The ongoing Tennessee Titans’ COVID-19 outbreak is expected to compromise the NFL schedule for a second straight week, while the New England Patriots are trying to curb their own potential coronavirus crisis.
Two more positive Titans tests came back Wednesday morning from Tuesday’s testing, per ESPN, pushing their total number of positives to 22 since Sept. 29.
So Tennessee can’t reopen its facility yet and likely won’t be able to host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, after having last week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers postponed.
Meanwhile, Patriots star corner Stephon Gilmore also came back positive on Wednesday, per NFL Network, after playing in Monday night’s game in Kansas City.
New England, with three positives since Saturday, closed its facility Wednesday hoping to avoid further spread with a scheduled Sunday home game against the Denver Broncos.
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“The virus is still very much a threat not only to our season, but to the safety of everyone in our community,” NFLPA Medical Director Dr. Thom Mayer said in a statement. “We encourage everyone to do their part to follow the protocols and keep each other safe.”
NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said the league has not ruled out forming a bubble or pausing the season if they feel it’s necessary to successfully complete the season. But the league’s actions — including the issuance of new stricter protocols — have made clear that those measures would be last resorts.
“We’ve never taken any option off the table which includes some type of pause or reset, or any other type of arrangement,” Sills said on NFL Network.
The NFL’s positive test numbers are on the rise primarily due to the Titans. The league announced it had 26 confirmed positives among players (11) and personnel (15) during testing from Sept. 27-Oct. 3. That was way up from six confirmed positives among players (two) and personnel (four) from Sept. 20-26.
The Titans’ scheduled Week 4 game with the Steelers was postponed until Week 7 due to Tennessee’s COVID-19 outbreak last week. Now the Bills game could be postponed or outright canceled, depending on the NFL’s rescheduling options.
The league’s new regulations issued this week have threatened loss of draft picks and forfeits for teams whose negligence compromises the schedule. But the NFL is not going to force the Titans to forfeit this Bills game, the Washington Post reported.
Tennessee is in hot water, however, for protocol violations that led to the outbreak.
Several Titans players were photographed at a workout on Sept. 30 at a private school in Nashville, per paulkuharsky.com, even though the league and team mandated no player gatherings while their facility was closed to try and control the virus’ spread last week.
The league and NFLPA also have photos of players not wearing masks inside the Titans’ facility, per the MMQB.com.
Regarding the workout, Titans offensive lineman Rodger Saffold defended the players’ attempts to remain in shape, not knowing when they would play next.
“Guys just don’t work out for fun this is for their lively hood (sic), their family, their opportunity,” Saffold tweeted. “Say what you want but I’m standing up for my team always.”
In New England, meanwhile, Gilmore now marks a third Patriots positive, following QB Cam Newton’s positive test that postponed Patriots-Chiefs from Sunday to Monday, and practice squad DT Bill Murray’s addition to the COVID-19 reserve list on Tuesday.
The Patriots flew two planes to Kansas City for Monday’s game: one with players who had contact traced as having been in close contact with Newton, and one with the rest of the team. Gilmore was on the smaller plane of those who’d been close to Newton with roughly 20 people on board, The Athletic reported.
Sills said the league and players’ union are investigating the Patriots’ situation, standard for any team that has multiple positive tests. Gilmore put out a statement that he had followed every protocol only to test positive anyway.
The NFL’s decision to play that Patriots-Chiefs game on Monday was curious after the Titans’ outbreak was possibly the result of a similar situation the week prior.
Tennessee had left outside linebackers coach and defensive play-caller Shane Bowen at home for their Week 3 road game at the Minnesota Vikings after Bowen had tested positive. Everyone who contact-traced as close to him was negative and flew to the game.
But early the following week, after the game and flights home, the positive tests started spiking in Nashville and the Titans-Steelers game was compromised.
The Vikings fortunately did not show any positive tests after playing the Titans in Week 3. And so far this week the Chiefs haven’t seen any positives either after playing the Patriots, despite Kansas City practice squad QB Jordan Ta’amu testing positive on Saturday.
But a photo of Gilmore and Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes postgame, with the players speaking face to face after Kansas City’s win, was a reminder of how it only takes one interaction to throw everything into chaos.
Mahomes isn’t just one of the faces of the league; his fiancee also recently announced she is pregnant. With the NFL not operating inside of a bubble, the concern here is far beyond how this impacts the games. It is about what it could mean for the health of the coaches, players and staff, and their families’ health, as well.
Mahomes on Wednesday called his postgame meet-up with Gilmore a “mental lapse,” and Mahomes also reportedly has slept in a separate bedroom since Ta’amu’s positive test came back.
One Las Vegas Raiders player also tested positive on Wednesday, per ESPN, which is no surprise after several players were fined for attending teammate Darren Waller’s recent charity event indoors and not wearing masks.
Early this week, after a Monday call with all 32 teams’ owners, presidents, GMs, coaches, and infection control officers, the NFL Management Council also levied harsh new guidelines for all 32 teams in a knee-jerk response to the Titans’ situation.
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This included NFL commissioner Roger Goodell threatening teams’ wallets, draft picks and possible forfeits of games if a protocol violation results in a spread of COVID-19 that requires schedule adjustments or impacts other teams.
It also included a harsh new rule for teams wishing to sign free agents: the onboarding process for a free agent to simply try out with or join a new team is now doubled to six days.
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