The NFL Pro Bowl 2014 is getting started on NBC Sunday night and the game will be on TV and live online from Honolulu in Hawaii for the annual All-Star game and this year there is a new format, ditching the AFC and NFC teams and putting players in one pool and drafted by captains Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice and the teams are filled with stars and will be streaming from the Live Extra website at 7:30 pm ET.
The game was nearly cancelled by the league after the past two years were considered subpar performances by the players and Roger Goodell challenged them to take it seriously and the new draft was an idea to add excitement and intrigue to the game. Fans seemed to enjoy the picks and so did the players and now players from the NFC and the AFC are on the same teams, including Cam Newton and Andrew Luck, while the other team has Drew Brees and Philip Rivers at quarterback. The top players off the board were Brees, Jamaal Charles, JJ Watt and Robert Quinn and they are joined by a host of other players that have had great seasons and earned trips to Hawaii, including LeSean McCoy, an MVP candidate, Matt Forte, Larry Fitzgerald, Tony Gonzalez as well as Jimmy Graham, who gets to lin up with his usual quarterback in Brees.
Nick Foles joins Newton and Luck on the Sanders team and Charles is anchored by Eddie Lacy and Alfred Morris while the receivers have some firepower in AJ Green, Dez Bryant, DeSean Jackson and Antonio Brown, while the tight ends are Jason Witten and Jordan Cameron. Some of the bigger names that would be there are in the Super Bowl, including Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and Richard Sherman, while Tom Brady is sitting out as well and some of the other stars in the game includes Darrelle Revis, Brent Grimes, Greg Hardy and Gerald McCoy.
Thomas and Sherman will see each other close up on Super Bowl Sunday in MetLife Stadium in NJ and they could literally be matched up against each other on the field. Thomas had another fantastic season with 92 catches for over 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns, while Sherman was the top cornerback in the league and has shown off his skills numerous times, including in the NFC championship game when he tipped the pass away from Michael Crabtree to seal the game. Those stars will be preparing for the Super Bowl while everyone else gets ready for the Pro Bowl.
Click here for the live coverage of the NFL Pro Bowl 2014 game.