Opener Looms 'Like First Day of School'

The offseason and much of training camp have been anything but usual.

Anxiety levels remained high as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the county. Many doubted the NFL would get to the regular season unscathed by the devastating virus.

At least for the moment, those concerns have vanished. The regular season began Thursday night with defending Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, demolishing the Houston Texans in front of approximately 17,000 socially distanced fans at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Tennessee Titans have to wait until Monday night to hit the field against the Denver Broncos in the Mile High City, but even ahead of kickoff, the anticipation and the buzz of football in the air brings along some sense of normalcy.

Or, as Titans tight end Jonnu Smith (pictured) said on Friday “it’s like the first day of school.”

“You remember when you laid your clothes out the night before and you just kept looking at it,” Smith said. “You can’t sleep, you’re just thinking about it. It’s the same exact feeling, man.”

Linebacker Rashaan Evans, who led the Titans with 139 tackles and 11 tackles for a loss last season, shared those same sentiments.

“You start to get that football feel again,” Evans said. “You get those jitters, a little anxiety. That blood starts to rush as you get closer and closer to the game. We were wondering if we were going to play the season, and now it’s starting to come to fruition.”

While the football aspect will feel normal, much of it will appear unorthodox at the same time.

Most teams across the league, including both the Titans and Broncos, will play in empty stadiums for at least the first few weeks of the season. In some cases, cardboard cutouts of fans will be scattered across the stands and the NFL will provide artificial crowd noise.

Smith, who caught 35 passes for 439 yards and three touchdowns last season, acknowledged how much fans mean to an NFL game. But in the end football is football.

“It’s not going to make any difference to me,” Smith said. “Don’t get me wrong, they [fans] are a huge part of what makes this game such a great game. But to be out there competing and battling and dominating, that’s what you gotta love. That's what you got to enjoy. For me, it won’t have much impact. I am just going to go out there, cut loose and have fun.”

When the Titans hit the field Monday night on national television, they will look to get revenge on a Broncos team that shut them out and held the offense to a season-low 204 yards in 2019.

Of course, COVID-19 knows no boundaries. A lot can still go wrong over the course of the NFL’s long season. Major League Baseball dealt with many COVID-19-related obstacles before the season got into gear. Without the NBA and NHL's bubble format, it'd be naive to think the NFL won't face similar challenges at some point.

But as Week 1 continues on Sunday and Monday, the familiar feelings football players have as summer turns to autumn is as present as ever.

“It’s an honor to say that I still have that privilege, playing this game so many years of my life and I still get those butterflies,” Smith said. “My passion for this game runs deep. To be able to still have that feeling, it’s amazing.”

Added Evans: “Hopefully we can have a real, full season. I think now all we can do is take one game at a time and enjoy this time right now. Practicing and getting ready for this game … everything else will handle itself.”