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Pro Bowl 'Games': If Baltimore's Tyler Huntley, Why Not Patriots QB?

Mac Jones had a better season than the Ravens' quarterback. For that matter, so did Bailey Zappe.

The NFL finally had enough with its embarrassing Pro Bowl.

The post-season all-star game slowly deteriorated into more of a spectacle than a competition, from Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer eating a hot dog on the sideline in Honolulu to players brokering a "gentlemen's agreement" to avoid - comically at times - contact at all cost.

So this year the league attempted to sack the mockery and restore credibility to the Pro Bowl by adding Peyton and Eli and "Games" and ... Tyler Huntley?!

To which fans of the New England Patriots can - and should - justifiably counter with ... then why not Mac Jones? Or, while we're at it, even Bailey Zappe?

We get it, injuries happen and Pro Bowl picks are busy preparing for a bigger stage in Super Bowl LVII. Alternates become actives. But ... Tyler Huntley?

The Baltimore Ravens' backup-turned-starter is the most unlikely - undeserving? - Pro Bowl quarterback in recent history. Starting in place of Lamar Jackson, Huntley went 2-2 with two touchdowns - two! - and three interceptions. Of course, his "signature" play was a season-ending disaster - when he attempted to sneak the ball over the goal line late in a tie game in Cincinnati but instead fumbled and watched as Bengals' lineman Sam Hubbard return it 98 yards for a touchdown in the Ravens' 24-17 Wild Card loss.

Despite an underwhelming regular-season performance punctuated by the playoff gaffe, Huntley was voted as the AFC's fourth alternate at quarterback. Now, he's somehow headed to Las Vegas for the "re-imagined" Pro Bowl Games.

Who could possibly warrant a trip to Vegas more than Huntley? Both quarterbacks who suited up for New England, that's who.

We're not saying Jones nor Zappe were spectacular in a season that ended 8-9. But Jones threw for almost 3,000 yards; Huntley only 658. Zappe, a fourth-round rookie, was 2-0 as a starter and had more yards, touchdowns and a better completion than Huntley.

How lame is this event? Huntley is technically replacing the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen, who is skipping it to play golf in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.


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