We’re past the midpoint of the 2020 regular season in the NFL, and we’ve seen a lot of interesting trends. It really is conceivable that the winner of the NFC East could have just six wins but still host a playoff game, and it is also possible that Baltimore could run the table to a 14-2 record and end up with just a wild card in the AFC. Tom Brady has turned back the clock so far in his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it will be interesting to see how he responds to the rout the Bucs took at the hands of the Saints on Sunday night.
Let’s look at some other interesting points of conversation as you plan your NFL betting for the rest of the season and looking toward 2021.
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Where will Sam Darnold play in 2021?
That wasn’t Sam Darnold throwing darts against the Patriots on Monday night — it was Joe Flacco, of all people, leading the Jets’ offense. If the Jets end up with the first pick in the draft and pick Trevor Lawrence, they could end up trading Darnold. He’s entering the last year of his four-year rookie deal, along with a decision on the fifth-year option that would be worth a fully guaranteed $25 million. There are a lot of teams who should be interested, including Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Indianapolis, all of whom either have question marks at quarterback or have veterans who will be nearing retirement soon.
Will Bill Belichick coach the Patriots in 2021?
Now that the program that Belichick had built in New England appears to be headed for a rebuild, a couple of truths are emerging. First, it’s hard to put together that sort of program; you can’t just find and plug in new pieces here and there. It’s also hard to go to a new team and establish that sort of program relatively quickly. After all, Belichick has always acknowledged that he can be a taskmaster, and finding a home in a new place could be difficult — even if he weren’t approaching the age of 70.
A team could bring him in as a sort of general manager running the program in a more hands-off way, like Bill Parcells did for Miami, or in a more hands-on way, as Tom Coughlin did in his return to Jacksonville. But first he’d have to walk away from New England. How many more bad losses will it take for him to decide that it’s time for a rebuild — and it’s time for someone else to do that rebuild?
Speaking of coaches nearing their 70th birthday…
Pete Carroll, currently 69, is the oldest head coach in the NFL. He has been with the Seahawks for 11 seasons and leads the franchise in wins. He has taken the Seahawks to the playoffs eight times, won the NFC West four times, gone to the Super Bowl twice and won once (and should have won the second one, too). He has agreed to an extension that would take him through the 2025 season.
Could the NFL playoff field expand?
The league’s owners have approved a contingency plan that would add two teams to the playoffs, going from 14 to 16, if the league cannot finish its regular season in 17 or 18 weeks. The contingency plan would rely on winning percentage to produce a special seeding system. There would not be a bye week in this case. The current plan, with seven teams from each conference, would only give a bye to the top seed in each conference.
The NFL has already pulled the plug on the Pro Bowl. The Super Bowl is still set for February 7, but the league is planning at a seating capacity around 20 percent. The Super Bowl has not been a fan-intensive experience for some years now, due to the large number of tickets that go to corporate sponsors, but having fewer people in the stands will still influence the overall atmosphere.
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