What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Serious lack of foresight by the NFL (1 Viewer)

spodog

spodog

Footballguy
The NFL has had a major advantage over MLB, NBA and NHL as the Pandemic and the shutdowns started in March, giving them 5 full months to prepare for a modified set of policies and protocols before starting the season. 

When creating their schedule, the NFL charged forward with a business as usual mindset and scattered NFL bye weeks across 8 different weeks, with two of these weeks having only 2 teams on bye. 

What they should have done was clustered the bye weeks for all NFL teams into no more than 2 or 3 weeks, and placed them towards the back end of the schedule AND inserted two bye weeks into every NFL teams schedule, similar to the NFL schedule used in 1993.    By doing that, they could have prepared for the inevitable COVID-19 outbreaks that will end up decimating a good portion of a roster in Week 3 or Week 4 or whenever, and had a much better opportunity to re-schedule games which will be significantly impacted by this situation into the bye week much later in the year. 

As it stands now, if a team (or both teams) on any given weekend in the first half of the season are hit with an outbreak similar to what has happened with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Marlins, etc, the NFL will have no choice but to request the teams play the game as scheduled with whatever roster they can assemble, since the re-scheduling options are virtually non-existent in a 17 week schedule and little chance of two opponents who need a game postponed having the same bye week. 

Obviously, the NFL has attempted to optimize for television contract $'s here, since a few late season NFL weeks with the possibility of only 7 or 8 games on the schedule is not appealing from a broadcast standpoint. 

Will prove to be shortsighted, and the teams, coaches, players and fans of whatever teams end up with an outbreak will end up on the short end of this decision.   

Rant over. 

 
spodog said:
The NFL has had a major advantage over MLB, NBA and NHL as the Pandemic and the shutdowns started in March, giving them 5 full months to prepare for a modified set of policies and protocols before starting the season. 

When creating their schedule, the NFL charged forward with a business as usual mindset and scattered NFL bye weeks across 8 different weeks, with two of these weeks having only 2 teams on bye. 

What they should have done was clustered the bye weeks for all NFL teams into no more than 2 or 3 weeks, and placed them towards the back end of the schedule AND inserted two bye weeks into every NFL teams schedule, similar to the NFL schedule used in 1993.    By doing that, they could have prepared for the inevitable COVID-19 outbreaks that will end up decimating a good portion of a roster in Week 3 or Week 4 or whenever, and had a much better opportunity to re-schedule games which will be significantly impacted by this situation into the bye week much later in the year. 

As it stands now, if a team (or both teams) on any given weekend in the first half of the season are hit with an outbreak similar to what has happened with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Marlins, etc, the NFL will have no choice but to request the teams play the game as scheduled with whatever roster they can assemble, since the re-scheduling options are virtually non-existent in a 17 week schedule and little chance of two opponents who need a game postponed having the same bye week. 

Obviously, the NFL has attempted to optimize for television contract $'s here, since a few late season NFL weeks with the possibility of only 7 or 8 games on the schedule is not appealing from a broadcast standpoint. 

Will prove to be shortsighted, and the teams, coaches, players and fans of whatever teams end up with an outbreak will end up on the short end of this decision.   

Rant over. 
Click to expand...
Agreed.  I am dubious the NFL can get through this without a team-wide breakout of the virus.  I truly hope I am wrong.  It is surprising that the NFL seemingly made few adjustments for COVID-19, aside from removing fans from the stadiums.

 
I get it. Second guessing is lifeblood of a fantasy football forum. I also see a ton of the "they're not doing anything!" type talk when the reality is "They haven't shared with me exactly what they're doing". 

I probably would have liked to have seen a more real bubble. But I also understand it's way harder to get 150 people times 32 teams than the NBA did with 30 people and limited teams. Overall, I've been pretty pleased with how the league has handled things. Hard Knocks has been a nice insight into just how much they've turned things upside down to make this work in the pandemic. Some of the recent stuff about travel restrictions and details there are encouraging. There's a ton that goes on that people don't know.

All in all, I've been pleased. That of course won't stop the "Told you so!" stuff if/when something goes wrong. But that's life. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
NHL gives everybody hope this can happen. What a success story so far! A+ all around. Exciting hockey, to boot.

If the NFL even gets a whiff of the NHL's success so far, we can all be ecstatic. 

 
With my tinfoil hat on, maybe those NJ lab false positives were no mistake.

Good way to put a scare into everybody.

 
Joe Bryant said:
I get it. Second guessing is lifeblood of a fantasy football forum. I also see a ton of the "they're not doing anything!" type talk when the reality is "They haven't shared with me exactly what they're doing". 

I probably would have liked to have seen a more real bubble. But I also understand it's way harder to get 150 people times 32 teams than the NBA did with 30 people and limited teams. Overall, I've been pretty pleased with how the league has handled things. Hard Knocks has been a nice insight into just how much they've turned things upside down to make this work in the pandemic. Some of the recent stuff about travel restrictions and details there are encouraging. There's a ton that goes on that people don't know.

All in all, I've been pleased. That of course won't stop the "Told you so!" stuff if/when something goes wrong. But that's life. 
Click to expand...
They could have done more bubbles like the NHL. Need more than 2. I think the amount of games per weekend being the big call.

8 teams though would be 4 games per week. One on Saturday where they want to take the place of college. 2 on Sunday. 1 on Monday. 
 

Move after 7 weeks and than after 4 with bubble moves. Maybe after 11 weeks, things would be better

if 8 x 60 is too much, than go to 8 bubbles. But NHL did do 12 x 25 per bubble. 

 
Crippler said:
They could have done more bubbles like the NHL. Need more than 2. I think the amount of games per weekend being the big call.

8 teams though would be 4 games per week. One on Saturday where they want to take the place of college. 2 on Sunday. 1 on Monday. 
 

Move after 7 weeks and than after 4 with bubble moves. Maybe after 11 weeks, things would be better

if 8 x 60 is too much, than go to 8 bubbles. But NHL did do 12 x 25 per bubble. 
Click to expand...
Definitely a possibility there. 

 
Johnny B. Goode said:
https://twitter.com/tompelissero/status/1297973112785514501?s=21
Click to expand...
I, too, am pleased with this outcome.    My initial post was focused purely on the scheduling flexibility that the NFL had and chose to toss aside in hopes that they can simply push through with normal scheduling methods.  

I'll stand by my prediction that this will result in a game that probably should be rescheduled which won't be, and a crappy product will be put on the field.   Probably more than once.

 
spodog said:
I'll stand by my prediction that this will result in a game that probably should be rescheduled which won't be, and a crappy product will be put on the field.   Probably more than once.
Click to expand...
Sure. There are a zillion people ready with the "told you so's". That's life. Hopeful for the best here as Footballguys is how I support my family. 

 
Ilov80s said:
Interesting timing as the NFL announced they did 58,000 COVID tests last week and 0 players tested positive. 
Click to expand...
First two weeks of MLB summer training:  https://arizonasports.com/story/2325686/mlb-reports-6-new-positives-in-latest-coronavirus-test-results/

For the past two weeks of monitoring testing, 23 of 17,949 samples have been new positives, a rate of 0.1% 
Click to expand...
Given the MLB cancellations once the travel and the games started, it's too early to draw a conclusion on the NFL.  

 
Couldn’t disagree more. The NFL can extend their season all the way to March (or several months longer) if they have to. All games will be played. 
 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
spodog said:
I'll stand by my prediction that this will result in a game that probably should be rescheduled which won't be, and a crappy product will be put on the field.   Probably more than once.
Click to expand...
Noted.

It's unbelievable to me how many people seem to be openly rooting for a disaster or who have than audacity to think they know more than 32 billionaires. There's likely so much more going on behind the scenes than we all know about.

These men did not achieve what they have by accident - they are prepared for all contingencies.

 
Joe Bryant said:
Sure. There are a zillion people ready with the "told you so's". That's life. Hopeful for the best here as Footballguys is how I support my family. 
Click to expand...
not really an "I told you so" if I'm calling this out well before the occurrence.    I'm not predicting doom and gloom for the season, I believe the NFL will make it through the 17 week schedule and march into the playoffs.      I'm merely predicting that we'll be dealing with some cr*# games that could have been avoided with some more creative prep around the scheduling process. 

So I predict you will be able to put food on your family's table, Joe.   

 
Last edited by a moderator:
spodog said:
Agree with this.   Wasn't projecting that games will be not be played. 
Click to expand...
Well then. If we’re not gonna argue about anything I think we’re done here.

:P

The NFL is pretty arrogant in all things so this isn’t any different. This solution I’ve heard proposed was a guy on the radio suggesting that the NFL creates a bubble in Texas. Everyone of those Texas high school stadiums  could support an NFL team. All teams in one state, likely all in one county. No traveling.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm still extremely skeptical but I'm also very impressed with how things have gone so far. I'm certainly tons more optimistic about it today than I was a month or more ago.

Right now my teams are ready to compete and it really looks like this thing is about to happen. As a commish my biggest concern is how to handle late scratches and if games are cancelled or rescheduled in a H2H FF format - that can be quite destructive to one's lineup. I've argued for changing to best ball but to no avail. 

I'm still not sure what the best contingency plan(s) are for my league(s) that I commission.

 
spodog said:
not really an "I told you so" if I'm calling this out well before the occurrence.    I'm not predicting doom and gloom for the season, I believe the NFL will make it through the 17 week schedule and march into the playoffs.      I'm merely predicting that we'll be dealing with some cr*# games that could have been avoided with some more creative prep around the scheduling process. 

So I predict you will be able to put food on your family's table, Joe.   
Click to expand...
Thanks. If that's the worst of it, I'll be glad to accept the "told you so's" later from people if they're right. 

We'll see.

Even if they play every game perfectly, our business is way off this year but we can deal with that. 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
Noted.

It's unbelievable to me how many people seem to be openly rooting for a disaster or who have than audacity to think they know more than 32 billionaires. There's likely so much more going on behind the scenes than we all know about.

These men did not achieve what they have by accident - they are prepared for all contingencies.
Click to expand...
The bolded is where we part. There's so much riding on this that they may be willfully overlooking information that says not to play. This virus has shut down four leagues and has the best public officials scrambling with what to do to meet all "contingencies." Pandemics, as some astute observers pointed out long before they hit, don't allow for all contingencies to be planned for, especially if they affect the water and air supply and threaten power grids. This one doesn't, apparently, but to say that these guys are prepared for all contingencies is a blanket statement I find incorrect.

This virus has been smarter than every billionaire on earth so far, and I'm not rooting for it. GB the NHL for doing what it's doing.

 
Ilov80s said:
Interesting timing as the NFL announced they did 58,000 COVID tests last week and 0 players tested positive. 
Click to expand...
Which is also weird since another report just came out suggesting as many as 50% of the prior positives were false positives.

apparently the NBA uses the fast tests (Yale) and NFL is still using the old style ones that have far worse accuracy. 

i was confused by the conflicting reports. How do they have 0% positive on 58k tests when the last batch had 50% false positives (of the positive results, not of all tests). 

Thinking we aren’t getting the most accurate reporting from the league.

As for the OP, I think the biggest miss here isn’t the scheduling, but rather the planning for the season with regards to doing a “bubble”. They’ve certainly had time to see how MLB has gone, with quite a few outbreaks & several game cancelations (postponements is what they call them)  so why wouldn’t they adopt some kind of bubble? It’s worked in NBA, NHL & soccer. 

is it purely the power of the owners who want the home field stadium revenue? Because it seems like the bubble would be the best way to avoid interruption. 

if they can lock that down, the scheduling becomes a lot less relevant, in my opinion.

regardless, I agree with OP that they’re being a bit shortsighted on this which is odd since they’ve had the most time to prepare. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Even if they play every game perfectly, our business is way off this year but we can deal with that. 
Click to expand...
I work big festivals for a living.  You’re not the only ones, my friend. Hopefully we all come out the other side & can one day wax wistfully about that one horrible pandemic year. 

Things are tough all over. I’m glad FBG is around to lend some normalcy to this year since so much else isn’t. 

And as non-optimistic as I was about the NFL playing a full schedule, I can’t help but get excited about my upcoming draft & (hopefully) seeing some football this year. Baseball returning has been cathartic, even with empty stadiums.

Fingers crosses that the NFL works all this stuff out and goes off without a hitch. 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
Noted.

It's unbelievable to me how many people seem to be openly rooting for a disaster or who have than audacity to think they know more than 32 billionaires. There's likely so much more going on behind the scenes than we all know about.

These men did not achieve what they have by accident - they are prepared for all contingencies.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure that logic completely checks out. 

Mark Davis inherited his team. 

Some of the other owners Inherited their fortunes that they used to buy football teams.

Several were able to wrangle public money to Build their stadiums.

The NFL is basically a monopoly, and they  print money regardless of winning or losing, or good or bad decision-making.

So it’s not necessarily the genius of billionaires that can’t be questioned, though to your point, I have no doubt some owners are very smart/shrewd business people.  I just don’t agree it’s a given. 
 

ps - I am in no way rooting for disaster. I’m investing time & energy into my FF team this year as if it were any other. I’m also rooting for my own RL football team the same. I was a project manager for decades. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. ;)  

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Joe Bryant said:
Thanks. If that's the worst of it, I'll be glad to accept the "told you so's" later from people if they're right. 

We'll see.

Even if they play every game perfectly, our business is way off this year but we can deal with that. 
Click to expand...
unfortunate to hear that, but not too surprising.     If it makes you feel better, business at my company is down around 35%.    My brother owns a company, his business is down 70%.   2020 is a year that we will look back on and wish we could have flushed down the toilet on Jan 2

 
Hot Sauce Guy said:
As for the OP, I think the biggest miss here isn’t the scheduling, but rather the planning for the season with regards to doing a “bubble”. They’ve certainly had time to see how MLB has gone, with quite a few outbreaks & several game cancelations (postponements is what they call them)  so why wouldn’t they adopt some kind of bubble? It’s worked in NBA, NHL & soccer. 
Click to expand...
somewhat beyond the scope of my original post, but I don't believe the bubble idea was truly feasible for NFL.   Logistics,  size of personnel associated with teams (both player and other), amount of prep to get the field ready for each game, the fact that the majority of the games are scheduled in an 8 hour window one day a week.     There isn't really a facility anywhere in the country that is set up to accommodate.     Indoor sports and soccer are very different in most of theses issues, so bubble is feasible for them. 

 
spodog said:
somewhat beyond the scope of my original post, but I don't believe the bubble idea was truly feasible for NFL.   Logistics,  size of personnel associated with teams (both player and other), amount of prep to get the field ready for each game, the fact that the majority of the games are scheduled in an 8 hour window one day a week.     There isn't really a facility anywhere in the country that is set up to accommodate.     Indoor sports and soccer are very different in most of theses issues, so bubble is feasible for them. 
Click to expand...
With so much television revenue on the line, plus gambling, plus merch sales I would think they could find a way.

thry could use their stadiums. But they’d have to keep the players isolated.

lack of isolation by the players, coaches & team personnel is the only way this thing goes off without a hitch.

as-is; I expect hitches.

completely get your OP...just sayin with a bubble the schedule & BYEs aren’t as critical a concern. Agree with @Joe Bryant that they’re just doing the best with what they have. 

I’m just saying I wish they’d be a little more proactive/innovative. They’ve seen the poor results of MLB, and the good results of NBA, MLS & NHL, and seemingly opted to model their season after....the worst one. 
:doh:  
 

I fear they may be using economics to drive decisions rather than health & safety. Which seems short sighted since health & safety will drive continuity, which is the point of your topic. 

of course there may be more measures implemented that we aren’t yet aware of when it comes to player restrictions, etc. so I’ll hold out judgement until we see the final product.  Fingers crossed. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
spodog said:
unfortunate to hear that, but not too surprising.     If it makes you feel better, business at my company is down around 35%.    My brother owns a company, his business is down 70%.   2020 is a year that we will look back on and wish we could have flushed down the toilet on Jan 2
Click to expand...
:confused:  I'd hope that wouldn't make anyone feel better. That's terrible. I shouldn't have said anything. 

Original point was I think the league overall did a good job with this and don't agree they had significant lack of foresight. I think they weighed the options and did what they thought was best. I'm sure you're right and there will be setbacks and everyone will get do their "told you so" victory laps. All good. 

Super hopeful for the best to salvage it the best we can. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hot Sauce Guy said:
I work big festivals for a living.  You’re not the only ones, my friend. Hopefully we all come out the other side & can one day wax wistfully about that one horrible pandemic year. 

Things are tough all over. I’m glad FBG is around to lend some normalcy to this year since so much else isn’t. 

And as non-optimistic as I was about the NFL playing a full schedule, I can’t help but get excited about my upcoming draft & (hopefully) seeing some football this year. Baseball returning has been cathartic, even with empty stadiums.

Fingers crosses that the NFL works all this stuff out and goes off without a hitch. 
Click to expand...
Oh for sure. Things are massively tough all over. I shouldn't have said anything. 

 
Joe Bryant said:
:confused:  I'd hope that wouldn't make anyone feel better. That's terrible. I shouldn't have said anything. 
Click to expand...
I didn’t take it as anything bad - I think we’re all hurting. I was commiserating. Here’s to better times ahead for us all. 

Original point was I think the league overall did a good job with this and don't agree they had significant lack of foresight. I think they weighed the options and did what they thought was best. I'm sure you're right and there will be setbacks and everyone get do their "told you so" victory laps. All good. 

Super hopeful for the best to salvage it the best we can. 
Click to expand...
I’m hoping for 16 so we can all get out fantasy fix in at least, but as a fan of a team that’s in a “win now” window I’m really hoping by some miracle a full season happens. 

we all know how short those windows of opportunity can be even under normal times. 

 
I think that the most important attribute to those running the show is the ability to have situational agility and recognize the fluidity of life right now. In other words, they have to be able to start, stop, and change directions quickly as circumstances arise. Flexibility combined with imagination is needed to pull this off.

 
Hot Sauce Guy said:
I fear they may be using economics to drive decisions rather than health & safety. Which seems short sighted since health & safety will drive continuity, which is the point of your topic. 
Click to expand...
Their economics depends on their “product” staying healthy so those things go hand in hand. 

I was listening to a Mike Lombardi podcast and while the NFL is not operating under a bubble he said the NFL more than any other sport was always in a “bubble” meaning it is so regimented that the players are always on a schedule, the teams travel together and stay together and unlike Baseball they get to their location the night before and leave immediately following the game all together. There aren’t off days for players to get in trouble on the road like baseball.

So while they’re obviously not going to be completely isolated they are in much better shape than baseball as far as traveling goes and most players follow protocols and are used to being told what to do and where to be since high school.

And once again this is an organization run by super successful people that know the cost of not doing things the right way. 

I cant say for sure that this will all go off without a hitch, but some people are just naturally naysayers and threads like these become super annoying because we all know there is risk but some people just want their podium so they can tell us all how risky this is and how ill prepared the league is when they’re literally clueless about the league’s protocols and contingencies.

 
Dr. Octopus said:
Their economics depends on their “product” staying healthy so those things go hand in hand. 
Click to expand...
yep, I acknowledged that in my next sentence. Agreed. 

I was listening to a Mike Lombardi podcast and while the NFL is not operating under a bubble he said the NFL more than any other sport was always in a “bubble” meaning it is so regimented that the players are always on a schedule, the teams travel together and stay together and unlike Baseball they get to their location the night before and leave immediately following the game all together. There aren’t off days for players to get in trouble on the road like baseball.

So while they’re obviously not going to be completely isolated they are in much better shape than baseball as far as traveling goes and most players follow protocols and are used to being told what to do and where to be since high school.

And once again this is an organization run by super successful people that know the cost of not doing things the right way. 
Click to expand...
this is all good information. I appreciate your sharing it. I didn’t hear that Lombardi podcast myself, so it’s good to know how much they’re putting into it.

of course, we also have to have an outsized amount of faith in young wealthy men who don’t always act with the smartest of instincts, like the young man who will be spending at least 10 years in prison for armed robbery instead of playing his rookie season. 

I cant say for sure that this will all go off without a hitch, but some people are just naturally naysayers and threads like these become super annoying because we all know there is risk but some people just want their podium so they can tell us all how risky this is and how ill prepared the league is when they’re literally clueless about the league’s protocols and contingencies.
Click to expand...
Some of that may be true, and some may simply be cautious optimism or realistic pessimism based on what we see all around us, including what we’ve see in MLB, which has not gone off without a hitch.

but i agree that it appears they’re doing what needs to be done, and i have evolved from deep pessimism to cautious optimism. Our world views are all shaped differently by what’s around us. I was on a call today with someone in New Mexico where they have things pretty well under control. I was on a call yesterday with someone in Florida who described it like the zombie apocalypse. So some of that may come into how each of us evaluates this thing. 

it’s all unprecedented & we all learn more every day.  I think one positive take-away from MLB is the pitcher who had a relatively mild case yet is missing the year for heart inflammation. That seemed to send a pretty loud and clear message that more lock-down measures were needed, and reading what you offered above, it seems like the NFL is doing everything they can. 

i appreciate the new information, as it helps build my confidence. Thanks for sharing that. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Joe Bryant said:
:confused:  I'd hope that wouldn't make anyone feel better. That's terrible. I shouldn't have said anything. 

Original point was I think the league overall did a good job with this and don't agree they had significant lack of foresight. I think they weighed the options and did what they thought was best. I'm sure you're right and there will be setbacks and everyone will get do their "told you so" victory laps. All good. 

Super hopeful for the best to salvage it the best we can. 
Click to expand...
To an earlier point you made, I'm sure there are all kinds of contingencies and things that have been discussed in private that we are simply not aware of. Sometimes for good reasons, but then it is hard to keep that privacy balanced against the force of the masses saying "they're shortsighted and not doing anything". So far so good I'd say, but when travel starts I'm going to get a little worried. 

I'm not overly impressed by anyone's reaction to this crisis in sports or elsewhere, aside from health care professionals, and I am still leaning in the direction that says *some* amount of games are going to get cancelled and that the FF community is largely unprepared for that, even if the NFL is. 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
Their economics depends on their “product” staying healthy so those things go hand in hand. 

I was listening to a Mike Lombardi podcast and while the NFL is not operating under a bubble he said the NFL more than any other sport was always in a “bubble” meaning it is so regimented that the players are always on a schedule, the teams travel together and stay together and unlike Baseball they get to their location the night before and leave immediately following the game all together. There aren’t off days for players to get in trouble on the road like baseball.

So while they’re obviously not going to be completely isolated they are in much better shape than baseball as far as traveling goes and most players follow protocols and are used to being told what to do and where to be since high school.

And once again this is an organization run by super successful people that know the cost of not doing things the right way. 

I cant say for sure that this will all go off without a hitch, but some people are just naturally naysayers and threads like these become super annoying because we all know there is risk but some people just want their podium so they can tell us all how risky this is and how ill prepared the league is when they’re literally clueless about the league’s protocols and contingencies.
Click to expand...
Good post. Good points about the differences between how football teams travel and baseball. When I heard the news about 0 positive tests out of 58k I told my wife that maybe there is something to the idea of acting like a team and doing what's best for the person next to you. And that football guys tend to behave within that kind of a mindframe already anyway.

 
Hot Sauce Guy said:
of course, we also have to have an outsized amount of faith in young wealthy men who don’t always act with the smartest of instincts, like the young man who will be spending at least 10 years in prison for armed robbery instead of playing his rookie season. 
Click to expand...
To be honest it doesn’t even have to be a player acting “dumb”. It could be a player doing something innocent like stopping to get something from the store for his wife and getting it. 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
It's unbelievable to me how many people seem to be openly rooting for a disaster
Click to expand...
This. If anyone here was rooting for any poster who had their own company to go out of business, or for FBGs to go out of business, they would be said to be monsters, and would probably face a ban, but, you know,... “millionaires and billionaires”... 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
To be honest it doesn’t even have to be a player acting “dumb”. It could be a player doing something innocent like stopping to get something from the store for his wife and getting it. 
Click to expand...
Good point; and a fair one. I guess I think more like the pac man Jones strip club incidents, but you’re correct - a pandemic means even mundane contact can be a vector. 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
It's unbelievable to me how many people seem to be openly rooting for a disaster or who have than audacity to think they know more than 32 billionaires. 
Click to expand...
Having read through every post on this thread, I haven't seen a single person openly rooting for a disaster.     I'll assume your reference here is to some nimwit on a sports talk call in show or some podcast, rather than a reference to anyone commenting here. 

Seems that all here are hoping all goes well with the NFL season, but are expressing views about what they feel could or should be handled differently or weighing in on league decisions, protocols, etc.   

That is, afterall, the entirety of what this armchair football stuff is all about, Pandemic or not.    Pretending, 2nd guessing and hypothesizing. 

 
spodog said:
Having read through every post on this thread, I haven't seen a single person openly rooting for a disaster.     I'll assume your reference here is to some nimwit on a sports talk call in show or some podcast, rather than a reference to anyone commenting here. 

Seems that all here are hoping all goes well with the NFL season, but are expressing views about what they feel could or should be handled differently or weighing in on league decisions, protocols, etc.   

That is, afterall, the entirety of what this armchair football stuff is all about, Pandemic or not.    Pretending, 2nd guessing and hypothesizing. 
Click to expand...
Yep. I personally am regularly accused of this kind of thing all the time. I dare bring up what I think are logical and reasonable concerns (any topic) and many people want to presume I am being negative, cynical, pessimistic or some such take. When in my mind I am simply making an observation or asking a question, like what the hell are we going to do if a game is cancelled here and there? Haven't heard *anybody* address that. 

In my opinion, bringing these things up and then being called out as being a "naysayer" feels similar to being criticized for telling someone their shoes are untied. 

**this is just an interesting psychological phenomenon to me, I don't think anyone was calling me out on this***

 
Joe Bryant said:
I get it. Second guessing is lifeblood of a fantasy football forum. I also see a ton of the "they're not doing anything!" type talk when the reality is "They haven't shared with me exactly what they're doing". 

I probably would have liked to have seen a more real bubble. But I also understand it's way harder to get 150 people times 32 teams than the NBA did with 30 people and limited teams. Overall, I've been pretty pleased with how the league has handled things. Hard Knocks has been a nice insight into just how much they've turned things upside down to make this work in the pandemic. Some of the recent stuff about travel restrictions and details there are encouraging. There's a ton that goes on that people don't know.

All in all, I've been pleased. That of course won't stop the "Told you so!" stuff if/when something goes wrong. But that's life. 
Click to expand...
This wasn't really an "I told you so" rant, Joe, as much as it is an observation (before the season even started) that a very simple scheduling modification could have become part of the NFL's planning process at any point between March and August, and they instead opted to simply schedule the season as if it were any other year. 

My post didn't reference a bubble concept like the NBA uses (I don't think that was feasible for the NFL), nor did it reference their player health precautions.

It was focused exclusively on the single decision to not account for the inevitable in the midst of a Pandemic when creating their regular season schedule.    As of today,   5 weeks after this post, the NFL now has it's first instance of this exact problem and are scurrying with teams, broadcast partners, facility owners and countless others on a re-scheduling crisis that could have been made much simpler.

 
spodog said:
This wasn't really an "I told you so" rant, Joe, as much as it is an observation (before the season even started) that a very simple scheduling modification could have become part of the NFL's planning process at any point between March and August, and they instead opted to simply schedule the season as if it were any other year. 

My post didn't reference a bubble concept like the NBA uses (I don't think that was feasible for the NFL), nor did it reference their player health precautions.

It was focused exclusively on the single decision to not account for the inevitable in the midst of a Pandemic when creating their regular season schedule.    As of today,   5 weeks after this post, the NFL now has it's first instance of this exact problem and are scurrying with teams, broadcast partners, facility owners and countless others on a re-scheduling crisis that could have been made much simpler.
Click to expand...
Of course it's a told you so. :shrug:  That's just life though and how it works. 

I know it's more fun to accuse the league of doing nothing and to simply schedule the season as if it were any other year.  I disagree that was what they did. 

Sam Farmer of the LA Times wrote this morning. 

You might have noticed there are no divisional matchups in the NFL this week. That's because, in the age of COVID, the league designed a week that could be removed from the schedule, if necessary. This is like a crumple-zone in a crash test.
Click to expand...
But I doubt that will matter to people. Again, it's just life. 

I'll be shocked if we don't have more of these and I'll be shocked if we don't have the same "If they would have just listened to me...". It's as you said, armchair quarterbacking. That's how it works. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:
Well then. If we’re not gonna argue about anything I think we’re done here.

:P

The NFL is pretty arrogant in all things so this isn’t any different. This solution I’ve heard proposed was a guy on the radio suggesting that the NFL creates a bubble in Texas. Everyone of those Texas high school stadiums  could support an NFL team. All teams in one state, likely all in one county. No traveling.
Click to expand...


Generally, I'm not a fan of how the puppet Goodell, and the NFL deal with "situations".  But when you got the duckets and power, you kind of don't care.......until you have to.

And not to get too political, but the NFL falls more conservative vs, say the NBA......you can look around the country and see how covid is approached, based on politics......I am not condemning, or condoning, just observing...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Joe Bryant said:
Of course it's a told you so. :shrug:  That's just life though and how it works. 

I know it's more fun to accuse the league of doing nothing and to simply schedule the season as if it were any other year.  I disagree that was what they did. 

Sam Farmer of the LA Times wrote this morning. 

But I doubt that will matter to people. Again, it's just life. 

I'll be shocked if we don't have more of these and I'll be shocked if we don't have the same "If they would have just listened to me...". It's as you said, armchair quarterbacking. That's how it works. 
Click to expand...
This topic was wrote about when the NFL published their schedule in May by folks who pay much closer attention to this than most of us on these boards. 

Realize by disagreeing, you are not simply disagreeing with me, you are disagreeing with Adam Schefter.

Here is what Adam Schefter had to say after talking with league contacts about the schedule when it was released in May:

So even during a pandemic, the NFL is treating the 2020 schedule just as it treated the start of free agency in March, the offseason program and the NFL draft it managed to successfully execute in April: business as usual, making adjustments to plans only if and when necessary.
Click to expand...
Hard to argue that Sam Farmer is better plugged in than Schefter.   

The contingency planning that was done and the reference that Farmer makes in his tweet were based around the idea that the start of the season might have to be pushed back, which is primarily the scenario they were looking at.    It isn't even clear they did a very good job of that, as this week 4 schedule, which Farmer claims could simply be disposed of if needed, contains both Conference games and Inter-Conference games.    It makes no sense that you could simply throw it out and still have scheduling parity, even without division games.

John Clayton had reported that one consideration that was looked at was to have Weeks 1,2,3 and 4 all be comprised of inter-conference opponents.   This was reported before the schedule release and was supposedly drawn up and considered.    At least that idea had some merit, as you could end up throwing those 4 weeks away if needed and play a 12 game schedule for all teams with exclusively conference games and have an argument for schedule parity. 

What Farmer is citing as a schedule contingency doesn't really make much sense when planning for a late start or for an in-season COVID outbreak. 

 
The main reason the NFL was so concerned about the beginning of the season, and having the ability to push it back weeks if needed, was money.  Once the first games were a go...they were on the hook for the player salaries.

Each team having two bye weeks made sense then and it still holds.  For increased injuries early and for any COVID related rescheduling of games later.  Maybe it won't end up mattering a great deal, but the NFL got that one incorrect.

 
trader jake said:
The main reason the NFL was so concerned about the beginning of the season, and having the ability to push it back weeks if needed, was money.  Once the first games were a go...they were on the hook for the player salaries.

Each team having two bye weeks made sense then and it still holds.  For increased injuries early and for any COVID related rescheduling of games later.  Maybe it won't end up mattering a great deal, but the NFL got that one incorrect.
Click to expand...
This is not entirely true. In REGULAR years, player contracts are guaranteed for the entire season for all players on the Opening Day roster and once Week 1 has been completed. However, the league negotiated with the NFLPA for an exception this year in that player contracts ARE NOT fully guaranteed and that players will only be paid for games that are actually played by their team. IIRC, this holds true for players that had fully guaranteed contracts ahead of time. So if some teams only get to play 13 games, they only get 13 game checks. Essentially, every NFL player is on a one week contract that becomes renewed the next week for as many weeks as are played.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Joe Bryant
NFL Schedule and Rest
Replies
7
Views
616
BassNBrew
BassNBrew
Ministry of Pain
What is your level of interest in the NFL when your FF season is over?
Replies
35
Views
704
Zeppelin
Z
Ministry of Pain
The Curious Case of Eric Bieniemy
2 3
Replies
135
Views
6K
TripItUp
TripItUp

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top