NFL announces eight skills competitions for 2023 Pro Bowl Games originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The NFL announced its competitions for the revamped Pro Bowl Games, and football is not the only sport on the schedule.
The 2023 Pro Bowl Games will take place over two days in Las Vegas and include eight skills events. Along with flag football, top players from each conference will partake in some competitions that are more associated with field days. The conference with the most points at the end will be crowned the champion.
Here’s a glance at the itinerary for the first annual Pro Bowl Games.
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2023 Pro Bowl Games competitions
Thursday, Feb. 2
Epic Pro Bowl Dodgeball: Four teams of five will compete in a multi-round dodgeball tournament. The AFC’s offense and defense will square off in the first round before the NFC’s offense and defense go head-to-head. The winning units will then square off in a final.
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Lightning Round: Sixteen players from each conference will enter this three-round elimination challenge. The first round, “Splash Catch,” is a water balloon toss done in pairs. Players who make it out of that round will move on to “High Stakes,” where they will attempt to catch punts from a JUGS machine. Lightning Round culminates with “Thrill of the Spill,” where players will aim at targets attached to buckets of water dangling above a coach from the opposing conference.
Longest Drive: Four players from each conference will grab their driver and attempt to hit a golf ball the furthest distance. Each player gets three swings and the player who hits it the longest shot within the boundaries wins.
Precision Passing: Bringing it back to football, the three quarterbacks from each conference will take on an accuracy challenge where they aim at targets. The targets range from one to five points with a Long Toss Bucket 60 yards away worth 10 points. The player who can get the most points in one minute is named the winner.
Best Catch, First Round: The Best Catch competition begins on the first day with two players from each conference showcasing their top catches in highlight reels at iconic Las Vegas locations. Fan voting will be used to send players to the finals.
Sunday, Feb. 5
Best Catch, Finals: The players who make it through fan voting will compete in front of a celebrity judging panel. The player who gets the highest score from the panel wins.
Gridiron Gauntlet: Six players from each conference compete in a side-by-side relay race. Each of the gauntlet’s four parts is 40 yards long, and the course includes breakaway walls, climbing walls, a tire run and blocking sled carrying a coach.
Kick Tac Toe: The kicker, punter and long snapper from each conference compete in a giant tic-tac-toe game. The first player to connect three squares or hit five total squares wins.
Move the Chains: Four teams (two from each conference) of five players will try to pull a weighted wall 10 yards as quickly as possible using first-down chains. There will be a best-of-three playoff used to determine a winner.
2023 Pro Bowl Games scoring
Each of the skill competitions is worth three points. The winning conference from each of the two flag football games on Sunday, Feb. 5, gets six points.
Points from the skills competitions and first two flag football games will be added together and used for the start of the third flag football game, which will be used to determine the winning conference for the Pro Bowl Games.
2023 Pro Bowl Games time, location, coaches
The 2023 Pro Bowl Games will air from 7-8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN on Thursday, Feb. 2. The first day’s competitions will take place at Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice facility.
Action will continue on Sunday, Feb. 5, from Allegiant Stadium. ESPN and ABC will television those events from 3-6 p.m. ET.
The AFC’s coaching staff includes Peyton Manning (head coach), Ray Lewis (defensive coordinator) and Diana Flores (offensive coordinator), while the NFC’s staff includes Eli Manning (head coach), DeMarcus Ware (defensive coordinator) and Vanita Krouch (offensive coordinator).
