NFL

COVID-19 has sparked a unique trend in NFL results this season

COVID hasn't just changed the way we watch football, it's changed the game itself.

The Patriots play the Arizona Cardinals in the first half of a game at an empty Gillette Stadium. Charles Krupa/AP Photo

By Trevor Hass

December 15, 2020

1 minute to read

As the NFL limps its way to the finish line this season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, teams are continuing to restrict the number of fans in the stands, with many stadiums having none at all.

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert illuminated how that trend is hurting more than just the fans themselves – it appears to be negatively affecting home teams as well.

Road teams this season, Seifert reported, have won 49.3 percent of games. That’s the highest rate since at least 2001, and according to the NFL, the top modern-day road winning percentage for an entire season is 48.4 in 1972.

From 2001-2018, the average winning percentage for a road team was 42.9. Last year, that number increased to 47.1 percent, and it’s even higher this year.

The Patriots have been an exception, as they’re 4-2 at home and 2-5 on the road. They’ve been historically dominant at home the past two decades, and that trend hasn’t slowed down despite the lack of fans or Tom Brady’s absence.

“In some ways, it brings the game back to why you started playing, just to love playing the game,” center David Andrews said earlier this season. “There’s no fans, it is just a bunch of grown men playing a kids game.”

New England will face the Miami Dolphins on the road this Sunday, Dec. 20, at 1 p.m. before finishing the regular season at home against the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. The Patriots need to win out and get some help from other teams to have a chance at making the playoffs.