MIAMI — Ask the players and they'll tell you the Pro Bowl should be played in Hawaii.

Ask most fans and they'll tell you it just doesn't matter where they play a game that just doesn't matter.

Thanks to the NFL's thinly veiled attempt to get more money from the state of Hawaii, the Pro Bowl landed this year in the same place as the Super Bowl, erasing the best players from the AFC and NFC championship teams from half-heartedly competing in the NFL's all-star extravaganza.

Plenty of Eagles, thanks to the fact that they didn't reach the Super Bowl for the 42nd time in 44 years, were available to play Sunday night. They had a league-high nine guys playing at Sun Life Stadium, the perpetually changing name of the Miami Dolphins' home field.

So how did the nine Eagles do during the NFC's 41-34 loss to the AFC, which got a game-winning 2-yard touchdown run from Tennessee runn ing back Chris Johnson in the fourth quarter?

Let's start with the quarterback since Donovan McNabb is always the focal point of any conversation about the Eagles. Playing in his sixth Pro Bowl, McNabb was obviously much more concerned with having fun than having a good game.

"Everyone's here to have fun," McNabb said. "That's the most important thing. It's an exciting time. No one's trying to get hurt, but everybody's trying to put on a show for the fans."

McNabb, who will be back in Miami on Thursday, taking part in ESPN's Super Bowl coverage, completed just three of 10 passes for 78 yards, with 58 of those coming on a touchdown pass to teammate DeSean Jackson.

"It felt just like the season," McNabb said when asked about his TD throw to Jackson. "It's always good to get him the ball. He had a great year."

Jackson, playing in his first Pro Bowl, put on quite a show, catching six passes for a team-high 101 yards, including two touchdowns.

Jackson twice gave the NFC leads that it could not hold. He turned a second-quarter screen pass from Aaron Rodgers into a 7-yard touchdown to make the score 17-14.

"Awesome, awesome," Jackson said. "My first 1/8Pro Bowl3/8 touchdown. I had to keep the ball. I'm just out here having a great time and at the same time I'm trying to put out a little effort."

He also had an interesting description of his TD dance afterward.

"It's the jerk, Cali style," Jackson said. "That's the Los Angeles jerk."

Jackson's second score came on another screen pass. Early in the second half, McNabb connected with his teammate and Jackson took off for a 58-yard score that gave the NFC a 24-17 lead. Counting the regular season, it was his ninth score from more than 50 yards out this season.

"It would be nice if the defensive backs always played that far off," Jackson said. "It was an awesome first Pro Bowl game."

Asante Samuel, playing in his third Pro Bowl, did a good job of avoiding contact on some early screen passes by the AFC and was burned for a 33-yard touchdown pass from Houston's Matt Schaub to his Texans teammate Andre Johnson in the first quarter.

Samuel, however, came up with a fourth-quarter interception that he returned 35 yards to help set up a game-tying 39-yard field goal by David Akers with 11 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game.

"I got one," Samuel said.

Akers, who has been on the losing end of all four of his Pro Bowl appearances, also connected on a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter and said afterward that he hopes the game returns to the week after the Super Bowl in the future.

"If I played in the Super Bowl, I'd also want to play in the Pro Bowl," Akers said. "It would be a bit of a disappointment if I couldn't play."

Here's how the other five Eagles fared:

Offensive tackle Jason Peters, forced to play the entire game because Minnesota's Bryant McKinnie was booted from the NFC roster after showing up for just one practice, made it through the entire game without a false start. He also had a nice block on LaMarr Woodley on Jackson's second-quarter touchdown catch.

Defensive end Trent Cole finished with one tackle.

Safety Quintin Mikell finished with one tackle.

Fullback Leonard Weaver did not get a touch.

Long snapper Jon Dorenbos, who appeared to be having more fun than any human being alive during the practice week, was flawless on all his snaps, just he had been during the regular season.

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