These has to be the weirdest start to an NFL season ever! No OTA’s, no Pre-season games, little hype, and a constant worry that a Covid-19 outbreak could cancel the season.
The Buffalo Bills face the New York Jets in their home opener. Rain is in the forecast. No fans in the stands. The Bills are 6 1/2 point favorites, but who knows what will happen under these bizarre conditions. How will your favorite NFL team fare today?
They will 100% not lose (or win). The Giants host the Steelers Monday night. I have not been paying very close attention to all the hype about the new Bellichick disciple coach (Joe Judge), but so far I see no reason to believe the Giants have any chance of a winning season or making the playoffs, assuming that the season goes on and reaches that stage.
Jeff, there’s been a lot of analysis in the NFL world about new coaches having a disadvantage because of no OTAs and no preseason games. Veteran teams will have an edge in the early games.
The Saints play the Buccaneers at the Superdome (with no in-person attendance), but I can’t generate much enthusiasm. Between Covid and yet another hurricane bearing down on New Orleans, my capacity for football seems to have been wrung dry. At the beginning of the pandemic, someone observed that organized sports (professional or otherwise) is the reward we get for having a well-maintained society. We obviously don’t have the latter right now, so the attempts have the former seem more like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Deb, most of the hype for this game has been the Brady vs. Brees matchup (two 40-year-old QBs facing each other). There was talk about the California NFL games getting cancelled because of the terrible air quality. The Governor of California said breathing the air in San Francisco was like smoking 20 packs of cigarettes!
It looks like the hurricane is headed straight for Slidell! Be careful.
Jeff, and there’s a series of storms headed toward the U.S., too! Yikes!
Because Atlanta’s NFL team is relentlessly mediocre I pay little attention to them even in normal times, and these times are far from normal. I can’t even seem to get excited about college football this year.
Michael, I think having athletes play in a pandemic is Risky Business. It’s just a matter of time until some players and coaches come down with Covid-19.
At least in baseball, players can generally maintain a distance from each other (although the cameras in the dugout show players sitting next to each other, talking to each other without masks, even spitting—if covid does nothing but rid baseball of that filthy habit, it will have accomplished something positive); football requires players to literally be right on top of each other. I suspect this will not end well, but, as I’ve said before, we’re tired of covid, but covid ain’t tired of us.
Deb, Dr. Fauci has said we need to “hunker down” in the coming months as coronavirus infection rates go up and deaths from Covid-19 mount.
I have no interest in sports now, it’s too lousy here with other problems, and I don’t consider sports safe at this Covid time anyway.
Hurricane? All the channels here have pre-empted the national news so we have seen nothing but Oregon-California-Washington fire coverage. Sorry to hear about that.
Rick, a lot of our friends are facing wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding. Terrible times!
As always, Deb is eloquent about the topic. Deb, I hope you are well and safe.
I just don’t see how football can be played without spreading the virus. But we’ve (mostly, so far) played week 1. The Ravens played an okay game, and dominated the Browns.
Jeff, the Buffalo Bills played an okay game, too, but it was against the Jets so you have to factor that in.
Screw football and the cowards who run it. I pass.
Bob, Russell Wilson is the best QB in the NFL in my opinion. He’s worth watching every week.