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 The 2003 Pro Bowl saw
another AFC win, during
which the defense forced six
interceptions. A crowd of
50,125 saw the game at the
Aloha Stadium. The coaches
were Steve Fisher of the
Titans and Andy Reid of the
Eagles.
Miami’s Ricky Williams got
the AFC off to a fast start
after teammate Jason Taylor
intercepted 49er Jeff
Garcia's pass near midfield
on the opening possession.
Williams broke an 18 yard
run on the AFC's first
offensive play before
scoring easily from the one
three plays later. The NFC
countered when Michael Lewis
of New Orleans returned the
kick off 47 yards to the AFC
46. Philadelphia’s David
Akers kicked a 45 yard field
goal. But, the AFC came
right back with an 11 yard
touchdown pass from Rich
Gannon of Oakland to Kansas
City’s Tony Gonzalez. The
score at the end of the
first period was 14-3. In
the second quarter, Gannon
hit Buffalo’s Travis Henry
with a 13 yard touchdown
pass. The NFC’s Akers then
followed with the longest
field goal in Pro Bowl
history from 53 yards.
Williams scored on a 1 yard
run with :47 to play in the
half and the AFC led 28-6.
On the final play of the
half, Oakland's Rod Woodson
intercepted Philadelphia’s
Donovan McNabb's pass near
the goal line and started a
return featuring several
laterals, a fumble and at
least one illegal forward
pass, negating it all. The
return stretched 97 yards
before Taylor flopped into
the end zone for a touchdown
that didn't count.
The only scoring of the
third quarter came on a 20
yard field goal by the
Patriots’ Adam Venatieri. In
the 4th quarter, New
England's Ty Law returned
one of Brad Johnson's passes
43 yards for a touchdown. It
was Law’s second
interception return in the
Pro Bowl (1999).
Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward
caught a 32 yard touchdown
pass from the Colts’ Peyton
Manning with 7:31 remaining
and the AFC led 45-6. The NFC did manage to score on
two late touchdown passes.
Brad Johnson hit New
Orleans’ Joe Horn from 12
yards out and Tampa’s Mike
Alstott with a 4 yard
touchdown pass. The final
score was 45-20. The AFC
nearly broke the Pro Bowl
record of 51 points set by
the NFC in 2000. But
Buffalo's Eric Moulds was
ruled out of bounds in the
end zone with 1:24 left
after catching a 36 yard
pass from Manning.
In his first Pro Bowl, Ricky
Williams rushed for 56
yards, caught three passes
for 18 yards, scored two
touchdowns and forced a
fumble on special teams to
earn the MVP award. The AFC
beat the NFC for its sixth
victory in the last seven
Pro Bowls. Starting
quarterback Rich Gannon, the
MVP of the regular season
and the previous two Pro
Bowls, went 12-for-18 for
102 yards and two TDs.
Akers’ field goal broke the
record of 52 yards shared by
Sam Baker of Washington and
Bert Richichar of the Colts,
both hitting that mark in
the 1957 Pro Bowl.
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