The last several months have been about on-the-job adaptation in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but the NFL season ahead for Michele Tafoya seems less like a test and more like an impossible riddle:
How does one perform the job of sideline reporter when you aren’t allowed on the sidelines?
Tafoya, a longtime Twin Cities resident and Emmy-award winning sideline reporter for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, will find out in earnest on Thursday night when she works the NFL opener between the Texans and Chiefs.
“My role is going to be hugely different in that I’m not allowed on the field,” Tafoya said on a recent conference call, adding during games she’ll be in what she calls “the moat” in the first row up in the stands.