The offseason is inevitably a period of projection and speculation, which makes it the ideal time to ponder the hypotheticals that the Pittsburgh Steelers will face over the course of the next year, whether it is addressing free agency, the draft, performance on the field, or some more ephemeral topic.
That is what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
The range of topics will be intentionally wide, from the general to the specific, from the immediate to that in the far future. And as we all tend to have an opinion on just about everything, I invite you to share your own each morning on the topic statement of the day.
Topic Statement: The cancellation of Hall of Fame weekend is an ill omen for the unobstructed state of the 2020 season.
Explanation: It wasn’t so long ago that the NFL was resolute about there being no disruptions to the NFL calendar. Now they have postponed not just a Hall of Fame celebration, but the Centennial class, marking 100 years of the league, which surely was not a decision made lightly. Every other league had to make concessions about games. If the NFL is already seeing cause to cancel the Hall of Fame game, what does that say about the prospect of them getting in 16 games and a postseason, without interruption?
Buy:
We can only say ‘there’s still time for things to get better’ for so long. Training camp is about a month away now, and as we sit here, it can be argued that things are still getting worse. Tens of thousands of new coronavirus cases are still happening per day, and that is not going to slow down unless things are shut down again, because, shockingly, the virus hasn’t changed (actually it has: it’s potentially more infectious in its latest mutations).
Again, unless reopening moves are reversed, there’s no reason to think that new infections won’t continue to be widespread by the time meaningful games are set to be played. This is what shut the other leagues down.
Sell:
But that doesn’t mean games can’t be played. The NFL will take every precaution necessary to get things off the ground this year. There’s far too much money at stake to lose a season, or even to lose a week or two if they don’t have to. Every effort will be made to get every meaningful game in this year.
Sure, technically it’s an ill omen whenever something gets cancelled against the will of those running it, but that’s for August 6 in a meaningless event. Teams are still set to report to training camp at the same time. There’s no reason to panic about the NFL season.
