Any realistic adjustments the NFL can make (or is making?) at this point so they're more NBA than MLB or are we good/screwed??

[Logic]

22 minutes ago, SCBills said:

You’re assuming rosters are all ravaged.  So far we’ve had some opt-outs, but a very small amount and no players that really move the needle.  
 

Will the Lakers, Clippers, Celtics or Bucks not count their ring because it’s in a bubble?  
 

If MLB gets its act together and the Yankees roll through, are they not going to claim it?

 

Personally, this is why I love Beanes approach of year after year success and not just loading up for one year at all costs.   If Allen improves, we’re set for a long while and that’s all that matters to me.... SB trophy or not. 
 

Might fall apart and the season might play out great.  Hard to envision anything right now.... but people worried about the NBA bubble and it’s been absolutely phenomenal. 
 

 

With regard to the first bolded sentence: The MLB has shown us already that fast and widespread outbreaks are quite possible, which could indeed ravage a roster.

With regard to the second bolded sentence: The NBA is in a quarantined bubble. It is therefore much more likely to succeed than what the NFL is planning to attempt.

[TBBills]

54 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

Exactly.  I get that they need to play games from a business standpoint because of the money.  But from a fans standpoint, what's the point?

Fans don't care as long as they play.

24 minutes ago, Logic said:

With regard to the first bolded sentence: The MLB has shown us already that fast and widespread outbreaks are quite possible, which could indeed ravage a roster.

With regard to the second bolded sentence: The NBA is in a quarantined bubble. It is therefore much more likely to succeed than what the NFL is planning to attempt.

MLB shows what happens when you don't follow the rules... So follow the rules and you will have a season 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I’ve mostly been in the camp of the season is doomed. That said if the wanted to get serious they could do a few things to give them a chance.

1. Delay everything at least 30 days. Send everyone home with masks and trackers. The stats suggest the post 4th of July surge may have crested. An additional 30 days may see community transmission rates falling.

2. Divide the teams up.  The Bills know who 20 of the 22 starters are. There is no reason to expose the starters to the other 60 players.

3. Divide them again into offense/defense by time of day and/or site for the majority of days. Again there is no need for defensive players to mingle for film and drills.

4. When full practice is needed everyone gets tested with 24 hours of the practice.

5. Mandate face masks for everyone. It puts everyone on the same level. I don’t think there is any difference in performance with a mask but even any small difference would be mitigated by everyone wearing them.

6. Mandate a minimum of 3 QBs per team put the starting QB in their own quarantine. Every other position can be replaced with a second tier guy except QB. 
 

[Captain Caveman]

47 minutes ago, TBBills said:

MLB shows what happens when you don't follow the rules... So follow the rules and you will have a season  one player gets it and rides the team plane / bus or shares a clubhouse. 

Fixed your post

 

30 - 50% of the team seems to come down with it.  Now instead of only needing to keep 30 men uninfected, think of a football team where it's probably at least 70 (including practice squad, coaches, etc...) and on top of that the sport itself can't be played without close physical contact, where they guys are going to be huffing and puffing all over each other.  

Edited August 2, 2020 by Hapless Bills Fan
altering quoted text without indication

[Augie]

15 minutes ago, TBBills said:

 

MLB shows what happens when you don't follow the rules... So follow the rules and you will have a season 

 

What are the rules, exactly? Are they feasible? Realistic? Even if you follow the nebulous rules there is STILL no guarantee. That is a leap. I’d like to be more optimistic, but...... 

[Orlando Buffalo]

If a team wanted a bubble they could make it happen at a local college dorm that did not have students on site, but players don't want that. This season will go on fine because even if a player gets it he will only miss 2 games most likely and every team has to work through rosters that way every year. Will it always be pretty of course not, but I would not be surprised if teams did a bubble the last 2 weeks of season and into playoffs.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

Is there something they could do? Yes.
Is there anything else they will do? Probably not.

I'm not sure what the numbers look like for people who have completely self-quarantined with no person to person contact outside their household, but we've done it. I think in lieu of an official bubble, if everyone bubbled inside their own homes, it would drastically reduce the possibility of someone getting infected. Is it realistic that all of these kids will make responsible life choices? Probably not. 

 

There's a book about how we relate to food (not really a diet book) by a UMN psychologist Traci Mann, "Secrets from the Eating Lab".

 

In it, she points out that at work, if we resist distractions and work efficiently 95% of the time, we'll probably be pretty productive.  But if on a diet, we successfully resist temptation to eat a plate of donuts at the coffee machine 95% of the time, but eat the donuts the other 5% of the time, we can undo the good work of a day (or a week) of dieting.  That's one reason diets have a poor track record of success.

 

There's a similar problem for self-quarantining.  It depends upon literally everyone in the household being disciplined about precautions 100% of the time. 

 

One thing that's been raised with college students is "don't tell us what we can't do - tell us what we CAN do, socially and safely".  So I think that would be an important thing for the Bills and other teams to address.  It's unreasonable to expect healthy, vigorous young men to live in a bubble without social contact for 6 months.  So don't focus on just telling them what's off limits and they shouldn't do  -  tell them also what they can safely do, or find out what they want to do and give advice on how to do it more safely.  If you want to have a gathering, rent a canopy and do it outside.  Play pool noodle games along with Mafia where you get to whack someone who comes within 6 feet.  etc.

[BullBuchanan]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

There's a book about how we relate to food (not really a diet book) by a UMN psychologist Traci Mann, "Secrets from the Eating Lab".

 

In it, she points out that at work, if we resist distractions and work efficiently 95% of the time, we'll probably be pretty productive.  But if on a diet, we successfully resist temptation to eat a plate of donuts at the coffee machine 95% of the time, but eat the donuts the other 5% of the time, we can undo the good work of a day (or a week) of dieting.  That's one reason diets have a poor track record of success.

 

There's a similar problem for self-quarantining.  It depends upon literally everyone in the household being disciplined about precautions 100% of the time. 

 

One thing that's been raised with college students is "don't tell us what we can't do - tell us what we CAN do, socially and safely".  So I think that would be an important thing for the Bills and other teams to address.  It's unreasonable to expect healthy, vigorous young men to live in a bubble without social contact for 6 months.  So don't focus on just telling them what's off limits and they shouldn't do  -  tell them also what they can safely do, or find out what they want to do and give advice on how to do it more safely.  If you want to have a gathering, rent a canopy and do it outside.  Play pool noodle games along with Mafia where you get to whack someone who comes within 6 feet.  etc.

My thought is that if all the NFL families did actually bubble themselves from the outside that it would make sense that they could hang out together after quarantine and not increase risk that much, but I'm not a doctor.

[maddenboy]

I know that the NFL is now taking these additional steps after watching MLB & NBA, so I feel better about the season. (List steps being taken)

 

-Preparing to have a quarantined QB every week.

 

-Having a complete list of backups / journeymen / UPS drivers to pull from. 

 

Seems like every time a player is put on the Covid/Quarantine list, there is a guy being signed to take his spot the same day.  These players only last a week or 2, but they get acclimated to the system and playbook.   "stay in shape, son, and stay by your phone for the next 4 months"

 

-"complete" season I forsee.  16 game season, notsomuch.

 

And plus, we really just "root for laundry" in this free-agency era.  If JA goes down for the season, but we still win the SuperBowl, no Bills fan will put a mental asterisk by it.

Edited August 2, 2020 by maddenboy

[Figster]

I like the idea of playing all sports in the safest venues possible. (bubble)

 

Players that test positive, quarantine until healthy, then return to the playing field will help build herd immunity within the bubble IMO. 

 

 

 

 

[PromoTheRobot]

One thing the NFL should seriously discuss is what happens if teams are forced to drop out. Let's say 4-5 teams get so ravaged they can't field a team? Do you scuttle the season for 28 teams? Maybe they should discuss a contingency for that.  Unplanned byes,? Last-minute schedule changes?

[Doc]

17 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

One thing the NFL should seriously discuss is what happens if teams are forced to drop out. Let's say 4-5 teams get so ravaged they can't field a team? Do you scuttle the season for 28 teams? Maybe they should discuss a contingency for that.  Unplanned byes,? Last-minute schedule changes?

 

Continue playing (without those teams obviously) and teams scheduled to play a team that has to drop out gets a bye and at the end they go by winning percentage.

[Paup 1995MVP]

3 hours ago, Logic said:

Agreed.

And for me personally, a championship won during a year without fans in the stands and with multiple squads decimated by infection from a deadly pandemic wouldn't be very satisfying. I know others disagree, but that's how I feel.

Would people really be happy about the Bills winning their first ever Lombardi during a season in which a deadly pandemic ravages league rosters, street free agents face off with vanilla playbooks, and no fans are there to celebrate? To whom does that sound like a worthwhile endeavor?

Its pro football brother.  Any football is better then no football.  I don't care what the rosters look like by seasons end.  If the Bills have the best team in the league versus the competition, that's all that matters.  The league will go forward.  Just like baseball is still playing.  And hockey and basketball are back playing.  Regardless of circumstances you always keep marching forward.  That is what life is supposed to be about.  It should never stop.  If you let the virus ruin you and your life it will.  I control my life.  Not some frikin virus.  There were fans in the stands in New Hampshire for the Nascar race today.  They were not sitting on top of each other, but there were plenty there.  Life will go on.  That's up to a lot of you if you want to get back on the bus.  I like the challenge of not only having to be a good team.  But also having to keep a healthy team.  Quite a challenge.  But if anyone can do it right, it will be the McDermott and Beane led Bills.  

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

When there is $10 billion at risk, the owners want to play and the majority of players want to play.  Given that level of commitment, I find it hard to believe that players and owners will kill the season.  Don't underestimate the motivation of the money involved.  With the exception of the guys that are opting out, it may be that the players themselves don't see the virus as a threat to young healthy athletes.  They continued to workout in small groups during the high point of the epidemic.  That tells me what their mind set is. For me personally, I have taken all of this seriously and continue to take precautions in my daily activities but I am still undertaking many of my normal activities.  As training camps proceed, we'll have pretty good evidence of how the season will likely go.

[SCBills]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

With regard to the first bolded sentence: The MLB has shown us already that fast and widespread outbreaks are quite possible, which could indeed ravage a roster.

With regard to the second bolded sentence: The NBA is in a quarantined bubble. It is therefore much more likely to succeed than what the NFL is planning to attempt.

I understand that, but nobody knew the bubble would work as well as it did.  There was certainly a lot of hand-wringing and worrying prior to what we now view as a success.  
 

We have yet to see what the NFL will do.  With MLB - Teams have had positives and not had their rosters ravaged.  The Marlins are the example of what not to do.  
 

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by SCBills

[Saxum]

Best way to increase chances are to:

• Accept it will be non-normal season and make one year (hopefully) changes.
• NFL needs to be prepared to loan teams money who may have cash flow issues due to increased expenses and reduced income.
• Use lessons from off-season to make meetings more virtual when possible.
• Limit exposure to media.  Media needs to be distant from team and all staff.  No locker room interviews except Superbowl.
•  
• Reduce travel time. Modify schedule so East and West conferences are not playing each other.  Completely throw out normal rotation and return to it when issue is resolved.
• Eliminate Thursday night football except Thanksgiving and ensure teams not play week before - shorter weeks result in bodies being tired and harder to fight off virus.  Not all get it when exposed.
• Strongly encourage teams use charters from smaller airports to reduce exposure at airports.
• When possible for visitors rent out entire smaller hotels - reduces exposure and allows teams to control space better.  It may require longer bus rides in but better than mixing with uncontrolled people/areas.
•  
• Strictly enforce rules on contact post play if necessary go to Hockey style player time outs. Pulling a helmet off will be penalty on entire series of downs.
• Increase time between halves.  Locker room space especially for visitors will be tight.  Since there will not be fans use locker rooms for those actions requiring it and use portion of stadium for other activities with tight control preventing opposing team from entering area.
• Increase time between plays to allow for cleaning of ball, faces and hands.

8 minutes ago, SCBills said:

The Marlins are the example of what not to do.  

 

 

Marlins were example of a team which ignored rules and should be severely penalized by its league. You would think that team is run by Florida's governor.

[LabattBlue]

At the risk of repeating myself, people need to stop using the NBA bubble as a model for what the NFL should be doing.  The NFLPA is never going to agree to a 5-6 month bubble.  The NBA bubble is nowhere near that lengthy.

[LABILLBACKER]

I just don't see this working. The NBA has a forced bubble and idiots are still trying to break out. The Marlins proved the true American spirit but saying "screw you" to the rules which resulted in half the team getting infected. NFL players might be the least disciplined of all sports athletes. Unless they postpone the start of NFL games to December, this season is likely going to be lost.

[transplantbillsfan]

7 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said:

Of all sports, the NFL seems like the best able to handle COVID. They lose people every week.

 

Decent point.

 

Lots of people rotate in and out of rosters.

 

But imagine the first star QB to get it.

6 hours ago, Logic said:

What I'm curious about is this:

Let's suppose the NFL marches full speed ahead with the season even in the event of multiple infection outbreaks. They've cynically indicated that there are plenty of football players without jobs who will be happy to step in if NFL regulars start dropping like flies. So let's assume that happens, the NFL says "damn the torpedoes!" and just keeps playing games, with an eye on playing a full season because, ya know, money.

How good and worthwhile will the product be if, for example, a team missing a bunch of key players due to COVID plays a team ALSO missing a bunch of key players due to COVID. And that's ON TOP of whoever will be missing due to regular football-related injuries. As an example, let's say it's the Bills (already without starting NT Star Lotulelei due to opt out) minus Josh Allen, Mitch Morse, Quinton Spain, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, Taron Johnson, and Josh Norman vs the Chiefs (already without a starting guard and running back due to opt out) minus Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Mecole Hardman, Sammy Watkins, Juan Thornhill, Chris Jones, and, hell, Andy Reid. Is that a game you even want to watch? Are the final records of teams who lose this many players (and possibly coaches) to infection even reflective of the quality of those teams to begin with? Would a championship won during such a season even really be worth much?

It's either going to be a very short season, forced to shut down because of too many outbreaks, or if it IS a full season, it's going to be a very watered down level of play. Either way, it's not good.

 

See this is the issue.

 

It's not if teams lose players it's when. And at that point it's what players.

 

I wonder how much more every team's starting QB will be monitored and isolated than every other player on the team. It damn well better be significantly more.

[vanhalen26]

Rework the schedule so it’s regional bubbles, and rotate every 4 weeks to a bubble with your next 4 opponents.