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It was the return of a lost love.
Did you savor the slingshot passes Patrick Mahomes hurled across the field for Kansas City?
How was it to watch Tom Brady taking command of the “Tompa Bay” Buccaneers?
Did it give you the joy you needed in these uncertain times?
Or did you feel something else?
The return of a lost love comes with risk. The N.F.L. is back. Aside from a doubleheader on Monday night, its first fraught and long-awaited week is in the books. But did the league’s sudden, large-scale embrace of Black Lives Matter have the gloss of a put-on?