Playing road games has become easier in the NFL in 2020 without fans, and not just for the obvious reason.
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald revealed how much easier these games have become in 2020. Fitzgerald said the lack of crowd noise allows the offense to more easily make changes, and it’s also simpler to hear the defense making adjustments.
“You can check something and communicate very easily to your teammates,” Fitzgerald said, via Howard Balzer of SI.com. “‘I got this guy, you got this guy,’ or you can hear the defense communicating when they’re talking, in and out or a bracket coverage; you can actually hear them talking to each other. OK, they’re playing zone or playing man. You have a better understanding of what’s going on just because you can hear everything and not hear the crowd distracting you. So it’s a lot easier to play on the road thus far. We’ve only had one road game, but it definitely wasn’t nearly as challenging as it has been the last 16 years.”
Home teams are a mere 25-23-1 so far this season. It’s not clear that this is significant, though, as home teams won only 51.7 percent of their games last season. That said, there is some evidence that the lack of fan attendance is actively hurting home teams.
