Bubba Wallace, who feared he was ‘weakest link’, leads NFC to virtual Pro Bowl victory



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Bubba Wallace felt a little out of place. On Sunday afternoon, with a group of current and former NFL stars along with Snoop Dogg, the NASCAR driver found himself in a chat preparing to play Madden in the Virtual Pro Bowl on Sunday.

Like so much else in the 2020 NFL season, the game has had to change due to the coronavirus pandemic. So instead of a real Pro Bowl, it was brought online with current and former NFL players – as well as Snoop Dogg – each playing a quarter of the game.

Then there was Wallace.

“I was just taking it all in and enjoying it and then hearing some of the stories and conversations, it was just, it was almost like, ‘Man, am I really sitting here talking to those guys, “” Wallace said. “I’m just a racing driver who has nothing to do with being in the room with these people but, hey, here we are, playing here with Snoop Dogg, c was cool.

“Between him and [former running back] Marshawn [Lynch], they were certainly the two biggest talkers. “

In the end, Wallace, who occasionally plays Madden but is more into Call of Duty, became the NFC star with a dominant three TD second quarterback against Keyshawn Johnson in a 32-12 win over the AFC.

Pro Bowl MVP Kyler Murray, Wallace, Jamal Adams and Lynch made up the NFC team. Deshaun Watson, Johnson, Derrick Henry and Snoop Dogg were the AFC.

“Playing like that, I thought I would go, I thought I was going to be the weakest link,” Wallace said. “But I think we could see that I wasn’t. I was kind of the opposite. So it was good. It was good.”

Before the game all eight players were saying how bad they were. Then they played and performed the levels of steps very well varied.

Johnson struggled throughout his five-minute shift. He gave up three touchdowns, threw an interception and dropped a kick return, earning criticism from players and hosts Michael Strahan and Charissa Thompson.

After Wallace’s third touchdown, Johnson just held the side of his head. When the shift was happily over, Wallace flexed his arms as Johnson jokingly (maybe?) Accused Wallace of downplaying his skills.

“It’s jostling pool shark,” Johnson said of the creek. “What he did.”

Wallace had help. Murray, the NFC captain, told him before starting which defense to play and told him to rotate between a number of offensive games and look for the open man.

“I’m usually just an Ask Madden guy,” Wallace said. “Like I just picked a room. I’m like, ‘Ooh, that looks like a good room, let’s capitalize on it and try to get something over there.’ He was like, pick that defense, run it all the time, then pick a few options for the attack.

“I could definitely hear his voice in the crowd, like hey, pick this. Pick that. Helped a lot. That’s why he’s the MVP.”

In one of the game’s rare substitutions, Jamal Adams inserted his virtual self – because why not you – in place of Budda Baker. Virtual Adams then intercepted a pass and forced a fumble in the second half. Adams also made four straight passes to tight end TJ Hockenson, leading to a touchdown.

The climax of the game, however, had nothing to do with anything actually happening in Madden.

This was what was happening on the side, where Snoop Dogg and Lynch had running comments. And when the two met in the fourth quarter – Lynch maintained a 20-point lead – it was a quick shot. Including when Lynch intercepted a pass from Snoop Dogg and quickly fell to the ground.

Why?

The chair he was sitting on broke. “It was a great comedy there,” Wallace said. “Plus we all laughed the night away. It was a good time, a good conversation, just being able to let go and have some fun.”

Wallace said he laughed more all night than he had in a long time.

Wallace, a Saints fan after meeting Alvin Kamara last year and knowing he was playing for his favorite college team Tennessee, said “it was really cool” to be able to play and interact with guys. that he used to watch and watch play on Sundays.

He had met Lynch once before – the only person he knew to come – and at the end exchanged information with Murray, who said he would like to come see a race. And if Madden had to start over, Wallace said he had enough fun doing it.

“If it was structured the same way, I wouldn’t change a thing,” Wallace said. “It was fun, it didn’t take too long, it just happened and it was really cool.”

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