We don’t know exactly what it will look like, but the NFL seems insisting on moving forward with a season. Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle did a Zoom this week with the media and he offered a level-headed albeit bleak perspective on what the league is going to have to do in order to get back to football.
“Football is going to have to change a lot,” Heyward said. “I heard someone say this before, but it’s not like COVID needs to bend to football. Football has got to bend to COVID. We’re going to have to really make some sacrifices to our game to make sure this is even possible and to make sure our players are healthy.”
There’s been no official word about the next steps and it feels very fluid. It is good to hear Heyward take such a pragmatic point of view. Anyone who thinks NFL is going to be the same as last season is set to be disappointed.
Heyward also recognizes the volume of players involved in the NFL makes any sort of modified reality problematic. But offers an interesting suggestion for how to deal with the potential of playing in empty stadiums.
“I guess we’re just going to be playing Renegade through the entire game,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting. Those third-down stops. I think one thing that’s going to be interesting to see if we don’t have fans, how teams are going to go about their calling plays and the cadence. The smart ones are going to pick up on that and use it to their advantage, especially in the division.”
