Bubba Wallace felt a little out of place. On Sunday afternoon, with lots of current and former NFL stars along with Snoop Dogg, the NASCAR driver found himself in a chat preparing to play Madden as part of the virtual Pro Bowl Sunday.
Like so many other things in the 2020 NFL season, the game had to be modified due to the coronavirus pandemic. So, instead of a real Pro Bowl, he came in line 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 it all in and enjoying it and then listening to some stories and conversations, it was almost like,‘ Man, I’m really sitting here talking to these guys, ’” Wallace said. “I’m just a race car driver who doesn’t has no problem 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], these were the two biggest garbage speakers for sure. “
In the end, Wallace, who occasionally plays Madden but is more dedicated to Call of Duty, became the NFC standout with a dominant second quarter of three touchdowns against Keyshawn Johnson in a 32-12 victory over the AFC.
Kyler Murray, Wallace, Jamal Adams and Lynch, Pro Bowl MVPs, formed the NFC team. Deshaun Watson, Johnson, Derrick Henry and Snoop Dogg were the AFC.
“Playing like that, I thought I would get into it, I thought it would be the weakest nexus,” Wallace said. “But I think we could see it wasn’t. I was exactly the opposite. So it was okay. It was good.”
Before the game, all eight players talked about how bad they were. Then they played and realized that the levels of “not very good” varied.
Johnson struggled throughout his quarter of five minutes. He gave up three touchdowns, threw an interception and dropped a return, getting criticism from fellow teammates and hosts Michael Strahan and Charissa Thompson.
After Wallace’s third touchdown, Johnson just kept the side of his head. When the neighborhood ended mercifully, Wallace flexed his arms while Johnson jokingly (perhaps?) Accused Wallace of minimizing his skills.
“This is the pool shark that rushes in,” Johnson told the stream. “What he did.”
Wallace had help. Murray, the NFC captain, told him before he started what defense he should play and told him to spin between a certain number of offensive plays and look for the open man.
“I’m usually just a Ask Madden guy,” Wallace said. “As if I was just picking a play. I say to myself, ‘Ooh, it looks like a good play, let’s go in capital letters and try to get something.’ pair of these options to offend.
“He could definitely hear his voice in the crowd, well, pick that. Pick that. It helped a lot. That’s why he’s the vice president.”
In one of the few substitutions in the game, Jamal Adams inserted his virtual self, because he wouldn’t, instead of Budda Baker. Virtual Adams then intercepted a pass and forced a fight in the second half. Adams also executed four straight passes to TJ Hockenson, which resulted in a touchdown.
The highlight of the game, however, had nothing to do with anything that really happened to Madden.
It was what was happening next door, where Snoop Dogg and Lynch made an ordinary comment. And when the two played in the fourth quarter (Lynch held on with a 20-point lead), he fired quickly. Including when Lynch intercepted a Snoop Dogg pass and quickly fell to the ground.
Because?
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 let go and have fun.”
Wallace said he laughed more all night than for a long time.
Wallace, a Saints fan after meeting Alvin Kamara last year and knowing he was playing with his favorite college team in Tennessee, said it was “very damn” to be able to play and interact with guys he used to and still see the on Sundays.
He had met Lynch once before, the only person he knew, and in the end he exchanged information with Murray, who said he would like to come see a race. And if Madden did that again, Wallace said he was having enough fun to reappear.
“If it was structured the same way, it wouldn’t change anything,” Wallace said. “It was fun, it didn’t take long, it went well and it was great.”