NFL Tweaks COVID Rules With No Bubble On Horizon

Roger Goodell and the NFL announced Tuesday that the league will adjust their game plan and include new COVID testing and face-covering rules on the sidelines. As we have stated here numerous times, there's no regular-season bubble coming so the league is tweaking things to keep the league rolling along.

Starting this week, the NFL will begin Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing on game days. Masks will be required during walkthroughs, and face shields may only be worn by play-callers.

“We cannot grow complacent, not the players, not the coaches, not the rest of our personnel,” NFL Goodell said Tuesday. “Ninety percent is not good enough in this environment. We have to be incredibly diligent and disciplined.”

“We expected positive COVID cases as long as the pandemic is prevalent in our society,” Goodell said, citing rising numbers in communities. “Our protocols are designed to identify through testing, isolate and then prevent the spread of the virus in our team environments, and our medical experts are encouraged by the fact that with few exceptions, we have not seen transmission of the virus.”

Goodell also announced Tuesday the NFL would remain flexible, perhaps even adding Week 18 to the schedule if necessary. The commissioner has been unusually low-key this NFL season in what might be an attempt to just complete the season and get out of 2020.

The NFL is quietly making it through issues with very little pain. The woke storm lasted two weeks and now it's history. The first COVID storm came and went. Now fans are coming back in Philadelphia. Both Ohio teams are allowed to bump attendance to 12,000. And the Saints are talking about taking games to Baton Rouge to allow fans into the stadium.

Goodell has gotten out of the way and let the game fend for itself. Right now, it's working out just fine.