Half a mile from Nashville, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott violated the NFL’s chronological technique of ignoring anything that isn’t similar to winning football games.
He had to. So have a few thousand players and a lot of gear after a coronavirus outbreak hit the Tennessee Titans.
“I think consciousness is the key to maintaining discipline, being diligent in what we do, our behavior we adopt in and out of the building,” McDermott said. “We are looking to focus on the opponent this week, which is the Raiders, obviously, but also to be aware of what is happening around us in our world. Not just the NFL, it’s our world. There are things like this popping up everywhere. “
McDermott spoke before President Trump and his wife revealed that COVID-19 tests were done.
“Sometimes we’re remote in this NFL room and we lose sight of what’s going on around us,” McDermott said. “Listen, let’s do our best and keep the discipline in the season here. “
How was the season? McDermott, the other 31 NFL coaches and those interested in the league can only hope that such cases, and even more primary interruptions of the season, will not happen.
Unlike baseball, professional football groups cannot play doubles to make up for postponements. Yes, they can play on Sundays and then Thursday nights, once on a 16-game show.
Unlike the NHL, which did a wonderful task in organizing its Stanley Cup playoffs into two bubbles in Canada without positive evidence, the NFL has moved away from this approach. games where local governments allow it, which MLB and NHL have not done.
All of this would be fine if the league prevents new coronavirus outbreaks. Considering that this is heading towards week four, less than a quarter of the entire program, and that a significant interruption has occurred, it does not bodle well, as we think, the colder months, when some medical experts say that another outbreak of COVID-19 may occur.
“There’s an understanding of your duty,” said Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. “From the beginning, I said we didn’t want to be the boys an longer. There is an adult duty related to betting this game and (managing) your health, and I think the boys are doing a smart job. It’s just a team at this point that he saw, and all the tests passed, he had a run for a long, long time without any positive tests. Obviously, there were some, I guess there were now two figures in this organization who tested positive. “
The NFL has taken a break in terms of planning, so anything involving a pandemic can be thought of as such. Adjusting the Steelers-Titans game only involved moving in for a few weeks and assigning another club, the Ravens.
But since the Titans have noticed that their number of positive coronavirus tests accumulate daily, what if it affects week five’s game as opposed to McDermott’s bills?But when? Or Tennessee might have to play despite being decidedly at a numerical disadvantage, a competitive disadvantage that the NFL still disapproves of when it comes to outdoor forces.
“When we’re looking for a successful season and it’s just a reminder of how fast it can spread when other people get it,” said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. “It happened to the Titans this week and you see what happens, and once that happens, you have to prevent things, and it’s a big problem. If you let that get out of hand, it would be very difficult for our league to finish the season.
The NFL has as many or more contingency plans as there have been Super Bowls, 53 so far. Among the possibilities, they deserve more epidemics that cause a reorganization of the normal schedule of the season to compensate for the postponements in January. in January, when the playoffs would normally be played. In fact, it would be greater than the fact that the playoffs used a formula, because not everyone participated in 16 games.
And yes, that would push back the Super Bowl since its February 7, 2021 date.
Of course, the NFL name game can be played on the moon in the middle of the night and would remain the most popular sporting occasion (and in some cultural aspects) in the United States.
“It’s definitely a revelation,” said former Titans goalkeeper and now Giants goalkeeper Logan Ryan about the COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. “This is a revelation for our whole country. This thing is still there . . . This disease is still there and it can our season and can our games. It’s a truth check for everyone.
“I wish you good luck and tell you to wash your hands a little more. “
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AP Sports editors Tom Canavan, John Wawrow and Steve Megargee contributed.
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