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 It is impossible to
adequately describe what
transpired the 2004 Pro
Bowl. The game was an
explosion of talent unlike
any before it. The total
attendance at Aloha Stadium
was 50,127. The coaches were
Andy Reid of the Eagles and
Tony Dungy of Indianapolis.
On the AFC's first offensive
play, Steve McNair of the
Titans faked a handoff to
the Ravens' Jamal Lewis and
then found a wide-open Chad
Johnson of Cincinnati behind
the NFC secondary. The
90 yard TD pass play was the
third longest in Pro Bowl
history. Cincinnati's Jeff
Blake and Pittsburgh's
Yancey Thigpen hooked up for
a 93-yard play in the 1996
game and Cecil Isbell hit
Don Hutson for 98 yards in
1940. Just four plays later,
Ed Reed of the Ravens
blocked a punt by Carolina's
Todd Sauerbrun. Reed pick up
the bouncing ball and ran it
into the end zone for a 14-0
lead. The NFC came back on
Seattle’s Shaun Alexander’s
12 yard run and a 28 yard
field goal by Jeff Wilkins
of the Rams. Indianapolis’
Mike Vanderjagt matched
Wilkens with a 27 yard field
goal and the score at the
end of the first quarter was
AFC 17, NFC 14. In the
second quarter, Wilkens
again connected on a 38 yard
field goal. But, Peyton
Manning of Indianapolis
threw two scoring passes of
50 yards to teammate Marvin
Harrison and 9 yards to
Kansas City’s Tony Gonzalez
with :54 remaining in the
half. The halftime score was
31-13.
In the third quarter, The
AFC added to the lead when
Jamal Lewis scored on a 22
yard run. The score had
ballooned to 38-13. The NFC
attempted to claw their way
back into it with a 12 yard
touchdown pass the Ram’s
Marc Bulger to Rams teammate
Torry Holt. Two minutes
later, Bulger came back with
a 2 yard aerial TD to
Tampa’s Keenan McCardell.
The score at the end of the
third period was 38-27. The
AFC struck first in the 4th
quarter when Kansas City’s
Trent Green connected with
Denver’s Clinton Portis for
a 23 yard touchdown pass.
The score was 45-27. Then
the NFC’s explosion came.
With 12:54 remaining in the
game, Bulger hit Atlanta’s
Alge Crumpler with a 33 yard
touchdown pass. At 5:43, he
hit Shaun Alexander with a 5
yard scoring pass. The
two-point conversion attempt
failed. With 4:50 to play,
Detroit’s Dre Bly returned
an interception of a Manning
pass 32 yards for the
go-ahead score. Ahman Green
carried for the two point
conversion and the NFC led
48-45. They had erased an 18
point deficit in 8 minutes.
With 3:32 remaining, Shaun
Alexander scored from 2
yards to make the score
55-45. The AFC scored again
when Manning hit
Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward with
a 10 yard touchdown pass and
the AFC wasn’t through.
Miami's Brock Marion
intercepted a Bulger pass 5
yards deep in his own end
zone and ran it back to the
AFC 22. Manning was on the
move again with 1:15 and no
timeouts left. He found Ward
once more, as well as Colts
teammate Marvin Harrison for
two big catches, and an
interference call on Bly
against Harrison put the
ball on the NFC 21. But,
Carolina defensive tackle
Kris Jenkins sacked Manning
to push the ball back to the
NFC 33 yard line with six
seconds left in the game and
the NFC up by three points.
Vanderjagt, who didn’t miss
a field goal or an extra
point all season, was barely
wide right on a 51 yard
field goal attempt as time
expired. The final score was NFC 55, AFC 52.
Marc Bulger threw a Pro
Bowl record four TD passes
and was named the game’s
MVP. He completed 12 of 21
passes for 152 yards. Shaun
Alexander became just the
fourth player to score three
TD's in a Pro Bowl and the
NFC scored 28 straight
points in the fourth to set
the scoring record for a
single team. Johnson,
Cincinnati’s brash receiver,
had five receptions for 156
yards. Bulger’s St. Louis
teammate, Torry Holt, caught
seven passes for 128 yards
and a score.
A total of at least 15 Pro
Bowl offensive records were
set. With 42 points in the
helter-skelter fourth
quarter, the teams easily
topped the 82 total points
scored in 2000 (51 by the
NFC, the previous team high)
and they set another
record with 1,022 total
yards, including 300 in the
fourth quarter. The teams
also set records with seven
touchdowns apiece. League
co-MVP Peyton Manning
established records with 22
completions, 41 attempts and
342 yards passing. The AFC
set a Pro Bowl record with
31 points in the first half and it stood for about two
hours until the NFC scored
42 after halftime.
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