, and then fans will vote online to see whose catch was the best. The event begins at 7 p.m. ET.
Precision Pass (Thursday)
Each conference sends three quarterbacks to a one-minute accuracy contest.
Longest Ride (Thursday)
This competition tests a player’s ability to hit a golf ball.
Lightning Round (Thursday)
This next event seems imaginative and can be a bit confusing as it has three parts. The first part is called “Splash Catch” and is a water balloon throw. The second part revolves around players trying to catch punts from a JUGS machine. Finally, the remaining players of each conference take aim at targets attached to a bucket suspended over an opposing coach’s head. The first team to dump a bucket on a trainer wins.
Dodgeball (Thursday)
Dodgeball will be the centerpiece of a multi-round tournament involving four teams of five players each. It begins with the offensive and defensive teams playing interconference games, with the winners advancing for an NFC-AFC final.
Kick Tac Toe (Sunday)
Each team’s kickers, punters, and long snappers compete in a tic-tac-toe competition with a special team twist.
Flag Football (Sunday)
The Flag Football Finals consists of three games with skill position players and centers kneeling and snapping as is usual in a seven-on-seven competition.
Gridiron Gauntlet (Sunday)
This will be a side-by-side relay race, with players scaling walls, going under tables, navigating a hoop run, and pushing a blocking slide with a trainer on it.
Move the Chains (Sunday)
This competition pits two teams from each conference against each other in a best-of-three 10-yard weighted wallpull.
