Why the Saints have had a more difficult 2020 season than any other NFL team
COVID-19.
Hurricane Delta.
Just another day in the New Orleans Saints season. No other way to explain it.
I guess a deadly pandemic and a meteorological phenomenon come with the territory, though there isn’t a class that teaches the Saints organization and specifically coach Sean Payton how to successfully navigate this complex world of science and climatology.
Maybe in the last year of a Master’s degree program but not in the undergraduate course Sports Adversity: 101.
Consider:
In less than a week’s time, the Saints (2-2) have been forced to deal with a threat of a potentially dangerous COVID-19 outbreak and a life-threatening, destructive major hurricane that originally had the Big Easy in the cross hairs and prompted Payton to consider evacuating his team to Indianapolis where it would play the Los Angeles Chargers (1-3) at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The nationally-televised game will go on as scheduled Monday night inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (7:15 p.m., ESPN). A socially-distanced, masked crowd of 750 family members of players, coaches and staff is permitted inside, according to the current attendance restrictions in Orleans Parish.
The Saints have won 13 consecutive games played in October since Week 8 of the 2016 season. Despite the distractions, I suspect that streak should reach 14 Monday night.
No one in Who Dat Nation should be surprised that we find ourselves at the troubling intersection of Delta & Coronavirus based on the long-range forecasts of the National Hurricane Center and the National Institute of Infectious Allergy and Diseases.
Truth be told, this situation was inevitable, no different than our president contracting COVID-19. A case of not if, but when.
It is part of our new normal. And yet it doesn’t make it any easier for the Saints to keep their eyes on the prize which is what gives Payton, his coaching staff and a veteran roster led by quarterback Drew Brees, defensive end Cam Jordan and linebacker Demario Davis a big leg up on less stable NFL franchises.
The daily challenges are endless for players to focus on the job at hand and block out the many distractions on and off the field.
If it’s not a deadly 100-year pandemic, it’s the seemingly weekly tropical systems that take dead aim on the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. If it’s not supporting Black Lives Matter and speaking out against systemic racial injustice, it’s helping turn out the vote for the vitally important upcoming presidential election.
Oh yeah, now go out and win one for the Gipper.
The hurricane season ends Nov. 30. COVID-19 rages on with no end in sight. Barring a pause due to COVID-19, 12 weeks remain in the NFL season. That seems like an eternity.
No one prepared any of us for 2020.
In the words of songbird Kelly Clarkson, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.’‘
I second that emotion.