GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hines Ward returned an onside kick for a touchdown in the second quarter. Ward's score was the only kick return for a touchdown in Pro Bowl history.

Happy returns

Tough defense pays dividends for
the AFC, while Peyton Manning
and Hines Ward lead the offense

In football, you find a weak spot and attempt to exploit it. That's what Philadelphia tried to do at the Super Bowl, single out New England's young cornerbacks.

But trying to exploit the Patriots' weakness didn't work for the Eagles last week and it failed for the NFC in yesterday's Pro Bowl, when they targeted Buffalo Bills cornerback Nate Clements.

"Why y'all got to throw at me?" Clements asked Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, a few seconds after the rookie Pro Bowler's stellar late-game defense helped the AFC beat the NFC 38-27.

Perhaps Clements should have asked someone else. The relatively unknown fourth-year pro from Ohio State actually interrupted The Michael Vick Show.

It was Vick's pass that Clements picked off with 2 minutes left as the NFC tried to get back in the game. It was also a Vick toss that Clements knocked down in the red zone earlier in the fourth quarter, helping the AFC take back the momentum and make the NFC settle for a David Akers field goal.

"They came after him and he stepped up," AFC safety John Lynch said of Clements. "He gained a lot of respect from everyone here today."

Clements' efforts helped the three first-half touchdown passes by Player of the Game Peyton Manning (Colts) hold up. Last year, the AFC blew leads of 25 points in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth, and lost 55-52 because of nonexistent defense.

"It was a great game by Nate. It's the kind of game you would expect from a Pro Bowler," said AFC safety Ed Reed (Ravens), who had a team-high six tackles. "On defense we knew we would play hard after what happened last year. Our offense took control early, but we knew (the NFC) would eventually get something started. We just wanted to make sure we didn't let them get too much."

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM The AFC's Ed Reed brought down NFC receiver Torry Holt during the third quarter of yesterday's game.

Vick entered the game after the AFC built a 28-10 halftime lead. Calling the third quarter his own, the first-time Pro Bowler's supreme skills were seemingly made for this game. He threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Torry Holt, and rushed for a 3-yard TD to get the NFC back in it; even his short gains and incomplete passes were thrilling adventures.

Vick completed 14 of 24 passes for 205 yards, all game highs.

"Mike got hot for a while there; he demonstrated the skills everyone came to see," said NFC coach Jim Mora, who is also Vick's coach for the Falcons. "But it doesn't matter if it's the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl or any other game. The keys are the same. Don't give up the ball and score when you get in the red zone. They were a little better than us at it today."

Manning only threw the ball 10 times, but he was efficient. Half of his completions went for touchdowns. He exited the field for good after staking the AFC to a 28-7 lead. His last pass was a 12-yard scoring strike to Antonio Gates (Chargers) with 5:50 left before intermission.

"We had the big lead last year. And I'm not going to say that I was sweating hard over there on the sidelines," Manning said. "But the defense did a great job. The AFC kept the lead and it feels good after letting it slip away last year."

Linebackers Takeo Spikes (Bills) and Joey Porter (Steelers) also intercepted passes for the AFC.

The AFC didn't do anything special. It just played its "35" defense -- that's what they broke each practice with this week, "35" as in $35,000 for the winning players (the losers get $17,500).

"You've just got to play your defense and cover your man," Clements said.

AFC coach Bill Cowher (Steelers) is now 4-0 in the Pro Bowl.

"The defense really made some plays. It was a really good team win," he said. "It's been fun coaching all these guys. It's a neat group and they worked all week."

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Atlanta's Allen Rossum tried to elude Kansas City's Tony Richardson on a kick return during yesterday's game. Rossum returned five kickoffs for 136 yards.

Torry Holt (Rams) didn't work all week, as he came in Wednesday as an injury replacement for Terrell Owens (Eagles). But Holt played well yesterday, with game highs of five catches for 99 yards, including the touchdown pass from Vick.

The AFC's non-quarterback offensive star was receiver Hines Ward (Steelers). He caught three passes for 63 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown from Manning.

Ward also returned an ill-fated onside kick attempt for a 39-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead at 12:01 of the second quarter.

The AFC scored first on a 62-yard pass play to Marvin Harrison from his Indianapolis teammate, Manning.

After Manning's scoring pass to Ward for a 14-0 lead, the NFC struck back. Brian Westbrook (Eagles) scored on a 12-yard pass play from Daunte Culpepper (Vikings), capping an 84-yard drive.

As usual in the Pro Bowl, debate raged over which team cheated the most by ignoring rules against blitzing and stunting. Mora, a first-year Pro Bowl coach, complained about some apparent rule-bending by some AFC defenders.

But at the end, the personable Mora had regained his smile -- and he credited Clements.

"We weren't really going after him. The ball just goes where the open guys are. But he absolutely made the key plays," Mora said.

AFC 38, NFC 27

At Aloha Stadium
NFC	0	10	14	3	--	27
AFC	14	14	0	10	--	38

First quarter
AFC	12:09	Harrison 62 pass from Manning (Vinatieri kick)	0-7
AFC	12:01	Ward 41 pass from Manning (Vinatieri kick)	0-14
Second quarter
NFC	12:09	Westbrook 12 run (Akers kick)	7-14
AFC	12:01	Ward 39 kick return (Vinatieri kick)	7-21
AFC	5:50	Gates 12 pass from Manning (Vinatieri kick)	7-28
NFC	1:41	FG Akers 33	10-28
Third quarter
NFC	11:11	Holt 27 pass from Vick (Akers kick)	17-28
NFC	3:53	Vick 3 run (Akers kick)	24-28
Fourth quarter
AFC	14:14	FG Vinatieri 44	24-31
NFC	9:04	FG Akers 29	27-31
AFC	5:15	Tomlinson 4 run (Vinatieri kick)	27-38

Attendance: 50,225. Time: 3:09.
Officials -- Referee: Bernie Kukar; Umpire: Roy Ellison; Linesman: Ed Camp; Line judge: Charles Stewart; Back judge: Jim Howey; Field judge: Scott Edwards; Side judge: Joe Larrew.

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Team Statistics

	NFC	AFC
FIRST DOWNS	26	15
Rushing	7	5
Passing	19	9
Penalty	0	1
NET YARDS RUSHING	155	120
Rushing Attempts	27	27
Average Per Rush	5.7	4.4
Yards Gained Rushing	155	125
Yards Lost Rushing	0	5
NET YARDS PASSING	337	223
Completions-Attempts-Int	24-48-3	12-22-1
Average Per Attempt	6.7	9.3
Average Per Completion	14.0	18.6
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	492	343
Total offense plays	77	51
Average Gain Per Play	6.4	6.7
Fumbles: Number-Lost	1-0	1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards	3-28	2-10
PUNTS-YARDS	1-59	2-85
Average Yards Per Punt	59.0	42.5
Inside 20	1	2
50+ Yards	1	0
Touchbacks	0	0
Fair catch	0	1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	0-0	1.7
Average Per Return	0.0	7.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	5-136-0	6-165-1
Average Per Return	27.2	27.5
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	1-0-0.0	3-51-17.0
Possession Time	35:34	24:26
Third-Down Conversions	10 of 16	3 of 10
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 1	2 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	2-6	2-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards	2-13	2-16
Field Goals	2-3	1-2

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Individual Offensive Statistics

Rushing -- NFC, T.Barber 9-70, Westbrook 7-39, Green 5-25, Vick 3-10, Culpepper 2-8, McNabb 1-3. AFC, R.Johnson 6-33, Tomlinson 7-28, Izzo 1-27, Bettis 5-23, Richardson 3-6, Ward 1-4, Brady 1-2, Brees 3-(minus 3).
Passing -- NFC, McNabb 1-8-1-24, Culpepper 9-15-1-124, Vick 14-24-1-205, Horn 0-1-0-0. AFC, Manning 6-10-0-130, Brees 2-2-0-58, Brady 4-9-1-48, Tomlinson 0-1-0-0.
Receiving -- NFC, Holt 5-99, Horn 4-60, Muhammad 4-54, Walker 4-53, Witten 3-50, Westbrook 2-7, Crumpler 1-24, T.Barber 1-6. AFC, Ward 3-63, Gates 3-51, Harrison 2-66, Richardson 2-7, Gonzalez 1-25, A.Johnson 1-24.
Missed field goals -- NFC, Akers 43 (WR). AFC, Vinatieri 41 (WR).

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Individual Defensive Statistics

NFC Player Solo Ast Tot Michael Lewis 4 1 5 Ronde Barber 3 1 4 Shaun Rogers 3 0 3 Dan Morgan 3 0 3 Kevin Williams 3 0 3 Bertrand Berry 3 0 3 Ike Reese 3 0 3 Keith Brooking 2 0 2 Marcus Washington 2 0 2 Jeremiah Trotter 2 0 2 Roy Williams 2 0 2 William Henderson 2 0 2 Mark Fields 1 0 1 Muhsin Muhammad 1 0 1 La'Roi Glover 1 0 1 Ahman Green 1 0 1 Donovan McNabb 1 0 1 Daunte Culpepper 1 0 1 Matt Birk 1 0 1

AFC Player Solo Ast Tot Ed Reed 6 0 6 Takeo Spikes 5 0 5 Troy Polamalu 5 0 5 Tory James 5 0 5 Nate Clements 5 0 5 James Farrior 4 0 4 Marcus Stroud 4 0 4 Jason Taylor 3 0 3 John Lynch 3 0 3 Joey Porter 3 0 3 Champ Bailey 2 0 2 John Henderson 2 0 2 Tedy Bruschi 1 0 1 Terrence McGee 1 0 1 Aaron Smith 1 0 1 Tony Richardson 1 0 1 Larry Izzo 1 0 1 Tony Gonzalez 1 0 1

Sacks-Yards--NFC: Kevin Williams 1-7, Bertrand Berry 1-6. AFC: John Henderson 1-16, Aaron Smith 1-0.
Fumbles forced -- NFC: William Henderson. AFC: None.
Fumbles recovered--NFC: Michael Vick, Alge Crumpler. AFC: None.
Interceptions -- NFC: Lito Sheppard. AFC: Takeo Spikes, Nate Clements, Joey Porter.
Passes broken up -- NFC: Shaun Rogers, Keith Brooking, Lito Sheppard. AFC: Nate Clements 2, Tory James 2, Ed Reed, Takeo Spikes, James Farrior, Marcus Stroud, Joey Porter, Champ Bailey.
Kicks blocked -- NFC: None. AFC: None.

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Pro Bowl Results

2005: AFC 38, NFC 27 2004: NFC 55, AFC 52 2003: AFC 45, NFC 20 2002: AFC 38, NFC 30 2001: AFC 38, NFC 17 2000: NFC 51, AFC 31 1999: AFC 23, NFC 10 1998: AFC 29, NFC 24 1997: AFC 26, NFC 23, OT 1996: NFC 20, AFC 13 1995: AFC 41, NFC 13 1994: NFC 17, AFC 3 1993: AFC 23, NFC 20, OT 1992: NFC 21, AFC 15 1991: AFC 23, NFC 21 1990: NFC 27, AFC 21 1989: AFC 34, NFC 3 1988: AFC 15, NFC 6

1987: AFC 10, NFC 6 1986: NFC 28, AFC 24 1985: AFC 22, NFC 14 1984: NFC 45, AFC 3 1983: NFC 20, AFC 19 1982: AFC 16, NFC 13 1981: NFC 21, AFC 7 1980: NFC 37, AFC 27 1979: NFC 13, AFC 7 1978: NFC 14, AFC 13 1977: AFC 24, NFC 14 1976: NFC 23, AFC 20 1975: NFC 17, AFC 10 1974: AFC 15, NFC 13 1973: AFC 33, NFC 28 1972: AFC 26, NFC 13 1971: NFC 27, AFC 6