Bubba Wallace felt a little out of place. On Sunday afternoon, with a bunch of current and former NFL stars along with Snoop Dogg, the NASCAR driver woke up in a conversation preparing to play Madden as part of the virtual Pro Bowl Sunday.
Like many other things in the NFL 2020 season, the game had to be changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. So instead of a real Pro Bowl, he went online with current and former NFL players – along with Snoop Dogg – each playing a quarter of the game.
Then there was Wallace.
“I was just taking everything and enjoying it and then listening to some of the stories and conversations, it was just like, ‘Man, I’m really sitting here talking to these guys,'” Wallace said. “I’m just a race car driver who has nothing to do with being in the room with these people, but, hey, here we are, being here playing with Snoop Dogg, it was great.
“Between him and [former running back] Marshawn [Lynch], they were certainly the two biggest garbage speakers. “
By the end, Wallace, who occasionally plays Madden but is more in Call of Duty, has become a standout for the NFC with a dominant second quarter, three touchdowns, over Keyshawn Johnson in a 32-12 AFC victory .
Kyler Murray, Wallace, Jamal Adams and Lynch, MVP Pro Bowl, formed the NFC team. Deshaun Watson, Johnson, Derrick Henry and Snoop Dogg were AFC.
“Playing like that, I thought I’d get into it, I thought I was going to be the weakest link,” Wallace said. “But I think I could see I wasn’t. I was just the opposite. So it was good. It was good.”
Before the game, the eight players talked about how bad they were. Then they played and realized that the levels were not very good varied.
Johnson fought throughout the five minutes. He gave up three touchdowns, threw an interception and gave up a return, getting 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 quarter ended mercifully, Wallace bowed his arms while Johnson jokingly (maybe?) Accused Wallace of downplaying his skills.
“This is a flying pool shark,” Johnson said in the stream. “What he did.”
Wallace had help. Murray, the NFC captain, told him before he started what defense to play and told him to rotate between a certain amount of offensive games and look for the open man.
“I’m usually just a Ask Madden guy,” Wallace said. “It’s like choosing a play. I’m like, “Oh, that sounds like a good piece, let’s capitalize and try to get something there.” He was like, pick that defense, run all the time and then go with some of those options for offense.
“He certainly heard his voice in the crowd, like hey, choose this. Choose this. It helped a lot. That’s why he’s an MVP.”
In one of the few game replacements, Jamal Adams introduced his virtual self – because why wouldn’t you – instead of Budda Baker. Virtual Adams then intercepted a pass and forced a stutter in the second half. Adams also made four straight passes to TJ Hockenson’s tight end, leading to a touchdown.
The highlight of the game, however, had nothing to do with anything that actually happens in Madden.
It was what was happening on the side, where Snoop Dogg and Lynch commented. And when the two played each other in the fourth quarter – Lynch held on to a 20-point lead – it was a quick fire. Even when Lynch intercepted a Snoop Dogg pass and immediately fell to the ground.
Why?
The chair he was sitting in broke. “It was a great comedy there,” Wallace said. “On top of that, we all laughed all night. It was a great time, a great conversation, just being able to break free and have fun.”
Wallace said he laughed harder all night than he had in a long time.
Wallace, a Saints fan after meeting Alvin Kamara last year and knew he played for his favorite college team in Tennessee, said he was “damn cute” to be able to play and interact with the guys he plays. he used to and still watched him play on Sundays.
He had met Lynch once more – the only person he knew coming – and in the end he exchanged information with Murray, who said he would like to come to a race. And if Madden did that again, Wallace said he had enough fun to do it.
“If it were structured the same way, I wouldn’t change anything,” Wallace said. “It was fun, it didn’t take too long, it went straight through and it was really cool.”