The COVID-19 pandemic can’t go on forever. However, some of the innovations from the interminable lock down may become staples of regular life.
The NFL went to a virtual offseason with video conferencing galore in place of actual on-field practices. Even though humanity stands in the doorway between two “normals,” Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien can only look at the moment. He doesn’t know what the future of offseasons will look like; he can only point out how pro football is bending around a pandemic now.
“We’re a virtual team,” O’Brien told reporters on Aug. 6. “We will have a couple more face-to-face type meetings when we’re on a Phase 2 schedule, but we’ll still be Zooming for probably at least 50% of the day. Look, I think a lot of that probably will carry on into the future. I don’t know that, but it seems like that’s the way that it’s going right now.”
O’Brien is not a fan of video conferencing of any kind, not just Zoom. The 51-year-old coach prefers to stand in front of the entire team
“I think that the personal part of it when you’re in front of the team and in the squad room and all of that, that’s a big part of football,” O’Brien said. “But this is what we have to do to make sure that we keep the virus out of our building and out of our team. This is what we’re doing and we’ll see how it goes into the future.”
O’Brien’s strategy to work through the pandemic is to assemble a veteran team that can take care of business on the football field and stay professional outside the white lines, taking precautions not to bring COVID-19 into team facilities. Part of forming cohesion still has to be done in a virtual setting.
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