-
Bill BarnwellESPN staff writer
This doesn’t look like a normal year, but there’s still a lot to learn from the strangest NFL season in recent memory. The rules of the game have not changed, but against the background of the season with the highest score in the history of the league, there are both really tried and tested tests that are repeated, as well as new lessons to be taken in 2021 and beyond.
Let’s take a look at some of the lessons we learned from the 2020 season and how they appeared in week 15. We’ll start with something the league’s worst team should have known from the beginning:
Jump to a topic:
There is no tank in Frank Gore
The success of the coach is difficult to predict
QBs can improve (and decline)
Superstar QBs do not guarantee success
A weak QB game can break a crime
Big sprained ankles are a disaster
Teams do not improve on linear paths
Lesson no. 1: There is no tank in Frank Gore
If Jets fans spend the next decade regretting their fate as defender Trevor Lawrence revitalizes the Jaguars, they will make Adam Gase and his favorite veteran thank him. The Jets led their usual opening touchdown and a pair of field goals to a 13-0 lead over the Rams on Sunday, and then tried to kill the clock behind their 37-year-old flier.
Playing for a winless team whose fans wanted nothing more than to go 0-16, Gore’s 23 junctions have been the most for the veteran since he passed with the Colts in 2017. These races have produced only 59 meters, but turned a fourth and goal for a touchdown and then took a pair of first downs on the last drive to seal New York’s first win of the season.