8 traditions we'll miss without fans at NFL games

A select number of NFL teams will host fans at between 10% and 25% capacity to begin the season, while 22 other clubs already announced their home openers will be played inside empty stadiums. These pandemic-related measures will rob us of some of the unique pleasures within the football-viewing experience.

Here are eight traditions we'll miss in the absence of packed crowds to begin the 2020 campaign.

Lambeau Leap

Without fans in the first few rows at Lambeau Field, who will be there to catch a Green Bay Packer after he scores a touchdown and heads for the 6-foot-high wall? Instead, we'll get lonely images such as this:

LeRoy Butler was the first to scale the wall in 1993 and many others have followed. Packers of all shapes and sizes have tried to leap into the crowd in celebration of a score, and it's brought us some indelible images through the years.

We'll miss the Lambeau Leap in its familiar form.

False starts at CenturyLink Field

Opposing teams won't miss facing the 12s at the Seattle Seahawks' home stadium. The raucous crowd once forced the New York Giants into 11 false starts in a 2005 game. It's one of the NFL's best fan environments, but it will be rendered silent to begin 2020.

Seahawks opponents had nine false-start penalties called against them at CenturyLink Field last season. The 12th man can take at least partial credit.

Bills tailgates

The coronavirus has robbed us of tailgates, and without them, we won't have the pleasure of watching Bills Mafia put one another through folding tables.

The Buffalo Bills instituted a new policy last season in an attempt to curtail the rowdy scenes from the stadium parking lot. But the table-slamming tradition persisted off premises. Perhaps all it took was a global pandemic to finally rein in the Bills Mafia.

"Renegade"

Whenever the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense is in need of a big stop late in a home game, Heinz Field game ops will play "Renegade" by Styx over a compilation of defensive highlights, and it usually results in the team making a great stand.

The tradition began in 2001 and has continued, spurring on the Steelers' defense and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. While, of course, the team can continue playing its theme song and artificial crowd noise, it just might hit different without the Steelers faithful there to share in the moment.

"Skol"

The Vikings' Icelandic war chant is perhaps the closest thing the NFL has to a soccer atmosphere. While "skol" has been in the team's lexicon for decades, the chant became tradition once the team moved to its new stadium in 2016.

The term "skol" loosely translates to a celebratory "cheers." But a crowd of 73,000 shouting and clapping in unison makes the thunderous chant much more menacing.

Eagles booing their own

Philadelphia fans are notorious for being hard on their sports franchises. Heck, Eagles fans are famous for booing and throwing snowballs at Santa Claus. As showcased on the Eagles' "Hard Knocks" spotlight, everyone from the general manager down to the players takes the temperature of the Eagles fan base into account.

The Eagles won't have fans at Lincoln Financial Field until further notice, which could take some pressure off the players when they host the Rams in Week 2 and the Bengals in Week 3.

Superman's deliveries

It's been a while since we've seen Cam Newton hand-deliver touchdown footballs to young fans, and we've never seen him do it while wearing a Patriots uniform.

New England announced its first two home games will be played without fans, so we'll have to wait until at least October before Superman puts a smile on a young fan's face with his gesture.

Streakers

The limit on fans greatly reduces the chances of a patron jumping down from the stands and eventually being tackled by a security guard. While such instances aren't shown during broadcasts, streakers are staples of sporting events.

But with NFL stadiums mostly empty this fall, perhaps there's a chance we'll witness more oddities like this: