FALSE ALARM
Gang had 10 incorrect COVID-19 diagnoses in testing fiasco
The realities of a COVID-19 outbreak hit the Jets on Saturday night when their virtual team meeting was interrupted with the news that 10 members of the Jets organization had tested positive. All of the tests ended up being false positives, but for a few hours the Jets went into the mode they would enter if there was an actual outbreak.
It turned out the Jets were one of several NFL teams that were affected by a testing problem at a New Jersey lab used by the NFL. Some teams were forced to cancel or push back practices on Sunday and it has now raised the question of what if this happens the day of a regular-season game.
With the Jets, coach Adam Gase said he was informed during their virtual team meeting. Players were not at their training center at the time. The Jets immediately closed their building and canceled their walkthrough on Saturday night. Subsequent tests on all of the people who tested positive came back negative. The Jets were cleared to practice on Sunday and went through their normal practice.
“We had just started our squad meeting. I was informed of it,” Gase said. “Everything happened really fast as far as what was being told to us. Our guys did a great job as far as getting in touch with the league office, following all the right protocols, making sure we were doing all the right things. Our guys, they jumped on it quick, as soon as we found out.”
The Jets had to inform the players and staff members who tested positive to quarantine until they got clarity from the league.
“The guys who were told did a good job of quarantining themselves or if they went home, making sure they followed the direction of our doctors and our training staff, which was encouraging to see that our guys reacted the right way,” Gase said.
The Jets did not find out until early Sunday morning that they could practice. Gase spent Saturday night coming up with contingency plans.
“I trust our doctors to give me the right information, tell me what I need to do as far as my part of the job,” Gase said, “try to be very flexible and understanding that what if I would have lost a practice today, how would I have handled that, what do I have to move. That was what I spent most of my night trying to figure out last night was, ‘OK, if we lose tomorrow’s practice, what’s our
schedule?’ You’re putting together a schedule that might not happen. It’s not a fun way to go through the night. You have all this stuff already prepared. You’re just trying to figure out what’s the next steps.”
False positives are a major concern around the NFL. If this happens on a regular-season weekend, games could be affected.
“I don’t want to look too far ahead,” Gase said of the regularseason scenario. “I would say that it’s probably better that it happened now than in three weeks. I’m realistic in the thought that it’s such an unknown. Everything is so day-to-day right now and understanding things can change very quickly. We’ve got to be able to adjust.”
Jets linebacker Avery Williamson said it’s hard not to think about false positives possibly causing players to miss games.
“It’s kind of crazy, you know,” Williamson said. “Just thinking like what if it happens before a game or something? This could happen to any team. It’s crazy. You don’t know what’s going on. There’s nothing you can really do. If somebody has it and you don’t know it and you’re practicing against them and stuff . ... I mean, I just hope that we can stay as clean as possible. I hope that it stays just false positives.”
The Jets had a fight-filled practice Sunday.
Tempers flared during the second half of practice with several fights breaking out between the offense and defense. Linebacker Jordan Jenkins was in the middle of it, throwing punches and trading words with guards Alex Lewis and Greg Van Roten. Linebacker Neville Hewitt was also involved.
“It’s just competing,” linebacker Avery Williamson said. “At the end of the day, guys are going to get heated at times. It’s just part of it, as long as no one gets hurt. That’s normal, guys are going to get into fights. I try to stay away from it, especially now. I was tired as hell. I was staying out of the way.”
Jets coach Adam Gase did not seem particularly bothered by the feistiness since everyone came out of it unscathed.
“I do think, it kind of got to that back half of practice, it was getting a little hot, guys were a little irritated and the thing that I will say is, both sides had to go back, line back up, refocus on what they were trying to do and execute their defense and execute the offensive play,” Gase said. “You know that’s the big thing and as long as it doesn’t happen every day, every period, occasionally things go down and we have to be smart with what’s going on, but at the same time it’s just good to see our guys with fire they have.”
Jenkins got the most heated. Even after being taken out of the drills, he was screaming at the offense from the sideline. That prompted Van Roten to come over and remove his helmet. The two were separated. Earlier, Jenkins and Lewis traded punches. At the end, quarterback Sam Darnold and running back Le’Veon Bell came to the defensive sideline to calm things down.
➤ TE Ryan Griffin returned to the field this weekend after December ankle surgery. Griffin was activated off the physically unable to perform list Saturday and did team drills Sunday. His season ended in December last year after he tore ligaments in his ankle.
“I think it’s an everyday battle,” Griffin said. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to feel like I did before the injury. It’s one of those things that I’ll have to deal with. Other injuries I’ve had before I still deal with.”