NFL Pro Bowl flag football rules, explained: How scoring, clock, field will work for new 7-on-7 game

Kevin Skiver

NFL Pro Bowl flag football rules, explained: How scoring, clock, field will work for new 7-on-7 game image

The NFL is still trying to figure out the Pro Bowl, and in 2023 things are going to look very different.

Rather than a full exhibition "tackle" game, the league instead going to try to showcase the speed and agility of its top players with a flag football game rounding out a weekend-long skills competition.

It's going to be 7-on-7 with a clock, rather than a slow-paced NFL game where the players' sole goal is to not get hurt.

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Here are the rules for this new-look Pro Bowl, and how fans can expect Sunday to look.

NFL Pro Bowl flag football rules

Tackling

It goes without saying, there won't be any tackling in this game, nor will there be engagement at the line of scrimmage. Rather, players will pull a flag to get a player down, adding a twist to evading tackling in this year's exhibition.

Scoring

Scoring is going to be different this year as well.

The third flag football game of the weekend's scoring is going to be added to the scoring of other events of the weekend, a possible 36 points.

Touchdowns, naturally, will be six points. From there, teams can either go for two from the 10-yard line or try to gain an extra point from the 3-yard line.

Clock

Rather than four quarters, the game will feature two 20-minute halves. Furthermore, the clocks will be running until two minutes left in each half, at which point normal clock management will resume.

That means incompletions, going out of bounds, changes of possession, scores, or timeouts will stop the clock.

Field

The last big change is the field itself.

Instead of playing on a 100-yard field, it's going to be 50 yards long, while retaining the 53-yard width.

In other words, expect a lot of scoring.

MORE: NFL Pro Bowl date, time, rosters & more to watch 2023 event

Peyton and Eli Manning will be coaching the NFC and AFC, respectively, so expect them to be in good humor during the game.

Basically, the NFL is trying to make its exhibition game an extension of a skills competition. By putting position players in 7-on-7 and letting them run, it should be a high-scoring affair. And that means more exciting highlights as well.

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.