AFC Adds Another Win to Its Collection

Ricky Williams of the Miami Dolphins, playing in his first Pro Bowl, rushed for 56 yards, scored two touchdowns and forced a fumble on special teams to earn the most-valuable-player award in the AFC’s 45-20 victory over the NFC on Sunday.

Success on the islands is nothing new for Williams, who capped his Heisman Trophy-winning senior season at Texas by earning MVP honors in the 1999 Hula Bowl.

“What’s fun is how laid-back everything is,” Williams said. “It’s always great to get in the end zone, but it’s especially great to do it against the best players in the world with millions of people watching.”

He was the biggest contributor to a balanced AFC effort featuring 100-yard passing games by all three quarterbacks and a record-tying six interceptions by the defense.

Staked to a big early lead by Williams and starting quarterback Rich Gannon of the Oakland Raiders, the AFC cruised to its sixth victory in the last seven Pro Bowls.

Williams, who led the NFL in rushing for the Dolphins after three tough seasons in New Orleans, also caught three passes as the AFC took a 28-6 halftime lead.

“I always like coming here, because it’s a free vacation,” said Oakland safety Rod Woodson, who had two interceptions in his 11th Pro Bowl appearance. “We were able to jump on top early with some big defensive plays, and that’s all you need in this game.”

Gannon, the MVP of the regular season and the previous two Pro Bowls, completed 12 of 18 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

Drew Bledsoe passed for 122 yards, and Peyton Manning passed for 100.

The AFC nearly broke the Pro Bowl record of 51 points set by the NFC in 2000. But Buffalo’s Eric Moulds was ruled out of bounds in the end zone with 1:24 left after a 36-yard pass from Manning.

The coaching staffs from Philadelphia and Tennessee made sure the game was decided in the air. The teams set records for most combined pass attempts (101) and combined interceptions (eight).

Each of the AFC’s players earned $30,000 for the win with the NFC’s stars receiving $15,000 apiece.

Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez caught five passes for 98 yards and a touchdown. Jerry Rice had four catches for 36 yards in his 13th Pro Bowl appearance -- his first in the AFC, representing the Raiders.

San Francisco’s Jeff Garcia, making his first Pro Bowl start, had three passes intercepted in the first 17 minutes.

New England’s Ty Law returned one of Tampa Bay’s Brad Johnson’s passes for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

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Manning called teammate Mike Vanderjagt an “idiot kicker” during an interview on ABC Sunday, three days after Vanderjagt apologized for making disparaging remarks about the Indianapolis quarterback.

Manning also claimed Vanderjagt was “liquored up” at the time of the Canadian cable TV interview earlier this week in which he said Manning should show more emotion.

“Here we are,” Manning said. “I’m out at my third Pro Bowl, I’m about to go in and throw a touchdown to Jerry Rice, we’re honoring the Hall of Fame, and we’re talking about our idiot kicker who got liquored up and ran his mouth off.

“The sad thing is, he’s a good kicker. He’s a good kicker. But he’s an idiot.”

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Double Threat

The numbers on Ricky Williams, who was selected the Pro Bowl MVP:

*--* RUSHING Att Yds Avg TD Long 11 56 5.1 2 18 RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg TD Long 3 18 6.0 0 10

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