Las Vegas Raiders fans will not be allowed to attend games at Allegiant Stadium in 2020, starting with their home opener against the Saints.
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The New Orleans Saints will help headline the second week of the 2020 NFL season when visit the Las Vegas Raiders for a Monday Night Football kickoff, but there won’t be a live audience crowding the stands at Allegiant Stadium.
On Monday, the Raiders announced to season-ticket holders that fans will not be allowed to attend home games during the 2020 season — including their Week 2 home opener against the Saints.
It’s a big blow, and the first of its kind to hit the NFL. Most teams have already begun planning to host limited crowds at their home venues, while some have experimented with cardboard cutouts of fans and tarped-off seating. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has struck professional sports hard, and neither the Saints nor the Raiders are immune to it.
For now, the Saints plan to cordon off the first eight rows of seating at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome during home games, allowing them to keep a safe distance between fans and players, but ultimately they will abide by what state and local governments decide are best during this public health crisis. And that might mean forcing the Who Dat Nation to watch games from home.
The Canadian Football League, whose season normally kicks off in June, has decided to postpone the start until at least this September due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It now appears the earliest the CFL might return to play – for a shortened but meaningful season – is this September.
Of course, a final decision on whether that will indeed happen will depend on what governments tell us is safe for our players and fans.
But barring some huge development, like a vaccine for COVID-19, it now seems clear we can rule out playing games this summer. There are several reasons, including the continuing restrictions on assemblies, travel and border crossings. Notably, several provinces and municipalities have already decided to prohibit until September 1st, all sporting events featuring large gatherings.”
The NFL has not yet made any similar declarations, and in fact, some team facilities began to slowly open this week. With the start of the 2020 regular season still months away, the league has some time before any major decisions have to be made.
Based solely on the record of a team’s opponents in 2019, Barry Werner of Touchdown Wire has put together his list of weakest to toughest strength of schedules. He has Seattle tied at No. 13.
“The Seahawks are a perennial threat, and almost always get to double-digits in wins,” Werner writes. “They figure to be right around that total again in 2020. SOS: .508, 129-125-2.”
Seattle kicks off its regular season on the road against the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 10:00 a.m. PT. You can view the Seahawks’ full schedule with score predictions in the gallery below.
After a disappointing 3-12-1 season, it’s not overly surprising that the Detroit Lions were only awarded one nationally televised game in 2020.
After two consecutive Thanksgiving Day games against the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions will have a new opponent this year — the Houston Texans.
The Lions and Texans have faced each other just four times in their history with the Lions winning the inaugural meeting and dropping the next three, each loss by just one score.
Ironically, the most famous of the Lions-Texans’ games came in 2012 on Thanksgiving day, with the Texans winning in overtime 34-31, after one of the most controversial moments in then-coach Jim Schwartz’s career.
The Lions traded touchdowns in the first half, with the Lions scoring in the final 22-seconds to go up 21-14 at the half. The Lions were the first to score in the third quarter — a Jason Hanson field goal — to take a 10-point lead going into the later parts of the game.
Late in the third quarter, Texans running back Justin Forsett rushed the ball up the middle and was clearly down — both elbow and knee — but with no whistle blown, he gets up and 81-yards later he was in the endzone.
Everyone knew he was down.
Everyone.
Schwartz threw the challenge flag and controversy ensued.
The NFL has a rule in place where every scoring play was reviewed and referee’s commonly let a close situation play out, knowing they could look at it on replay after it was over — but in 2012 there was a unique addendum to the rule.
With the referee already needing to review the scoring play, Schwartz’s challenge was deemed unnecessary and per the NFL rulebook — which has substantially been changed to avoid this situation in the future — Schwartz was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and his challenge nullified the referee’s ability to review the play, and in turn, the “touchdown that wasn’t” counted.
“I knew the rule — you can’t challenge on a turnover or a scoring play — but I was so mad that I overreacted,” Schwartz said after the game. “I had the flag in my hand before he even scored because he was obviously down.”
The teams continue to swap touchdowns and field goals over the final quarter and eventually end up in overtime.
In overtime, both teams had multiple possessions, each turned the ball over, and each missed a field goal — Hanson’s 47-yarder hit the right upright — before Texans kicker Shayne Graham hit a game-winning 32-yard field goal.
If you want to relieve the game you can in the video below, and if you want to see the Schwartz controversial mistake, skip ahead to the 1:23:09 mark:
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has communicated to teams that they can release their individual schedules a half hour before the show begins on their social media platforms.https://t.co/sktPrfFq6H
“First, for the first time ever, each club may release its own game schedule on its owned and operated media platforms at 7:30 p.m. ET, 30 minutes before the NFL Network Schedule Release show begins at 8:00 p.m.,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said via The Big Lead. “Clubs can choose to release their schedule in any appropriate way they choose, while prominently promoting the national NFL Network Schedule Release show to follow, during which the full schedule will be released, analyzed and discussed.”
Be sure and follow Seahawks Wire on Twitter and Facebook as we cover Seattle’s schedule reveal live Thursday night.
The when and if there is a start to the 2020 NFL regular season is still an unanswered question with the coronavirus pandemic still sweeping the nation.
“Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll and the Seahawks simply are winners,” Werner writes. “Expect plenty of exciting games and another playoff appearance.”
Werner issued his way-too-early predictions following the NFL draft and first couple of months of free agency, weighing moves from all 32 teams around the league.
The Seahawks are never finished tweaking their roster and likely have a few more transactions up their sleeves before things get started (hopefully) this summer.
The Chiefs season was winding and challenging, but these wins were the most important for their Super Bowl run.
There is one game left in the 2019 NFL season — and the 2020 NFL playoffs — so now is the time to look back on the year and ask in a David Byrne voice, “well, how did we get here?” The Chiefs definitely didn’t end up in their first Super Bowl in 50 years by letting the days go by.
Despite advancing to the divisional round of the playoffs, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll remains cool and collected, avoiding distractions.
The Seattle Seahawks beat the Philadelphia Eagles over the Wild-Card Weekend and now advance to the divisional round of the postseason, slated to face off against the Packers in Green Bay this Sunday.
Pete Carroll has been to his fair share of playoffs games in his tenure as the head coach of the Seahawks and he’s learned a few things in his 10 years in Seattle.
“The challenge really is the managing the players’ mentality,” Carroll told reporters Wednesday. “That’s the challenge to it. Keeping them balanced and clear thinking and not distracted by all the hoopla at the front of it and all that. There’s such a buildup when you go to each game. Each week is just so much fun because it’s so intense as you move through it that it’s managing that.”
Since he’s been in the Emerald City, Carroll’s squads have made the playoffs eight of the last 10 years, including two trips to the Super Bowl. But with the rookies and some veterans who have never experienced the postseason, Carroll is insistent the team prepares like any other week.
“That’s why I’m so adamant that we treat every game the same and we try to learn how to discipline our focus so that we don’t get distracted by the natural things that you guys all think should distract us; the matchups, the hype, the buildup,” Carroll continued. “Whatever it is. How many times we’ve won, and they’ve won or whatever in years past. All that stuff, it doesn’t mean anything at all. Sorry. That’s the biggest thing I’ve dealt with and to try to manage everybody well, coaches, too, so we don’t screw it up and get unlike ourselves and play unlikely fashion.
“That’s what we don’t want to do – we want to play like we know how to.”
So while the hype might be real for the fans, it’s business as usual for Carroll and his Seahawks.
The New Orleans Saints handled the Carolina Panthers with flair, but their spot in the NFC playoff picture is out of their hands.
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The New Orleans Saints demolished the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, closing out the regular season with a 13-3 record and their seventh consecutive win on the road. It’s just the fourth time in 52 years the Saints have won 13 games in a single season, joining the 2009, 2011, and 2018 seasons as the best regular season campaigns in Saints history.
New Orleans was unstoppable in every phase of the game, gaining 379 yards on offense while creating three turnovers on defense and limiting the Panthers to 29 yards gained on special teams. Jared Cook led the team with 60 receiving yards, catching both of his targets. Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara combined for 100 rushing yards on 25 attempts. Drew Brees was an effective 19-of-30 for 253 passing yards and three touchdown throws, avoiding even a single sack.
The Saints handled their business in Charlotte, but the work is hardly finished. All eyes now look towards the playoffs, where the Saints must hope for the Seattle Seahawks to upset the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. The Detroit Lions nearly defeated the Green Bay Packers, which would have clinched a first-round bye for the Saints, but Detroit’s injury-ravaged roster couldn’t pull it off. While the Saints may not have home-field advantage through the playoffs, they do have one of the NFL’s best records on the road over the last three years. This team can beat anyone, anywhere.
Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Al Woods’ four-game suspension due to PED violations has major ramifications for the team going forward.
The Seahawks have dealt with numerous absences of key players this season due to injuries and suspensions. They just received another in the form of Al Woods’ four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He will not play in the final two games in the regular season and two postseason games if Seattle makes it past the wild card round.
This is obviously a big blow to Seattle’s ambitions to claim the No. 1 seed in the NFC, as the Seahawks need all the defensive help they can get without losing more players on that side of the ball. Jadeveon Clowney and Quandre Diggs may be out for Week 16 against the Cardinals with their respective core and ankle injuries, and Shaquill Griffin and Mychal Kendricks are questionable as well, so losing Woods only exacerbates the Seahawks’ defensive issues.
Woods has been a solid player for Seattle this year, particularly in run defense. He recorded 32 tackles, two forced fumbles and a sack in the 2019 season. The defensive line has been one of the weakest position groups for the Seahawks this season, but Woods’ absence leaves them even more depleted. With injuries and suspensions mounting up, the Seahawks should feel even more urgency to win out over the remaining two games of the year.
