Eagles' DeSean Jackson helps liven up blandwagon at Pro Bowl

MIAMI - The perfect Pro Bowl metaphor appeared just before the opening kickoff, when fighter jets shrieked by in the obligatory big-event flyover at Sun Life Stadium.

At a night game, in a misty rain.

The noise was terrific, but nobody saw much.

Similarly, bunches of NFL stars were gathered on the field, even with the 14 would-be participants from the Super Bowl-bound Saints and the Colts sidelined. But the presence of so much talent didn't generate much in the way of memories, in the course of a 41-34 AFC victory.

You can move the game from Hawaii to Miami, change it from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before, but you can't make players really play hard for the glory of the AFC or NFC, or make them risk serious injury in an all-star game.

In making those changes, the league got the (mostly) filled stands it wanted - 70,697 people, the most at such a contest since 1959. But it didn't get an electric atmosphere, or a vastly improved product. It did get Honolulu to pay $8 million to get the game back for the next 2 years.

Of course, if you were the Eagles' DeSean Jackson, first time on the big all-star stage, and you caught a pair of touchdown passes last night, it wasn't such a wasted evening.

"That was awesome, for a first Pro Bowl game," said Jackson, who finished with six catches for 101 yards. "I was still able to put on a show - we all put on a show."

Earlier, Jackson told a sideline reporter: "My first touchdown, I had to keep the ball. I'm just out here having a great time, and at the same time, I'm trying to put out a little effort . . . It's only my second year and I'm here with all the great players, and it's an honor to be here."

Jackson's second touchdown came on a 58-yard bubble screen hookup with his Eagles quarterback, Donovan McNabb.

McNabb couldn't avoid being asked about his future by sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. She wanted to know why his future is in question year after year.

"I don't know, but I'm still not going to answer," McNabb said. "I love Philadelphia."

Tafoya also asked McNabb about analyst Jon Gruden's musings, Gruden saying last night that he can't see the Birds trading McNabb to Minnesota or Arizona, potential NFC playoff opponents.

"We've got an explosive team in Philly. Everybody sees that and recognizes that," McNabb said, in an answer that had nothing to do with the question. "When you throw in DeSean, [Brent] Celek, [Brian] Westbrook and the rest of the guys, [Jeremy] Maclin, it's nothing but exciting."

Afterward, McNabb seemed amazed to be confronted with a pair of reporters from Philadelphia, after the wide coverage his remarks during the week got.

"What do you want to ask now?" he wondered.

Well, how about throwing a TD pass to Jackson in the Pro Bowl?

"It's always good to get him. He had a great year," McNabb said.

Here are some assorted Pro Bowl postings:

* No NFL team ended up with as many participants as the Birds, who fielded nine.

* The press-box announcer referred to Eagles safety Quintin Mikell as "Mickle."

* This is one game where everybody tackles like Asante Samuel, who had a second-half interception.

* The NFC's first series ended in a 47-yard David Akers field goal, after a third-down incompletion from Aaron Rodgers to Jackson, DJax getting free of Darrelle Revis but catching the high throw out of bounds on the right sideline.

* Akers was the only current Eagle to make the league's official all-decade team. Brian Dawkins, who played 9/10ths of the decade with the Birds, also was named.

"I'm 0-for-4 now" in the Pro Bowl, Akers said afterward, in mock disgust. "I took my family down here, my three kids, they really had a blast. It was a fun family trip, that's for sure. The honor's so huge, just enjoy it, wherever it is."

* Jason Peters did not false start. But he did seem to give up the game's first sack. Peters noted that he and Giants tackle David Diehl had to play a half apiece, more than most players, with the Vikings' Bryant McKinnie (Woodbury, N.J.) getting dismissed from the NFC team.

"I was going against [Tennessee's Kyle] Vanden Bosch," Peters said. "He's 100 miles an hour every play, so it's almost like I played a whole game. Everybody else is 50 percent, he's going 100."

Peters wasn't able to play in either of the two Pro Bowls he made with the Bills, he said, so he was happy to get the chance to huff and puff through this one.

* A 7-yard DJax screen went for a TD, from Rodgers, giving the NFC a 17-14 second-quarter lead.

* DJax' chance for passing glory, a long option to Miles Austin that would have been a touchdown, fell incomplete, behind Austin.

* Most honest quote of the evening came from 49ers tight end Vernon Davis, who has been off since the regular season ended a month ago. "I'm excited to be out here. I wish I was in better shape," he said.

* The guys assigned to try to block field goals would just sort of stand up and raise their hands in unison, as if they were doing "Y-M-C-A."

* Speaking of such things, the loudest cheer of the night was for "the wave." Really.

* Eagles long snapper Jon Dorenbos got to run downfield on NFC kickoff coverage, a rare treat for a guy who usually starts every play peering backward through his legs.

* McNabb entered the game with 5:18 left in the second quarter. Hit his first throw, missed the next two, then ran 11 yards before being brought down by Dawkins. BDawk later intercepted McNabb.

* McNabb threw a pick-six to LaMarr Woodley, but the defense had 12 players on the field, so he got a do-over. DJax helpfully waved the yellow flag in the air as Woodley scored.

* Lack of commitment to blocking really showed on the early running plays, which tended to go about as far as Dave Spadaro could spit.

* The exception there would be McNabb, who ran more effectively than he threw. He completed three of 10 passes for 78 yards, a TD and a pick, ran four times for 26 yards.