Mac Jones shows off skills, fun side in Pro Bowl Skills Showdown
Jones earned the AFC a win in the "Thread the Needle" event, but the one-time dodgeball hero couldn't help his squad capture the contest.
Mac Jones won’t officially play in his first Pro Bowl until Sunday, but the Patriots quarterback’s first taste of the fun came during Thursday night in the Pro Bowl Skills Showdown.
Jones joined elite AFC players like Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs, Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill, and Browns cornerback Denzel Ward against an NFC team that boasted Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, and Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons.
Naturally, the former Alabama star, who’s famed for his accuracy (67.6 completion percentage in 2021), competed in the precision passing competition, which involves hitting targets at a variety of depths. But Jones couldn’t keep up with the NFC’s Wilson, who put up 29 points in the event compared to Jones’s eight.
But the soon-to-be-sophomore NFL quarterback got the AFC their lone win in the “Thread the Needle” contest, in which he had to rifle passes past NFC cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Darius Slay.
Jones did throw one interception in the drill to Diggs—cue the armchair analysis about his lack of arm strength! But he still managed to edge Kirk Cousins in the challenge 12-11.
In the “Best Catch” contest, he helped connect with Hill on a rendition of the David Tyree “helmet catch”—something Tyree, a judge in the competition, thoroughly enjoyed—and a Bills-inspired catch that saw Diggs dive off of a pickup truck through a table.
But Jones and the AFC squad couldn’t top the NFC in the “Best Catch” category or in dodgeball, which saw Jones, a “real good” dodgeball player in middle school and high school, exit the stage early.
Sure, you can point out Jones only ended up in the Pro Bowl because other AFC quarterbacks dropped out.
On the other hand, you can also enjoy the fact that the young Patriots quarterback was even good enough to be considered to go to the event—and clearly had fun doing so.
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