J.J. Watt is the biggest star in Pro Bowl

Few moved very fast, no one flattened a quarterback, and there were no bone-jarring hits in the gentle, friendly version of football played at the Pro Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

Even in a game dominated by offense, J.J. Watt was the star.

The Texans defensive end intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and led the crowd in dances during commercial breaks.

Team Irvin defeated 32-28 Watt’s Team Carter, but the score is never important in the NFL’s all-star game. Everyone seemed to have a good time, particularly Watt, the game’s defensive MVP.

Other memorable moments came from Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, who dunked over the crossbar twice after touchdown catches, this time with no penalty, and from Giants rookie Odell Beckham Jr., who made a diving grab at midfield.

Graham’s second touchdown, on a one-yard, fourth-down pass from Matt Ryan, was the winning touchdown with 3:10 to play.

Greg Olsen and Emmanuel Sanders each caught a pair of touchdown passes. Andrew Luck was nearly perfect in his short time on the field, completing nine of 10 for 119 yards and two scores. Matthew Stafford threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns, making him the offensive MVP.

The Pro Bowl took a one-year hiatus from Hawaii so it could be played in the desert at the Super Bowl site. A sellout crowd of 63,225 watched at University of Phoenix Stadium as the teams moved up and down the field, often without much resistance.

If the players missed the beach, they wouldn’t let on.

“It’s been fantastic,” Dallas quarterback Tony Romo said. “The turnout here at the stadium is just like an NFL game.”

Romo knew this wasn’t a real NFL game.

“It’s a blast,” Stafford said. “To able to play with the best in the world is a whole lot of fun, and everybody is such good people, too. I am out here having a good time.”

The NFL scrapped the AFC vs. NFC format last year in favor of having two big-name former players draft their teams four daysbefore the game. This year, the honor went to Michael Irvin and Cris Carter.

There were teammates playing against teammates.

When Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson made a pretty fingertip touchdown catch from Drew Brees for Team Carter, he celebrated with his Packers teammate Clay Matthews, who was playing for the other team.

Beckham dived to the ground and gathered in Stafford’s long pass just as the ball was about to hit the ground. When Graham caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Stafford, he soared to dunk the ball over the crossbar. The New Orleans tight end had been penalized twice and fined $30,000 in a preseason game for two dunks. There was no penalty on Sunday.

“I really wanted to catch one here because this is, I guess, the only place I can dunk without a flag,” Graham said. “But you know, the league called down and told me not to hang on it, so I didn’t.”

The goal posts were narrowed to from 18.6 feet to 14 feet on all kicks, not just extra points as had been previously announced. The extra points also were moved back to make for 33-yard kicks.

The skinny posts claimed an unlikely victim when Adam Vinatieri missed two extra points. The 42-year-old Colts kicker hasn’t missed an extra point in real games in five years. He also missed a 38-yard field goal.

Another rule was no blitzing. Denver’s Von Miller violated that one and, on the next play after the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Luck threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to his Indianapolis teammate T.Y. Hilton.

“It’s very special, the chemistry that we have,” Hilton said.

Winners got what amounts to pocket change for them — $55,000 apiece; losers got $28,000.