As Thursday began in the afternoon for the Cleveland Browns, the grand deflation of one of the most exciting weeks in franchise history continued.
The training facility remains closed. Quarterback Baker Mayfield, who cannot train with his teammates outside the facility, told reporters that he has not thrown a football since the final season. Cleveland’s coach of the year candidate Kevin Stefanki continues with a game schedule that will not involve him from the moment the franchise enters Pittsburgh Stadium on Sunday night. And the front office did everything but light the prayer candles in hopes of filling the continued holes in the grid created by COVID-19 almost daily.
And all the while, the NFL is sitting on its hands, because hey, rules are not made to be bent unless it’s something the league office actually needs.
This is the worst part of the situation in Cleveland. A team that has just designed one of the NFL’s best-selling spots – that any ass-back franchise can quickly get itself on track with some good decisions – is gradually being sucked into a COVID woodcutter and the league is not really saying anything. A source from the team told Yahoo Sports that the only real “break” that Cleveland can get from the NFL at this point is if another virus outbreak runs through the grid and eats enough of the depth map to force the league to print the AFC game card. game back. This is the solution here that the NFL has been trying to sell for much of the season: if you’re a competitive issue and not a health and safety issue, then this is it. your problem. Treat it like injuries and strength.
I use the phrase ” a big part of the season ” because the truth is, the NFL has not been consistent this season. You can find many fans who can prove it. Some were heavily fined for COVID violations, and the Las Vegas Raiders even were deprived of a draft pick, but others did so with a slap on the wrist or nothing at all. The basis of the difference in the decisions was the ones the NFL decided was a random disregard for a desperate exclamation of ‘oops, we had an accident in the midst of a pandemic’ (which is sometimes a good rating is of how some teams were beaten by COVID).
In terms of impact on the field, we’ve seen some franchises get the luxury of moving their games this season, while others like the Browns have been forced to get the hand they got this week. The Denver Broncos come up to me after being caught by the league in the single worst game of the entire season, taking the stand that it would not give the team a mulligan and would wait a few days to be sure to make that was a whole quarter room. COVID positive. It was not, of course, but the Broncos had to play a game with a training group that took wide from the middle, which was probably not the safest game in his life when we talk about health and safety.
Like every other team in the league this season, the league’s office is taking part in a massive season of trial and error. Things are going to break and the NFL and its teams are going to do their best to fix and teach it. And as part of the process, the learning will lead to adjustments that will make teams safer, better and keep the product at a standard that fits the richest sports league in the world. All these questions ask:
If the NFL has learned lessons, why can he not immediately adapt and apply this knowledge when it matters most?
Detroit Lions Do Not Affect Browns’ Playoff Happiness
Starting with Stefanski, who tested positive for COVID, and he was isolated from the team and was not allowed to coach in Cleveland’s first playoff game in 18 years. The league sticks to this 10-day isolation decision for two reasons: consistency and competitive balance.
It sounds like it makes sense, unless you consider the inconsistent maneuvers of the league office for much of the season, especially when it comes to pushing some games but not others – and never the idea of a ‘ reset ‘week (which had everything to do with television and Super Bowl planning). Now the NFL says it needs to be consistent because everyone before the season agreed that head coaches should stay away from their teams if their COVID-positive diagnosis is carried out on top of a game. And, give it a go, they left Detroit Lions interim coach Darrell Bevell at home so they certainly did not want to deviate from that standard.
If 2020 the league has learned anything, it is that decisions in late summer have enough room for error. Adjustments can be made, and the points of view reconsidered, especially if it is the play-off battle. Maybe let the head coaches get a pass in the post-season and get involved in the game from home. While I certainly do not want Stefanski to sit in on such an important match for the franchise, I also do not want it to happen this month with Mike Tomlin or Andy Reid or Matt LaFleur or any other head coach. And I absolutely refuse to believe it has to happen in the Super Bowl, so why should the league stick to it in the first attack?
Do not say it is also because the Lions will be upset. This is the Lions, and it was one game with an interim coach in the regular season. You are talking about a franchise whose ownership has made such modern decisions that it has made one play-off profit in 63 years. In what world does the Lions deserve to determine if another team should have a rule so that a head coach can be involved in his team’s playoffs during a pandemic season? Especially when the NFL has already awarded him the league’s longest favor in football history by allowing the Lions to be locked in a very lucrative Thanksgiving Day game since 1934. The NFL owes nothing to the Lions, especially an explanation for why it would not downgrade a coaching staff to a playoff game during a COVID season.
Why can rule not be adapted for Stefanski of Browns?
In terms of competitive balance, Stefanski offers nothing because he is at home and practicing the game from that perspective. I chatted with a handful of team sources in the league and everyone agreed that it was not completely different than if Stefanski was in a stadium skybox. It will not interfere in any meaningful way with the sideline communication, and Stefasnki gets no elements of additional information that teams can not get in the course of their matches. This is a problem. The Steelers maybe be upset that the league is bending the rule for Cleveland as Pittsburgh got the sharp edge of the stick by losing a bee week due to the outbreak of the Tennessee Titans, and then a long weekend due to the outbreak of the Baltimore Ravens . I admit that it is possible. I was also kind enough to Tomlin to know that he cares about the NFL coaching fraternity and likes to win games without another team having a weird downside. I think Tomlin will give Stefanski a chance, and that’s good enough for me.
To the credit of Cleveland, the Browns are not complaining about this. The franchise shrugs its shoulders, just as much as fans are punching Commissioner Roger Goodell in the ass. Stefanski suggested that it was about a tight upper lip and rolling with it and not making excuses. The front office is just trying to do the best job it can and not trying to bring about a strike or even push for a change in coaching with COVID rule.
This is all the more reason to make an exception here in a long season of exceptions. If nothing in 2020 is about being fair, you should at least be right where you can be. The league has the opportunity to do that. Push the game on and help the Browns, or at least let them involve their head coach on game day. You do not have to be perfect all the time if you are Goodell. You should only make the effort if necessary.
We are in that space. Recognize this. Do the right thing.
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