Followers of last week’s column were rewarded with a 7/1 winner courtesy of Austin Collie.The Indianapolis receiver saved my blushes over the weekend by catching a 16-yard pass for a touchdown.
AFC vs NFC – 00:20 Monday 1st February Sky Sports 2
This week we see the best from the AFC take on the best from the NFC, in an event that doesn’t offer the punter any value for money. And with bookmakers reluctant to offer first/ last touchdown scorer markets, let alone any special markets, puntinplay followers are going to find it difficult to get any big priced winners. I will try and find you a winner nonetheless.
With the Probowl now switched to the week before the Superbowl, we wont be seeing any Colts or Saints this weekend. This isn’t going to affect my selections, but it is a disappointment for the fans, who wont be seeing any players from the best two teams in the Probowl. The NFC has won the last two meetings and I think they are a good bet to make it three in a row. For starters they have 28 players who made it to the postseason including all three of their quarterbacks, this is compared to the 22 players (0 quarterbacks) for the AFC who made it past the regular season.
The NFC match up well against the AFC, at wide receiver they have three deep threat players and put that together with the three gunslingers at quarterback, you have a combination that can put a lot of points on the board very quickly. The AFC have Matt Schaub at quarterback, in the regular season he passed for the most yards in the NFL, but threw 15 interceptions and he is coming up against a much more difficult challenge. The starting defensive backs for the NFC have a total 23 interceptions between them and Schaub will have to be at the top of his game to beat them. The AFC have the best running back in the NFL in the form of Chris Johnson, but he cant be expected to burden the load all day, as every player is expected to get the same amount of playing time. So although Johnson could rush for big yardage, he shouldn't get enough playing time to do so.
So my selection for the Probowl is the NFC to win. They have the ability to score freely and should be able to limit the AFC.But big stakes aren’t advised in a match that players don’t take very seriously until it gets to the business end of the game.
Selections:
NFC to beat AFC – 8/11 (Various)
