Pro Bowl 2017: Game time, TV channel, which Giants are playing

It’s Sunday and you need a football fix. You can get one at 8 p.m. ET by watching the Pro Bowl on ESPN, a game that will include four members of the New York Giants. Odell Beckham Jr., Landon Collins, Janoris Jenkins and Dwayne Harris will be representing Big Blue on the NFC squad.

The Pro Bowl, as anyone who has watched at least part of it in recent years knows, is only sort of football. Players mostly try not to get hurt, and by the second half the game can degenerate into glorified two-hand touch. Still, it’s a chance to see a few of your Giants in action and perhaps witness a highlight or two.

It seems, though, like the best part of the Pro Bowl has already been held. The league added a Skills Showdown this year, and the event was a success. SB Nation summed up the Skills Showdown like this:

After years of declining and low interest, the Pro Bowl needed to change. Based on what we saw Thursday night, the Skills Showdown, which was added this season, was just what the Pro Bowl needed.

There are so many talented athletes in the NFL, and we had a different way to see how they stack up in skilled ways against each other. The Pro Bowl itself isn’t really taken seriously by fans or players, but the Skills Showdown was a simple and successful event.

It was also clear the players had a good time doing it, and since it didn’t air live, the pre-cut version didn’t take up too much time. Ten players for each team, five challenges, one hour: short, fun, and to the point.

From the perspective of Giants fans it didn’t hurt that Beckham won the Drone Drop and finished second — by two-tenths of a second — to good buddy Jarvis Landry in the Best Hands Challenge.

This year’s game will be held in Orlando and will return to the traditional NFC vs. AFC format.

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