Kiz: In 2020, it’s always something. Coronavirus is now messing with the NFL and a regular-season schedule with little wiggle room. The Tennessee Titans have a major outbreak. New England quarterback Cam Newton is on the COVID reserve list, which should give the Broncos a competitive advantage for their upcoming road game against the Patriots, if for no other reason than the team’s hasty trip for a Monday night game in Kansas City will shorten Bill Belichick’s preparation time for Denver. The virus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Should the NFL build a bubble for the playoffs?
O’Halloran: Sure, that’s fine. Throughout the weekend, the social media comments were typically nauseating about how the NFL needs to shut down for two weeks to regroup in the way of the Titans’ outbreak and Newton’s positive test. That makes zero sense; if anything, having positive tests limited to one team means the other 31 teams are doing their collective job well and they deserve to play on. This wasn’t your question, but I think doing an NFL regular-season bubble is untenable — that’s simply too many weeks to be in a hotel lockdown.
Kiz: The NFL needs a bubble strategy for the playoffs. No doubt about it. If Newton misses a game, or even two, during the regular season due to COVID, maybe that’s a tough break for the Patriots. But if, heaven forbid, should Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson or the Chiefs’ locker room get hit by COVID during the playoffs, there would be integrity-of-the-game issues on top of the even more critical health concerns. The NFL has a wide array of bubble templates, provided by leagues from the NHL to the WNBA. If Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn’t announce a bubble plan within a week, he’s not doing his job.
O’Halloran: The NFL has adjusted on the fly pretty well since camps opened. It learned from Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford’s false positive that making absolutely sure of a test result before announcing the news is important. At the top of Goodell’s concern list is what you said — a team-wide outbreak the week of a playoff game. Would that team forfeit? Would they move the entire postseason back because of one team? Hopefully those questions won’t have to be answered. I’ll give Roger a few more days to huddle with his brain-trust to come up with a Postseason Bubble Plan. Remember, MLB announced its bubble plan on Sept. 15, less than two weeks before the postseason started. Goodell has some time to figure this out.
Kiz: Here’s my plan. Set up three NFL bubbles. I propose the NFC playoffs take place in Orlando, where teams could be housed in the same Disney complex used by LeBron James and the NBA, with games being played at Camping World Stadium, as well as on the University of Central Florida campus. For the AFC playoffs, establish a bubble in Los Angeles, with games played at Stan Kroenke’s new football palace near the airport, as well as the Rose Bowl. And the third bubble? That would be in Tampa, already designated as the site of this season’s Super Bowl. Get to work, Mr. Goodell.
O’Halloran: A key point about MLB’s bubble procedure is that playoff teams had to start staying in hotels a week before the playoffs. Let’s say the Broncos are still alive for a wild-card berth entering Week 17. The league should send them into isolation just in case they qualify so they can be ready to travel to one of the playoff sites. I would do the NFC in Indianapolis and the AFC in Phoenix and I would make all 14 teams travel to those sites the day after the regular season, even the No. 1 seed, which will have a first-round bye. That means a maximum of 22 days (Jan. 4-26) in that city. The big issue is how to divide up the practice times and where to train.
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