WELP…
It’s finally happening folks. What a way to wake up this fine morning. It was just a matter of time before Covid-19 would seriously impact this NFL season. With 32 teams, over 1,600 players (not including staff and league personal) and no intact “bubble” like the NBA had implemented things seemed doomed from the get-go.
The Tennessee Titans had four players (starting NT DaQuan Jones, LB Kamalei Correa, LS Beau Brinkley and TE Tommy Hudson) and five team personnel members test positive early last week before their week 4 matchup with the Steelers. That game was straight up postponed as it was obvious an outbreak had begun. Those fuckers were probably celebrating their super impressive 1 point win against the Vikings at Honky Tonk Central.
Last week we also saw Patriots’ QB Cam Newton test positive which delayed the Pats/Chiefs game until Monday night (he didn’t play). Also forcing the Chiefs to have to play 3 games in 10 days (10/5 Pats, 10/10 Raiders, 10/15 Bills) which puts them at a preparation disadvantage and less downtime for the team which could result in player fatigue and injury.
To get through 3 weeks with no major snags was actually impressive to me. I had no faith in that clown Goodell and the NFL to implement proper procedure and protocol without having an actual bubble put into place. Although they have done a good job in fining coaches and player’s for breaking protocol, things seem out of control.
So what better news to wake up to then seeing another Patriots’ player has tested for Covid…this time Stephon Gilmore (of course) has now tested positive this morning. The third Patriot in a week to be added to their Reserve/Covid-19 list. Things are not looking good in Foxborough right now.
SO WHY THE FUCK WERE THEY ALLOWED TO PLAY MONDAY NIGHT? Honestly. You have your starting QB whose out there everyday around the entire team and dapping everyone up test positive and think it was a good idea to force that game on Monday instead of a postponement, NFL? Just so gotdamn stupid. It’s been shown it can take somebody a few days after exposure to test positive and they played anyway. How many players and staff came into contact with Gilmore/Newton and other Patriots on Sunday? Post game all you see if players and coaches shaking hands and talking without masks…SMART! I’d guess a lot. This could prove to be a costly mistake for the whole league.
Now we move back to the Bills’ week 5 opponents, the Titans who just had their game moved back and all their facilities closed. The team was supposed to be back at facilities and practicing again today and BOOM! Another positive test this morning keeps their facilities closed. This is BAD NEWS for those hoping the Bills’ team and schedule would avoid being impacted by Covid.
So what is the NFL to do if the Titans and Bills can’t play Sunday? There’s a lot of rumors swirling of schedule re-alignment and rescheduling but there’s one correct answer:
THE TITANS HAVE TO FORFEIT THE GAME.
It’s that simple. You can’t have one team screwing the pooch ruin the season for other teams. It’s just stupid and unjust to keep compromising other team’s seasons because your organization can’t get a handle on the problem. The Titans can’t get their shit together and that’s their faults. Why would the Bills move their game to Monday night and then just have 2 days to prepare for their Thursday night game against the Chiefs? That’s just asinine.
The cherry on top? A Las Vegas Raiders’ player also tested positive this morning, just 3 days after being on the field with the Bills. Just not good at all. If a Buffalo player tests positive because of that, things are going to get REAL interesting.
So what should the NFL do? Well, they should have had tighter restrictions and protocol going into the season. Outside of testing and fining those publically breaking “the rules”, there wasn’t much league wide protocol in regards to everything. I mean some teams have fans and some don’t even. There is no uniformity with handling this league-wide. There should have been an extra bye week or something available for postponed games and schedule flexibility. The league is lost in all of this and has provided no real adjustments for adjusting games based off positive tests. I wouldn’t expect the postseason to start on 1/9/21 as it’s scheduled right now. Real action and hard decisions must be made.
Everything’s in a state of flux with the NFL and I have no idea how they end up handling it all. I just pray for the wellbeing of the Buffalo Bills and think teams need to start forfeiting games. It’s only fair in this time of uncertainty
Make sure to follow @TrainwreckSprts on Twitter for all the Buffalo Bills content you can want.
-Merekat (@Merekatkat)…Go Bills Baby.
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