The NFL regular season has kicked off. Among this year’s changes, the league is rolling out a new three-strike policy for dangerous tackles.
Transcript
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The NFL season is officially underway. A Super Bowl rematch last night between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots kicked off a season that will last from now through February. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan joins me to give us a preview. Hey, Becky.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: One game down, 271 to go.
SULLIVAN: In the regular season, at least (laughter).
DETROW: How was the season starter?
SULLIVAN: You know, I thought it was everything that is great about the NFL and everything that is a little difficult about watching the NFL all kind of rolled up together. You know, it’s just two quality teams. Obviously, they both reached the Super Bowl last year. It was a close game. There was this thrilling fourth quarter. It was totally a toss-up right until the final seconds. But also, you had these injuries. You know, Seahawks starting quarterback Sam Darnold went down with a hip injury in the first quarter. Then this, you know, sort of the most exciting new addition to the Patriots, who was wide receiver A.J. Brown who came over from the Philadelphia Eagles – he sprained his ankle, and so he’s going to miss some time. And so, you know, there’s, like, all this work and time to build excitement and narrative just to have these key players get hurt and the quality of the game suffering as a result – very football.
DETROW: Even accepting and being aware of the sprawl of sports in general and in the NFL in particular, I feel like I had a hard time with a Wednesday football game.
SULLIVAN: (Laughter) Sure, yeah. I mean, definitely emblematic of how the NFL is looking to sort of, like, colonize more and more days of the week. This is just actually the second season opener on a Wednesday in modern history. The first time was to avoid a conflict with then-President Obama making his reelection nomination acceptance speech at the DNC back in 2012. And this time it was pretty much just because they could. They just wanted more eyeballs on this – not just that game last night but then this international game that’s happening tonight.
DETROW: Australia, right?
SULLIVAN: Yes, the first ever regular season game in Australia – this one’s between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, which are two teams with big aspirations this year. It’s being held at this big, massive iconic stadium called the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And obviously, I mean, as you know, Scott, these international games have been a big agenda item for years now for Commissioner Roger Goodell. But, you know, they’ve often been in London or in, you know, Mexico City, and it’s another thing, I think, to hoof it halfway across the world to Australia.
DETROW: Right. This is a country slash continent with – like, about as far from…
SULLIVAN: Yeah.
DETROW: …U.S. time as you can get. How did the teams approach the travel and the jet lag?
SULLIVAN: You know, I think what’s interesting about this is that both teams consulted, you know, their technical staff. They consulted trainers and outside experts and whatnot, and yet they somehow came to completely opposite conclusions about what to do. So the 49ers went out there. They’ve been out there for almost a week, whereas the Rams decided to fly last minute, and so they’re there now. But essentially, they arrived less – or just over 24 hours in advance of kickoff.
And NFL teams, I think, you know, they have such rigorous weekly schedules all built around a Sunday game. So this travel, these time zones, you know, it’s all tripping everybody up. And I had a good laugh earlier this week at 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan when he was speaking to reporters about this. Here’s what he said.
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KYLE SHANAHAN: When I look at my clock and it says the time, and then I try to see my family’s time, and it says the time, but it says yesterday, I don’t even get how that’s possible. So I feel like I’m in the future. And then, also, when we play on our Friday, which I think is a Thursday in the U.S. – we’re such creatures of habit, so I call today Tuesday. No, wait – sorry – I called today Wednesday, which is the first day we put in a game plan. But I think it’s Monday, however, though it’s Sunday in the present. So, like, I’m going to mess that up all week.
DETROW: Wow. That was deep.
SULLIVAN: (Laughter) Very confusing.
DETROW: It was deep (laughter). All right, we need to push past the confusion of time zones, though.
SULLIVAN: Yeah.
DETROW: What other teams do you expect to be in the mix this year?
SULLIVAN: You know, just really quickly. I’ll just say I’m excited to see what the Denver Broncos are going to do. You might remember they were a surprise contender last year, right up until this horrible moment when their second-year quarterback Bo Nix shockingly broke his ankle in this, like, final – one of the final plays of their playoff win over the Buffalo Bills. Robbed him of a chance to finish off of that post season, so I’m excited what they got this year.
DETROW: NPR’s Becky Sullivan talking to us on Thursday. Thanks.
SULLIVAN: You’re welcome.
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