The FAA lifted its nationwide ground stop this Friday, narrowly avoiding what could have been absolute chaos for NFL teams prepping for Sunday road games. This wasn’t just any delay, either. It was only the second nationwide order to keep all planes from flying since 9/11, which tells you everything about how serious the situation was.
A Near Miss for NFL Sunday
Seriously, if this thing had dragged on just one more day, we’d be talking about significantly delayed travel and game schedules for teams getting flipped completely upside down. Imagine your team trying to play a road game after a travel day like that? Yikes! Luckily, the FAA got things sorted out, ensuring NFL teams could hit the skies Saturday for their road matchups. It even cleared the way for college teams to get where they needed to go today.
Shanahan Was Totally Blindsided
It sounds like this whole situation caught a lot of teams off guard. Take San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, for example. He learned about the ground stop during his Friday press conference and was visibly surprised. “‘When did they do that?’ he asked, totally thrown off. He followed up with, ‘Why’d they do that?’ You could tell he was just hearing about it for the first time, admitting, ‘I didn’t know. I just first heard.’ The Niners are still set to jet out of San Francisco at 1:00 p.m. PT Saturday, joining ten other NFL teams also hitting the skies today for their matchups.
So, while we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief that Sunday’s matchups won’t be impacted by travel nightmares, it was a stark reminder of how quickly things can go sideways. Props to the FAA for getting things sorted, but man, that was close to a truly wild weekend of disrupted travel. Let’s hope for smoother skies ahead for all teams!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
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