NFL’s Top Stars Embarassed?: Pat McAfee Reflects on Big Names Getting Humbled in Flag Football
ESPN analyst Pat McAfee broadcasts live from the sidelines of Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA prior to the start of the Pittsburgh Panthers vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish game on November 15, 2025. Image Credit: © Michael Longo / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images From Tom Brady’s budding rivalry with Logan Paul to Joe Burrow’s on-field struggles, the 2026 rendition of Fanatic’s Flag Football Classic certainly delivered plenty of headlines this year, but none of them proved to be more important than the scoreboards themselves. Team USA managed to dust both the Wildcats and the Founders, validating both their captain, Darrell Doucette, and his assertion that “This is our sport.
” As a result of Team USA outscoring the field 106-44, many in the press have begun to wonder if the event serves as a bit of a black eye for the NFL on account of its most recognizable names losing to a bunch of ‘randoms’ in a game that is fashioned similarly to theirs. “The boys were bamboozled,” Pat McAfee suggested during his latest broadcast. “I don’t think the NFL guys, retired or currently playing, had any idea that these guys had the whoop-de-whoop moves,” McAfee joked.
“Did the boys know that that was who they were playing? …Did Joe Burrow know that he was going to be playing against the greatest flag football team of all time? …These flaggers knew that they would cook these NFL guys.
” In referencing the fact that Team USA felt slighted by both the NFL and the public’s assertion that professional football players should be the ones to represent the nation when the sport is introduced to the Olympics in 2028, McAfee suggested that there should be a strong sense of “I told you so” emanating from Team USA today. Although, he is still willing to maintain his hunch that NFL players weren’t fully aware of what they had signed up for. “Did all the boys know that they were running into a juggernaut of flag football talent?
” he questioned. “I don’t think they did. And if they agreed to put that on TV… I’m just confused by it all.