The NFL will release its 2020 schedule Thursday night, which, given the coronavirus pandemic, will likely feel tentative, at best.
“They’re just going to come out and announce that they’re playing as if nothing happened here,” Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy said on The DA Show. “It’s unbelievable. They have behaved as if nothing’s happening to this point, so good for them. They fell into a window where they’re out of season and all the things just have gone on normally – and no one more than Tom Brady, who has behaved as if there’s nothing happening in the world. It’s just been an incredible tone-deafness coming from there.”
Brady aside, the NFL has been business as usual in recent months. The NFL Draft occurred, as scheduled, albeit in a different format. As for the 2020 regular season, it’s a go – unless or until it isn’t.
“The NFL, we all know they can be a TV show and nothing else more than anyone,” Shaughnessy said. “That’s what they are. They don’t need crowds or crowd noise or [anything] artificial. . . . That’s what they are. They’re a great TV show. They can do it. But if you get some [players] getting COVID-19, then you got trouble.”
If the 2020 season does happen, Shaughnessy believes the Patriots will once again win the AFC East, even if Jarrett Stidham is the starting quarterback.
What, you thought Belichick was going to tank for a top draft pick? Not a chance.
“He doesn’t roll that way,” Shaughnessy said. “I will never believe that. He’s not all about tanking to get the kid from Clemson. He’s not going to do that. His mission is to show you that the system is more important than the players. This is why I’ve always wondered why players are not more anti-Belichick because it’s a little bit insulting. But guys like [Randy] Moss come back and they say all these great things.”
The Patriots lost to the Titans in the AFC Wild Card this past season. It was their earliest postseason exit since 2009.
“All of the teams that were still alive in the final four of the AFC, all of them beat the Patriots last year,” Shaughnessy said. “They were the fifth-best team or lower – and you knew it all year. They didn’t beat any of them. I have no interest in seeing 43-year-old Tom go out there and throw 5-yard passes and kick the crap out of the Dolphins, Jets and Bills again. I know the Bills are better, but seriously, the Bills haven’t won a playoff game in 25 years. I don’t take anyone seriously in the AFC [East]. In my view, Bill knows he can beat those bums just showing up with the rec league guys, and I think he will do that.
“It makes it way more interesting,” Shaughnessy continued. “It’s like a fair fight. They’ve won the AFC East 17 out of 19 years. It’s like signing up for Facebook for them.”