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The 2001 Pro Bowl was a
demonstration of the West
Coast offense by an old
master of the system and a
new pupil. The AFC coach was
John Gruden of the Raiders
and the NFC was coached by
Dennis Green of the Vikings.
The attendance in Honolulu
was 50,301. It was the
second sellout crowd in the
history of the game.
Oakland’s Rich Gannon played
only in the first quarter,
but accounted for two
touchdowns while
demonstrating the
effectiveness of the West
Coast offense. The first
score was an 8 yard strike
to Kansas City Chiefs' tight
end and former teammate Tony
Gonzales. The second strike
to Marvin Harrison of the
Indianapolis Colts was from
16 yards out and gave the
AFC a 14 point advantage. In
the second quarter, Peyton
Manning of Indianapolis, who
had been studying the
offense all week in
practice, took over for
Gannon and didn't miss a
snap. After the sides traded
field goals, Baltimore’s
Matt Stover from 29 and
Tampa’s Martin Gramatica
from 48, Manning hit the
Jag’s Jimmy Smith with a 2
yard touchdown pass to make
the score AFC, 24-3 at the
half.
The NFC tried to get back in
the game when Philadelphia’s
Donovan McNabb led a quick
sprint to the end zone on
the opening drive of the
second half, throwing a
17 yard TD pass to Terrell
Owens of San Francisco. But,
Manning responded with a
drive of his own. It ended
with a 24 yard scoring pass
to Harrison. Dante Culpepper
of the Vikings countered
with a 20 yard scoring pass
to Torry Holt of St. Louis
to make it 31-17 with 3:22
left in the third. In the
4th quarter, the Colt’s
Edgerrin James ran it in
from 20 yards out with 11:19
remaining to lock it up. The
final was 38-17.
Named the Pro Bowl's most
valuable player, Gannon
overcame a shoulder injury
suffered in the loss to
Baltimore in the AFC
championship game. He was in
the game for only 19 plays.
He completed 12 of 14
passes, including his first
eight, for 160 yards and two
touchdowns. Manning
completed 16 of 22 attempts
for 150 yards. Randall
McDaniel also made his 12th
straight start, 11 with the
Vikings and this year as
member of the Buccaneers.
The NFC attempted a Pro Bowl
record 56 passes; the old
mark was 55, by the NFC in
1993. The teams combined for
98 passing attempts, four
more than the previous
record, set in 1983.
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