TILL TUESDAY: NFL DOES THE BUFFALO SHUFFLE
Bills are the latest team to feel the effects of the Titans’ coronavirus outbreak
For the very first time this season, Buffalo Bills fans won't be able to celebrate a victory on the weekend.
Tuesday, maybe. Just not Sunday.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Bills-Tennessee Titans game in Nashville originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday will be moved to Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Two more Titans players tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday — bringing the total to 14 players and 10 staff members within the organization to contract the coronavirus — as the team facility remained closed for a 10th straight day.
Because they can't play on 48 hours' rest, the Bills game against the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs that was scheduled for next Thursday will be moved to Sunday, Oct. 18.
The NFL has also moved the New England Patriots-Denver Broncos game, initially scheduled for Sunday at 4:25 p.m., to Monday night.
That means there will be at least two Monday night games — New Orleans Saints versus L.A. Chargers is the other — for the second straight week.
The good news is that, while New England star cornerback Stephon Gilmore tested positive on Wednesday, no other Patriots or members of the team they played Monday, the Chiefs, tested positive on Thursday.
The Titans (3-0) could be a little rusty when they host the Bills (4-0). While they have had virtual meetings, the Tennessee players haven't been on the field, to play, practice or for conditioning purposes, since their game in Minnesota on Sept. 27. Their postponed Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers has been rescheduled for Oct. 25.
Scheduling problems could be the least of the Titans' worries. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network says both the league and players association are investigating tips of “multiple” unauthorized workouts players have held away from their facility since the outbreak.
This, after the NFL and NFLPA had already been looking into allegations that quarterback Ryan Tannehill, along with a “significant” number of other players, also violated safety guidelines with an unsanctioned workout at Montgomery Bell Academy, a premier independent school in Nashville, on Sept. 30.
ProFootballTalk.com sources say other teams are expecting the league to hit the Titans hard with punishment for violating pandemic protocols and “potentially not sharing information about the outbreak on a timely basis, to allowing players to work out last week when the facility was shut down.”
OFF THE TEE: It took just four games for Chargers coach Anthony Lynn to formerly declare Justin Herbert his starting quarterback. It probably would have been longer had Tyrod Taylor not had his lung punctured by a team doctor while receiving a painkilling treatment. “This is why we brought him here,” Lynn said of Herbert, the sixth overall pick of the 2020 draft. “To be our franchise quarterback.” Herbert has held the interim title for the last three games with Taylor shelved. He has completed 72 per cent of his passes while throwing five TD strikes and three interceptions. The Chargers have lost all three games. Maybe his fate changes with the confidence he gets from the new title. ... The 1-3 Washington Football Team is just one win from taking over first in the NFC L-East Division, so it's understandable they are switching to Kyle Allen rather than allow Dwight Haskins, a first-rounder in 2019, to work through the growing pains. But is Allen really a better option? Obviously, coach Ron Rivera thinks so, and he would know better than any of us, but last season while coaching Carolina he also watched Allen lose eight of nine starts for the Panthers. Allen also had a TD pass-interception ratio of 10-16. Haskins might want to keep his helmet close by him on the sidelines. ... Baltimore's Lamar Jackson missed practice both Wednesday and Thursday with a knee issue and illness, but Jason La Canfora of CBS reports that sitting him down was a precautionary measure by the Ravens and that their MVP QB will play in Sunday's home game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
DOWN AND OUT: The Steelers, who have at least one sack in 60 consecutive games, placed LB
T.J. Watt on the injury list with a knee problem on Thursday. Watts was named the AFC defensive player of the month for the first month of the season after recording 3.5 sacks, an interception, nine tackles and two pass breakups in Pittsburgh's first three games. He has played 50 of 51 games in his career, missing only a 2017 meeting with the Vikings because of a groin injury. ... Jason Garrett makes his return to Dallas as the New York Giants' offensive co-ordinator this weekend. Garrett, a former Ottawa Rough Riders quarterback, was the Cowboys' head coach from 2011-19. “It was a great time in my life,” Garrett told The Athletic. “I'm forever appreciative of that, forever grateful of that. But I'm excited about the opportunity and trying to help this team get better.”
EXTRA POINTS: The Chiefs have promoted from their practice squad running back DeAndre Washington, who was a college teammate of Patrick Mahomes. ... Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones, who left Monday's game against the Green Bay Packers after only 15 snaps, missed practice again on Thursday. Fantasy players consider other options ... San Francisco 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel, who came off the injury list to play his first game of the season last Sunday, missed Thursday's practice with an “illness.”