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Saturday, February 3, 2001

Tampa Bay's Warren Sapp leads the NFC's defense
in tomorrow's Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

Bucs, newcomers
dominate NFC roster

Isles, bowl great for each other
Mawae revisits isle ties
AFC: Super Bowl roll?

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Official Pro Bowl site

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By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

If you look around at the nine Tampa Bay Buccaneers dotting the Pro Bowl sidelines for the National Football Conference, it's hard imagining them not being in the Super Bowl every year.

It would be equivalent to the New York Yankees starting their entire infield in the Major League All-Star game or the Los Angeles Lakers landing three of five in the NBA affair.

New Orleans is three back with six, Minnesota and Philadelphia each have five in the house and Washington has four.

"There have been a lot of changes to the NFC team since I was here two years ago," NFC head coach Dennis Green said. "There's a lot of young talent in the league. But there are also some veterans making it for the first time."

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Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper will be the starter under center, marking his first appearance here since facing the University of Hawaii as a freshman for Central Florida in 1995.

His primary targets are Vikings teammate Cris Carter, New Orleans wideout Joe Horn and San Francisco great Terrell Owens. Carter jokingly said that Horn and St. Louis' Torry Holt might have a hard time seeing the football come their way.

"I got Daunte looking out for me," Carter said. "And Terrell has (San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia) throwing to him. I guess Torry and Joe are going to have to work out something with (Philadelphia signal-caller Donovan McNabb). But that's just how it is in these games."

Defensively, the NFC is led by Tampa Bay's Warren Sapp, Saints' down linemen La'Roi Glover and Joe Johnson, and Bucs' linebacker Derrick Brooks.

The secondary has two of the best cover-corners around in Washington's Champ Bailey and Philadelphia's Troy Vincent. Add Tampa Bay's John Lynch at safety, and it's easy to see how the NFC believes it can win the $25,000 winners' share.

"These games kind of start out fun, but if it's close, everybody gets competitive," said Lynch. "Anytime you get the best of the best playing each other, you're going to get serious."

There are also 26 first-timers in the game, who would like nothing better than to leave a lasting impression on the opponent.

"You don't want to look bad," Bailey said. "We worked too hard to get here to give up a big play on national television. It's for fun, but there's still that pride thing."

The NFC won last year in a high-scoring 51-31 ballgame. The NFC also leads the overall series, 16-14, since the merger in 1971.

"I'm excited about playing in this game," Culpepper said. "This is something you look forward to as a competitor. To be out here with all these big-time players is a thrill for me."

Pro Bowl 2001