I get more ideas in the offseason when football is given time to breathe. When there is a break. There is no break anymore, and that is not healthy for anyone.

What gets better viewership at the Olympics: the 100-meter sprint or the 10,000-meter endurance final? The sprint gets more eyes because it is more of a spectacle. There’s a massive buildup to the event, an anticipation, and then the pistol goes off. It is short, quick, and intense. And then we have a gap of four years to wait for the next final. You can’t miss it.

Football is an endurance sport, but we live for those matches that are sprints. The excitement, the spectacle, an event. There are fewer sprints now because there are too many games. The players are tired and injured. There are no gaps; it is an endless slog of matches piled on top of other matches.

We need a break, and I need time to come up with new ideas. We need time to miss football, and the players need time to rest.

Football needs time to breathe, or we risk suffocating it.