NFL Thread

[Carey]

Yep.  I read that somewhere.  There is a way that Tennessee and Pittsburgh can make it up without any major disruption.  It does involve the Ravens; while it'll be okay, another team can have a similar outbreak.  That includes a team on the Steelers schedule.  If that happens, then it gets very difficult to impossible to reschedule to where everyone plays 16 games (before January 4th)

 

[xaxat]

15 minutes ago, Carey said:

There is a way that Tennessee and Pittsburgh can make it up without any major disruption. 

It means thirteen straight games for both teams. Not ideal. But hey, what are you going to do?

[ClassicShowsFan]

Titans Vs. Steelers Pushed Until After Week 4 After 2 More Positive COVID-19 Tests

[Carey]

23 minutes ago, xaxat said:

It means thirteen straight games for both teams. Not ideal. But hey, what are you going to do?

It is what it is.  I'll be honest: it's better than playing on a Tuesday.  Sure people would make mention that all 32 teams have to deal with short weeks, and that would be a stupid comment.  It's accurate, but it isn't a perfect comparison.  Both teams would be playing a short week similar to what a Sunday-to-Thursday would feel like, but the difference is they'd be facing teams that had normal rest.  Monday I would've been okay with; that a normal day of NFL football.

 

Not a big deal right now.  It sucks, but teams have had early bye weeks in the past, as early as Week 4.  Or if you remember, in 2008, Baltimore had a Week 2 bye and almost made the Superbowl!

[mojoween]

There didn’t used to be bye weeks, right?  So teams that were beating the hell out of each other on the regular, while most likely drinking, smoking, and eating trashy food, would play 14 straight weeks.

[Carey]

Meanwhile, NHL players play more than once a week regularly, sometimes back-to-back.  Actually, several times they'll play two games in as many nights.  So while there might be a reason for a team's failure, there isn't a big excuse for it.

 

Yes, no bye weeks for NFL players, and while that may be catching up to them, it is what they signed up for

[DoctorAtomic]

Can't they just do a doubleheader Monday night game like the start of the season?

[Carey]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Can't they just do a doubleheader Monday night game like the start of the season?

If you mean this coming Monday, then no they can't.  That's due to some legal stuff, including airing the game whenever and on what channel.  They considered it, as CBS airing it on Monday at 5:00, so it would've been over and done with before Falcons/Packers.  The NFL has to be better with this, because while they're currently cautious, they haven't done a great job

[Johannah]

They nixed playing Monday or Tuesday once they got more positive Covid tests from Titans.

about lack of bye week or early bye week.... Wasn't it Houston and somebody (Miami?) that had a week one bye week due to a hurricane?  I think they lucked out and both teams had the same bye week to reschedule.t

this could get messy if things escalate.

[Moose135]

33 minutes ago, Johann said:

this could get messy if things escalate.

Maybe they can do like baseball and have teams play back-to-back 3-quarter games...

[mojoween]

27 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Maybe they can do like baseball and have teams play back-to-back 3-quarter games...

I can’t tell if you are joking or not, but regardless, I am horrified at this very suggestion.

[Carey]

27 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

1 hour ago, Johann said:

this could get messy if things escalate.

Maybe they can do like baseball and have teams play back-to-back 3-quarter games...

How?

[Johannah]

33 minutes ago, mojoween said:

I can’t tell if you are joking or not, but regardless, I am horrified at this very suggestion.

I took it as a joke and actually laughed out loud.

If it's a tie and they have to go to the fourth quarter, they can start with a receiver on the opposite 20 yd line.

Edited October 1, 2020 by Johann

[Carey]

Or they can have back-to-back 4-quarter, 7-minute, 30-second games!

It's not like they didn't shorten a period of football from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.  Of course, you have College Football where a team is spotted 75 yards whenever extra is needed.

Joking or not, the difference is that the NFL doesn't schedule teams to face each other three consecutive times.  Barring a division foe or the postseason, no one really faces each other more than once

[mojoween]

Oh my god you guys staaaaaahp. You never know where NFL interns troll around to get ideas!

[Moose135]

5 hours ago, mojoween said:

I can’t tell if you are joking or not, but regardless, I am horrified at this very suggestion.

Yeah, I was just having a little fun. I hated the 7-inning doubleheaders in baseball, and hope they never do that again.

[Popples]

I had no idea Joe Flacco was on the Jets, let alone still on an NFL roster.

[Carey]

Not a shocker, or even a surprise. But it figures that it has to be an AFC team "tanking" in a year where there will be an obvious choice for one's next franchise quarterback.

 

I do remember the Jets getting Flacco after he was booted from Denver.  It just didn't cross my mind until tonight.  I bet Baltimore could sure use him right now (maybe not now, but in January when Kansas City could still be alive and well)

[DoctorAtomic]

I did mean a double Monday further down the line. 

I know scheduling isn't easy but building in for this contingency doesn't seem an insurmountable problem. 

[xaxat]

Me: This is really bad football between two winless teams.

Also me: But the score is close, so I'll keep watching.

Edited October 2, 2020 by xaxat

[mojoween]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

Me: This is really bad football between two winless teams.

Also me: But the score is close, so I'll keep watching.

I have to get up at five am and here I sit, still watching.

[Johannah]

7 hours ago, mojoween said:

 

At least, barring a safety, it doesn't look like we'll have another winless-team tie.

Sorry about the empty quote box above.  For some reason, sometimes when I post, it adds my previous post.  Working with my Kindle, I have to backspace letter by letter to get rid of it.  So annoying and it won't get rid of the box.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Johann

[mojoween]

Aaaaaand the Jets fell apart at the end.  I thought I was going to be jealous of the Jets for cod’s sack but bring on the Rams!

[Fukui San]

Combine the rosters of both NY teams and I still don’t think you get a .500 squad 

[merylinkid]

Hubby worked late last night, so I decided to stay up to watch the post game show.    Some VERY telling things about the Jets D were said.   Steve Smith said that's a Gregg Williams Defense.   They play in a way that racks up penalties on purpose.   In other words, Williams teaches them to play dirty.    He says when he was with Carolina he experienced it first hand.   Then Brett Rypien was asked about the plays at the end where he was getting beat the hell up (thanks a LOT O'line) and he said that's a Gregg Williams Defense, he knew it going in.   He didn't go as far as Steve Smith when pressed but he HEAVILY hinted it.   He said "oh they play hard and they go hard" and a few other things that implied Williams has NOT learned from Bountygate.    Why does Gregg Williams still have a job in the NFL?   

ALong those same lines -- what the hell did the Jets expect when they hired Gase about 2 minutes after he was fired from the DOLPHINS for losing too many games?    Yeah, yeah, I know, second chances they suddenly all become Bill Belichek.    Except, Belichek didn't become Belichek right away after being fired from the Browns.   He went back to being a coordinator for a while BEFORE getting his second shot at HC.   He learned during that time.   

[Lamb18]

Vikings' Covid tests have all been negative so far so we play Houston at noon on Sunday. I hope Vikings do better against a Houston team than the Twins did.

[Carey]

Come to think of it, I don't think there's a lot of worry for the possibility of Trevor Lawrence as a Jet.  Similar to Burrow in Cincinnati, it sucks to have to be the face of a mess of a franchise.  The good news is that both New York and Cincy have had success in the past, so there is hope. 

The Bengals might win in January well before the Jets make in into January (not counting a Week 17 or Week 18 game).  As for Adam Gase, I don't know what'll happen to him, let alone the franchise.  As mentioned there was no good reason to hire him.  As for the Jets, and this applies to any other team in the league, you don't want to be a complete dumpster fire and have either a Thursday night game (in Week 4 but any other time throughout the season) or a bye in Week's 5 or 6 (or most any other time in the season).

Maybe in prohibited from seeing the Titans future plans, but I don't see where it's set in stone that the NFL would push the Steelers/Ravens game back a week, move Baltimore's bye week up 7 days, and have Tennessee host Pittsburgh in Week 7. Otherwise, it would've been scheduled by now

 

Soon after I posted here to talk about Tennessee's future, amongst other things, two more players have tested positive

Edited October 2, 2020 by Carey
Breaking News RE; Titans Outbreak

[Fukui San]

This sucks hard. Best to postpone this game. If not for the health of the Patriots, then for the health of the Super Bowl Favorites.

 

[merylinkid]

the health of EVERYONE.    The NFL was doing well during training camp when no one was traveling.   They got cocky.   Now its going to bite them in the butt.    

They HAVE to postpone this game.    As the titans have shown, it's never one guy on the team.    

[Carey]

32 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

This sucks hard. Best to postpone this game. If not for the health of the Patriots, then for the health of the Super Bowl Favorites.

They better.  The NFL is going to do whatever they feel is best, whether I say so or not. We'll never know if the Patriots would've won with Cam, but their QB doesn't play defense.  I don't think they would've, and really it doesn't matter since New England isn't likely to win out (but they could win most down the road).

 

The Steelers fans are going to be pissed if they don't postpone this game, and IMO, rightfully so.  Either way, the NFL is in trouble if Kansas City has an outbreak

[Fukui San]

They did postpone it to Monday or Tuesday. Apparently BOTH teams had positive tests!

The KC positive was apparently a practice squad QB.

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Fukui San

[Carey]

As mentioned by people in the Pittsburgh media, the NFL might have gotten lucky rescheduling the Steelers/Titans game but if this happened again, they might not be so lucky.  Still, I would forget playing at all this week.  I hardly think the Patriots would allow the league to have them playing a game on a super short week against a team that had more than a week off

[ClassicShowsFan]

Patriots-Chiefs NFL game postponed after positive tests

[Fukui San]

If I had to choose between "Push back the playoffs so that every team plays 16 games" and "Some teams just won't play as many games as others and miss a chance to get enough wins. Tough luck" I'd definitely choose option B.

[DrSpaceman73]

The NFL at the very least should have built in more bye weeks, at least one extra, to accommodate for missed games like this.  

 

[mojoween]

The NFL should just have everyone play 14 games (except for the Broncos and Jets, but they weren’t making the playoffs anyways even with the extra slot), shut down all of the facilities and quarantine EVERYONE for two weeks starting today.   They don’t have the leeway that baseball did so they have to get a handle on this now before it’s too late.

[Irlandesa]

I do think they should have considered extending the season a bit and adding more breaks. 

40 minutes ago, mojoween said:

shut down all of the facilities and quarantine EVERYONE for two weeks starting today.

The problem is I doubt that they're getting it from the same places.  Shutting it down may give them the opportunity to quarantine everyone and make sure those with current cases or about-to-appear current cases will not infect their teammates in the short term but they may end up in a similar situation in a month.

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, ClassicShowsFan said:

Patriots-Chiefs NFL game postponed after positive tests

 

[DrSpaceman73]

I feel bad for cam.   Not a pats fan but living in charlotte, I like cam, he was doing well in NE so far.  

 

[BitterApple]

Wow, this is going to be a shit show. The NFL isn't like the NBA or MLB where you can play on back-to-back days or do double-headers. If more teams have players testing positive, the scheduling is going to be a nightmare. I think they're going to have to extend the season to give themselves some leeway and push back the playoffs. We've already seen a rash of injuries, continually playing on short weeks would push it through the roof. 

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by BitterApple

[DoctorAtomic]

It boggles my mind that they didn't devise an alternative schedule to build in for something like this. They had 6 months. The NFL would not be getting a passing grade in my risk assessment course. 

[Irlandesa]

The whole "postponed to Monday or Tuesday" doesn't inspire much confidence that it won't end up getting cancelled. 

 

[Carey]

The fact is the NFL is too stubborn to have had a Plan B.  The idea was for the general public to "assume or not to assume" that it would work & would plow through.  Sometimes being King gets into the head which leads to boasting and stubbornness, and sadly, that leads to a dive.

Not a shocker that the league is struggling right now.  It pretty much was a safe bet that it would based on the pandemic not letting up, around the time that they stopped at nothing to move on as scheduled.  That started with the Draft, and then still maintaining their schedule, including Thursday games throughout the year!

Too bad.  They obviously can't play as scheduled; whenever a lawsuit surfaces, one where the defendant is vulnerable, only then will they choose the side of safety, caring, and caution.  Sometimes at the inconvenience of someone else.

Can't fault the NFL; I'd imagine they would plow on as best as possible.  The NFL is still great, and better than MLB, who pretty much made it through into the postseason.  So I don't think it would look good if the league failed to do so.  The problem is Baseball knocked off over 100 of their games; football hadn't even considered knocking off 7-8% of their games!

[emma675]

I don't think any of us are surprised this is happening, the players can't be contained when they aren't playing or practicing, this isn't like the NBA bubble. They are going out, mingling with family and friends who are probably also going out, and in the case of the Las Vegas team, having giant, unmasked fundraisers. It was bound to happen. 

I'm only shocked the NFL apparently never developed a backup plan. That is incredibly stupid and poor management. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I probably could have banged it out in a couple days. It's not an impossible problem. 

[merylinkid]

Now there are reports that a saints player has tested positive AFTER traveling to Detroit with the team.

6 months and 2 weeks after the NBA shut down, the NFL learned nothing.

[Carey]

Looks like the Sundays will turn into Cornhole Sundays this autumn!

[DrSpaceman73]

9 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Now there are reports that a saints player has tested positive AFTER traveling to Detroit with the team.

6 months and 2 weeks after the NBA shut down, the NFL learned nothing.

It's not just that they learned nothing.  

It's they just don't care.  

Their attitude has always been they are just going to play, the hell with everything else. 

[Popples]

45 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

It's not just that they learned nothing.  

It's they just don't care.  

Their attitude has always been they are just going to play, the hell with everything else. 

  It's absolutely infuriating because they had the most time. COVID interrupted the NBA and NHL seasons and MLB was just about to start and they had to scramble to find some sort of solution, but all the NFL had to do was sit back and see what did or didn't work with the other sports and come up with at least a contingency plan. They did nothing. Not a damn thing. Now they are sitting there looking like complete idiots.  No matter how much I love this sport, I won't pretend that there isn't some sort of satisfaction to be had if the owners lose out on even more money because they're so short-sighted.

[meowmommy]

19 hours ago, Carey said:

The NFL is still great, and better than MLB, who pretty much made it through into the postseason.  So I don't think it would look good if the league failed to do so.  The problem is Baseball knocked off over 100 of their games; football hadn't even considered knocking off 7-8% of their games!

Baseball knocked off over 100 of their games because their timetable is different than football, and because they are not a sport that can be pushed into winter.  If they could have found a way to time-shift an entire season, they would have.

I know it's harder to create a bubble in the NFL than it was for the NHL and the NBA because you can't just keep all the teams in one city and play one game after another on the same field.  But at the very least, some decent quarantining and some contingency plans.  One of them being to pause the season for a month, lock down the teams, and try to reboot with some lessons learned.  A Super Bowl in March is not a terrible thing.