The 2020 NFL season’s playoffs are underway, and like just about everything else attached to 2020, it is a unique postseason unlike any before it.

And what, arguably, is the most jarring aspect of NFL games played during a pandemic is an abundance of empty seats where there typically would be a horde of screaming fans. That’s the reality that the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns were to encounter for their wild-card round postseason game scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. Sunday kickoff.

“Once you’re playing, it’s fine,” Steelers guard David DeCastro said this week. “But having the fans there kind of keeps you going the whole time, even when you’re on the sideline keeping you locked in.”

To varying degrees, whatever boost a crowd can give a team was missing throughout the season. Though some teams in some states or municipalities allowed more fans than others, each of the 256 NFL regular-season games was played in front of more empty seats than human beings. And for many, there were no fans at all.

The first round of the playoffs continued that trend, with officials in each of the six host cities setting their own restrictions on gatherings. The Steelers, by edict of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, are limited to 2,500 individuals at Heinz Field. Counting players, coaches, team and facility staff, officials, media and others, that number did not allow for fans among the general public to acquire tickets to the game. The Steelers announced three days prior to Sunday’s game that the only spectators would be those who are guests of players and staff.

“We are disappointed we will not be able to host our season ticket holders and other fans,” Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten said. “This will limit fans in the seating bowl to family and friends of players and the team.” https://t.co/Goscun2JDQ

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“The Steelers Nation fans, it would be unbelievable to have them there,” said receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, whose lone prior NFL playoff game was a home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars three years ago.

“That,” he said, “was a crazy environment. So fun. I embraced the fans and all that. But at the end of the day, I played without fans this whole year… some (stadiums) having fewer than others. I think we just play ball. I feel like when I play anyway, I don’t even hear the outside when I’m in the zone until like in between plays obviously or when we’re on the sideline.”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, staying true to character, downplayed the significance of any impact having 60,000 fans on hand would have affected Sunday’s game. But quarterback Ben Roethlisberger openly opined that teams that play in cities with looser restrictions are at a competitive advantage versus those, like the Steelers, who will have no live fans.

Benefits of home-field advantage such as a lack of travel headaches and that crowd noise can hinder opponents’ communication are gone. But, of the more-intangible motivational boost that hometown fans can give them during playoff games? Players aren’t likely in much need of that. After all, there’s too much on the line for that to be necessary.

“It’s always beneficial to have the fans out there,” Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said, “and we love and appreciate them. But I think everybody understand what’s at stake: it’s win or go home. And I think that right there is enough for everybody out there — or at least in this organization — to go out there and play at a high level.”

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