On Tuesday, September 29, the Tennessee Titans reported a total of 8 positive coronavirus tests: 3 coming from players and 5 within the staff. The team has since shut down all practice facilities and in-person activities in order to prevent further spread of the virus.
Titans Head Coach Mike Vrabel told the media, “It’s a very unfortunate situation, but nobody’s to blame.” He said the players were handling it well and not pointing fingers at anybody. Vrabel added that the team had been following all protocols, such as social distancing, and practicing with extreme caution before the outbreak.
The Minnesota Vikings, who faced off against the Titans last Sunday, also shut down their facilities in order to ensure their organization was virus-free. Everything came back clear and they traveled to Houston to face off against the Texans as scheduled.
The league’s original plan was to move this past Sunday’s game between the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers to Monday night, or possibly even Tuesday night. On Friday, the league announced that the game will be pushed back to October 25 in Week 7. As a result of this, the Steelers-Ravens game will be pushed to November 1st.
“The decision to postpone the game was made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches, and gameday personnel,” said Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, in a statement. “The Titans facility will remain closed and the team will continue to have no in-person activities until further notice.”
The Patriots-Chiefs game has been postponed to Monday at 7:05 PM EST after there were reports of positive tests from both teams. This includes New England Quarterback Cam Newton and Kansas City’s practice squad quarterback Jordan Ta’amu, who were both placed on the COVID reserve list. Both teams received all negative tests since the two initial positives that were reported on Saturday morning.
New Orleans Saints had a COVID scare when fullback Michael Burton received a positive test on Saturday night. The entire team was retested and it was announced that Burton’s test was a false positive. The Saints-Lions game will be played as scheduled at 1 PM EST.
These are not the first COVID-19 scares that the league has had since the start of the pandemic. In early August, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford reportedly tested positive for the virus and was placed into a 14-day quarantine. It was then announced that he received a false positive, and evidently, he had not contracted the virus. Additionally, Falcon’s cornerback AJ Terrell tested positive on September 24 and was placed on the league’s COVID reserve list.
This outbreak led the NFL to bring back their daily testing policy that had been implemented during preseason. Players and coaches are now tested daily, with the exception of game day.
