Titans back at work, but outbreak off limits
Players, team don’t want to comment before league does
The Tennessee Titans have heard some of the calls for the NFL to punish them harshly for the team’s role in the league’s first COVID-19 outbreak, and they have some words of caution after firsthand experience.
It’s still a pandemic.
And testing, even as much as the NFL does, is not perfect.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill said Saturday it’s been a roller coaster as people with no symptoms test positive while others with full-blown symptoms receive consecutive negative tests on multiple days. He noted everyone had said from the beginning that testing would not prevent the virus from being spread.
“It was really eye-opening and just the fact of we really don’t know, so we have to treat everyone as if they have the virus, unfortunately,” Tannehill said. “I feel like we probably lost faith in the testing system just through everything we’ve been through over the past week and a half.”
As the Titans’ outbreak grew to 23 with 21 positive tests returned since Sept. 29, safety Kevin Byard said he heard calls for Tennessee to forfeit games as the NFL first postponed, then rescheduled its game with Pittsburgh to Oct. 25. The league also moved PittsburghBaltimore to Nov. 1.
The Titans (3-0) hope now to play host to Buffalo (4-0) on Tuesday night.
“If anybody went into the season thinking that there weren’t going to be a couple of positive tests or outbreak somewhere of all 32 teams, I think that was kind of foolish to think,” Byard said. “I mean, obviously, we wasn’t trying to be the team that had the outbreak. We’re not trying to get COVID-19.”
What the Titans weren’t talking about was just how this outbreak occurred, not until the NFL and NFL Players Association speak first.
Bears: Chicago moved offensive lineman Badara Traore from its practice squad to the reserve/covid-19 list. Because he is a practice squad player, Traore would not have been allowed on the sideline for Chicago’s win over Tampa Bay at Soldier Field on Thursday night. The Bears have the weekend off and are not scheduled to practice until Monday.
Jaguars: Jacksonville will be without its best pass rusher at Houston on Sunday. Defensive end Josh Allen, who has two of the team’s four sacks this season, was downgraded to out and did not make the trip Saturday. Allen made the Pro Bowl as a rookie last season. Rookie K’lavon Chaisson or Dawuane Smoot is expected to start in Allen’s place.