NFL prepares schedule with erasers in hand
Flexibility a must as league hopes for best but will be ready for changes like later start
Under ordinary circumstances, the NFL would have released the schedule before the draft, and teams would have completed rookie minicamps over the weekend.
After practice, Bill O’Brien would be talking to the media about his draft choices and undrafted free agents as the offseason continued. Busy as usual.
But today’s circumstances are anything but ordinary because of the coronavirus pandemic.
When the NFL finally releases the schedule this week, expect contingency plans because no one is certain when any professional sport can return.
League executives would love to have the traditional Thursday night opener on Sept. 10 featuring the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions, and a full slate of Sunday games followed by the Monday night doubleheader.
Exciting games, packed stadiums, high television ratings.
That’s wishful thinking in these extraordinary times.
The NFL has every intention of playing 16 games, the playoffs and the Super Bowl, but league officials know they have to be prepared to make changes.
In the most eagerly anticipated schedule release in NFL history, we want answers to some serious questions: When will regular season begin? Will fans be allowed to attend games?
How many games will be played? Will there be reductions in training camp and preseason games? Will Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla., be moved back from Feb. 7 to Feb. 28 or even into March?
The league announced on Monday the five international games — four in London and one in Mexico City — won’t be played this season. The plan is to resurrect the international series in 2021.
The NFL and its 32 teams have shown they can audible. An
unprecedented draft came off without a hitch, and the league made it incredibly interesting.
We got to see general managers and coaches working at home with their children, wives and pets. We saw players celebrating with their families and friends when they were drafted.
We saw Roger Goodell’s basement and favorite leather chair, Kliff Kingsbury’s amazing bachelor pad, Jerry Jones’ yacht and Bill Belichick’s dog.
Whatever contingencies the NFL has planned with the schedule, you know it’s going to be interesting and cover just about every possibility.
What the NFL has going for it over the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball is that it can wait another five or six months to kick off the season. There’s no reason the NFL can’t push back the first game until October.
When the first games are played, the ideal situation would be for fans to be able to attend in normal fashion. Hopefully, by then, there would be enough tests for COVID-19 for everyone, including the public, because athletes don’t deserve special treatment.
But the league may have to start without fans. At this point, nobody can accurately predict when tests will be available for everyone — much less when a cure will be discovered.
The NFL may have to play as few as 14 or 12 games. It makes the most sense to schedule division games late in the season and non-conference games early. Non-conference games are the least important, so they should be eliminated first if the league is forced to do that.
In 1982, the NFL had a ninegame regular-season schedule because of a players’ strike. Fans understood the circumstances,
and they were excited to get the NFL back when the strike was over and play resumed.
To create more interest in the playoffs, 16 teams — more than half the league — made the playoffs. Two teams, Detroit and Cleveland, were included in the playoffs despite 4-5 records.
There were eight wild card games on the first weekend.
Washington defeated Miami in the Super Bowl.
Looking back, you could see how unusual that 1982 season was because a kicker, Washington’s Mark Moseley, was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
The point is the NFL could play as few as 10 games if it had to and still generate interest, especially if it increased the playoff field as it did in 1982.
Goodell has tried to be as fair as possible to every team. If one state has tougher stay-at-home restrictions than others, all have to follow those guidelines.
Teams in California might be the last allowed to return to the practice facility and prepare for games. If that’s the case, Goodell will have to make sure every team follows those guidelines. Or move the Rams, Chargers and 49ers out of the state until the restrictions are lifted.
Goodell and the owners know it’ll be impossible to let fans into stadiums and expect them to follow guidelines. People in Houston don’t follow them in restaurants and stores. How in the world could 70,000 of them be expected to follow guidelines at NRG Stadium?
The best thing the NFL can do is to push back the season until October. Move back the Super Bowl until the end of February or even into March. What’s the hurry? During these extraordinary times, safety should be the priority above all others, and the NFL should be at the forefront.