Kyle Pitts finishes off rookie campaign with Pro Bowl touchdown

Although football ended for the Atlanta Falcons in January, two Falcons players had one more game left in them. In late December, rookie tight end Kyle Pitts and veteran long snapper Josh Harris were both selected to their respective first career Pro Bowls. Although you can argue that a few other Falcons’ players should’ve joined them in Las Vegas, Pitts and Harris were both deserving of their selections.

The game itself was held on Sunday and was nothing more than a glorified exhibition game. The AFC ultimately won the contest, 41-35, but Pitts and Harris both had impacts on the game.

Pitts finished the day with two catches for 11 yards and a touchdown, which you can see in the tweet above. The touchdown ties his regular season scoring production. Harris was got some run as well, but neither team punted so Harris’ main usage came on PAT attempts. In the end, the Falcons (and the other participating NFC teams) lost yet again, as the AFC’s Pro Bowl dominance continued.

Overall, if you missed the game, you didn’t miss a whole lot. The game itself is becoming more and more irrelevant with each passing year. Growing up, it used to be fun to see the best of the best from each conference facing off, and they actually tackled back then. In the modern Pro Bowl you’ll find more effort being displayed in a flag football game being played by very hungover people, which is more of an NFL problem than a player problem. The incentive to risk injury in a meaningless game is just not worth it.

The accolades of making the Pro Bowl are far more important, which is why seeing players like A.J. Terrell miss out is a shame. But it is what it is. The NFL wants everyone to take the game seriously, but the fans and players just don’t, and I can’t blame them. It’s time for the NFL to realize the insignificance of the game, and just hold a flag football game with the old quarterback challenge. Kyle Pitts can certainly score in that format, too.