LASER FOCUSED
One of Texans coach Bill O’Brien’s strengths is maintaining focus, minimizing diversions
Bill O’Brien’s discipline could give Texans edge in COVID-19 season
How does one even begin to analyze the upcoming NFL season?
The unknowns, which always have a significant advantage on the knowns — that is why they play the games — have a monumental edge in the post COVID-19 sports world.
Obviously, if all things are equal, the team with the most talent has the best chance to win.
All things are never equal during a standard NFL season. Bad luck of the draw, a good bounce of fortune, a catch of kismet all can swing a game, a season, a championship.
The coronavirus factor in
2020 could lead to this being as wide open a season as ever.
The Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac has been so ridiculous through seven months that it is impossible to imagine a smooth fall of football.
Disruption is certainly possible. Already, we have seen the cancellation of the preseason, a development few people besides NFL team owners are bothered by.
Real games being moved, postponed or canceled is very likely.
The Texans and Chiefs, who are scheduled to play in the season opener Sept. 10 in Kansas City, have reported to a training camp unlike any we have seen. There are a host of new precautions in place.
Texans players are met by the team’s director of medical administration Geoff Kaplan in the parking lot. Once testing for the coronavirus is done, they enter a sterile environment in which three locker rooms are in use so fewer players share a dressing room.
Masks are absolutely required, Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said, and the team is surveilling players as if NRG Stadium was a top-secret lab, with face-recognition doorways and displayed traffic patterns to help enforce social distancing.
“It’s one day at a time”
O’Brien said. “Everybody is getting tested every day. There’s testing available for families if players choose to take advantage of that. I just think that’s what 32 teams are dealing with.
“So far, for us, over the last three days we have had 100 percent negative tests, which I think is a testament to our staff and our players, that they’re obviously taking this thing seriously.”
One of O’Brien’s strengths in the pre-COVID days was his ability to minimize distractions and keep his players focused.
That skill should be particularly important this year. Aside from the standard football-related issues that pop up unexpectedly during a season, who knows what else players will be faced with?
Professional athletes are in unique situations in that most can afford to take whatever precautions are necessary. That doesn’t mean a careful player cannot contract the virus, but those who struggle with personal discipline are at a higher risk.
When practice or weightlifting sessions are over, players must rejoin the real world.
“The biggest thing is when they leave the building,” O’Brien said. “Right now … this is the cleanest building in Houston. I mean, you could eat off the floor in here. It’s that clean, and it’s scoured every single day. When I say scoured, it’s disinfected every single day and cleaned every day.
“I think it’s going to be the most disciplined team away from the building is going to have the best chance to win.”
The standard coaching directive to worry only about what you can control could be more of a separator among NFL teams this season.
What’s going on off the field can get in the way of the game.
The Texans are doing as much as they can to protect their players, but unable to fashion an NBA-like bubble thanks to having almost six times the roster size, NFL teams are more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
“I would say staying safe and staying healthy in general is always a personal responsibility,” Texans executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby said. “It’s really a personal thing. Each person has to do it. Each person has to own it and have ownership.”
While true, the example set at the top can be a major factor in successfully fighting the disease. See: The U.S. government.
The Texans are not playing politics with the virus; instead, they’re relying on science and medical professionals to operate as best they can as they try to play a football season.
While it hasn’t often been said about this franchise, the Texans are doing what a smart organization would. That should pay off in wins, if and when the games are played.
“I wouldn’t say that there is some sort of huge strategic competitive advantage … I would say your attitude will be a competitive advantage,” Easterby said. “How we handle testing, how we handle longer days, how we handle not seeing each other as much, not being able to meet face to face.
“I think our attitude and our outlook on life and outlook on sports and outlook on relationships will be a competitive advantage this year for all sports, all business and for all of life, because it’s challenging for everybody.”