Will there be a completed NFL season this year?

[bayala]

I was listening to a podcast where they interviewed Bruce Arians about this topic. He made the point that the NFL is better equipped to handle this then the MLB for the following reasons:

- Even in non-Covid times, teams spend an average of 26 hours in a city for an away game. MLB teams will spend 3-4 days in a city for a series. 

- Night before game they motorcade to airport , private jet to host city, motorcade to hotel, Sleep , motorcade to game, motorcade to private jet , fly  home . There's very little "outside" interaction

- Every team has a hotel "bubble" in their home city. It's optional (for now) but teams like the Cowboys have a strong buy-in from players and staff 

It's not perfect and I don't think there should be fans in the stands but I think they will complete the full season

 

[StressedDad25]

Interesting reading all the viewpoints on here. I think there will still be a full season of some sorts. Like someone else mentioned, they have plenty of backup players they can rotate in. I watched the first episode of Hard Knocks Life on the LA Rams & LA Chargers and they mentioned this exactly. Players that are already getting cut early on, have a good chance of rotating back in, so they need to keep up with their training. This season will be much different than the past, and will make my Fantasy Football Leagues that much more interesting.

[DaBoot]

No full season.If they do play, probably not worth watching if the ban covid players,. No fans??? Why bother. Most like to “go out” to watch games... where can you go.?? Tv ratings are down across the board for “ kneeling sports” . No college football = no football . 
maybe they will launch the vr experience so we can see them not tackle, not hit, and not play hard up close in 3D...

[Ken Gargett]

52 minutes ago, DaBoot said:

No full season.If they do play, probably not worth watching if the ban covid players,. No fans??? Why bother. Most like to “go out” to watch games... where can you go.?? Tv ratings are down across the board for “ kneeling sports” . No college football = no football . 
maybe they will launch the vr experience so we can see them not tackle, not hit, and not play hard up close in 3D...

i don't see them banning covid players. rather they will be isolated to recover and be able to play again when fit. very minor cases, i see 14 days. but if teams are decimated by covid then i think you are right. probably not worth watching and won't mean much in the long run. 

as someone who has no link or connection at all with college football, and does not care about it, i would totally disagree with your statement about no college footy equals no footy. for me, that is interesting in that it makes the next draft more problematic but otherwise, could not care. i do understand that college football means much more to others. 

no fans in stadiums is unfortunate of course, but it still works. we have seen that in our football and other sports. you get used to it very quickly. there is perhaps a lot more watching the games at home here normally, rather than going out as you guys do. so that could be difficult. not sure how that will go. 

as for the kneeling, there will be a little bluster from some but once games start, most won't care. well, they might care but they'll still watch. 

[Smatthews607]

Given the practice squads that the teams all have, I am sure that the 'next man up' tradition of the NFL will help immensely as the season progresses. But with no pre-season games, what type of teams are they going to be able to field when the season starts? How do you make roster decisions without actually seeing the players in game situations?  And how many extra contact injuries are going to occur because they have not had an opportunity to get up to full speed with pre-season games?

Truthfully, one of the best parts of the NFL gameday experience as a season ticket holder is the tailgating before the game. That isn't going to happen this year, so I'm not really sure that I care about the games. Did I really just say that?

[PigFish]

5 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

ray, congratulations on completely re-writing the definition of "skirting".

best

kbg 

You are rubbing off on to me ken

ray

[NSXCIGAR]

16 hours ago, PigFish said:

You are rubbing off on to me ken

Ew, talk about needing a bubble...

 

20 hours ago, bayala said:

I was listening to a podcast where they interviewed Bruce Arians about this topic. He made the point that the NFL is better equipped to handle this then the MLB for the following reasons:

BA wants to play this season more than anyone, no doubt about that. Can't say I blame him. Not a TB fan but I can't wait to see what they're able to do this year.

[Ken Gargett]

3 hours ago, PigFish said:

You are rubbing off on to me ken

ray

that will get us both suspended. 

[Chas.Alpha]

With no fans, or cardboard cutouts like they use at MLB stadiums, the whole complexion of the game changes. As a (rabid) Mn. Vikings fan, I can tell you that during home games, when the defense is on the field, the fans are so loud that it easily costs their opponents 7-10 points a game due to false starts, etc.

That said, I bought a 5 box of Monte A’s with the promise of not smoking one until the Vikings win a Super Bowl, or they’ll end up on BR in 2047.

Whichever comes first... ?

[T.52]

19 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

As a (rabid) Mn. Vikings fan, I can tell you that during home games, when the defense is on the field, the fans are so loud that it easily costs their opponents 7-10 points a game due to false starts, etc.

You are joking with this comment, right?  Fan noise might cost the opponent 1 false start penalty per game, and even that is being a bit generous.  The league average in 2019 was 18 false starts per team for the entire regular season.  So just a notch over 1 false start per game.  I'll bet more than half of those false starts are because of people being stupid and forgetting the snap count.  7-10 points a game?  No way.

https://www.nflpenalties.com/penalty/false-start?year=2019&view=team

[foursite12]

Contrary to popular belief, there were more false start penalties called on the home team than on the road team in the NFL last year (298 to 281). U.S. Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings) ranked 10th in the league for opponent false starts per game last year and, yes, was an exception to the overall league stat but not by much. That edge may be due simply to the obnoxiousness of a piped in recording of what is supposed to be a viking horn (sounding more like a moose in heat trying to free itself from a mud pit) rather than sheer decibels.  Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, regarded as the loudest NFL stadium, ranked last in 2019 (0.1 false starts per game by Chiefs’ opponents). Oh, and they won the whole thing. So, for the most part, even the stadiums with the most well-known reputations for being noisy aren’t providing much of an advantage-- at least not in terms of crowd noise-induced false starts, anyway. 

[BoliDan]

I think they should play in giant hamster balls.

Staying in hotels, sharing planes, buses etc... I dont see how just one player will test positive. 

The season might come down Belichick and Tomlin playing Madden over zoom. 

[cellinisart]

On 8/18/2020 at 11:47 AM, PigFish said:

Who cares?

While skirting the political issue which dominates my mind about professional sports, as they disrespect the country and the economic system that made these damn fools rich, just to support a Marxist movement that would strip them of their wealth with everyone else, they feign to be concerned about people they spit on as they are rude to them in the drive through, I find pro sports filled with the morally null! MHO.

Cheers!

Couldn’t say it any better 

[dowjr1]

Yup don’t know that I care.  Sports used to be about fun and not political views.  So now many professional sports teams have to sleep in that bed after feeling the need to make a statement.  NBA viewership was down 75%. Meh.

[Hollywood Ninja]

Not sure that political views have changed the act of throwing a ball in the air and catching it though? Still seems entertaining to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tallguy]

On 8/19/2020 at 5:18 PM, Chas.Alpha said:

With no fans, or cardboard cutouts like they use at MLB stadiums, the whole complexion of the game changes. As a (rabid) Mn. Vikings fan, I can tell you that during home games, when the defense is on the field, the fans are so loud that it easily costs their opponents 7-10 points a game due to false starts, etc.

That said, I bought a 5 box of Monte A’s with the promise of not smoking one until the Vikings win a Super Bowl, or they’ll end up on BR in 2047.

Whichever comes first... ?

Been a Vikings fan since '71, and my advice is to enjoy the Monty A's on your own schedule.  Otherwise, go ahead with the auction now.  The current crew is one of the worst squads in their history.

[Hoepssa]

 

Viewership is down when you lock citizens at home. Pro sports cant not be shut, it hurts financially more than government thought, France now having 2nd shut down

and they give greenlight to Ligue 1 football to go on, where is safety first? 

NBA, Champions League football, local soccer leagues as well. People love what they can get involve it, or they can read the Bible with a cigar instead.

[T.52]

On 8/17/2020 at 9:53 PM, El Presidente said:

Ken and I were talking about this during last weeks Monte 2 review. 

Playing in front of empty stadiums or reduced capacity stadiums is the easy part and has proved relatively successful around the world for soccer/rugby over the past two months. 

NFL is a little different.  Say 55 players per team + staff (coaching and admin).  Flying across country (assuming no playing bubbles).  Given the level of infections, what happens when say Tampa comes down with 14 infections the week before they play NY in NY or the Falcons similarly are affected 2 days before they play Chicago? 

Do they have a plan on how to handle it at this stage? A successful NFL season would appear to be one of the great sporting administration masterstrokes of all time if they can pull it off. 

Do they have a chance? How can they achieve it?  

We now know the answer to these questions...Yes, Yes, Yes!  NFL completed an entire season in the middle of a pandemic!  Impressive work by everyone.