Lions’ Bevell can’t coach vs Bucs due to COVID protocols
Detroit Lions interim coach Darrell Bevell is the NFL’s first head coach to miss a game because of COVID-19 protocols even though he has not tested positive for the coronavirus.
“It’s kind of the times that we’re living in right now,” Bevell lamented.
The Lions (5-9) will also be without defensive coordinator Cory Undlin, defensive line coach Bo Davis, defensive backs coach Steve Gregory and linebackers coach Ty McKenzie against Tampa Bay (9-5) on Saturday.
Wide receivers coach Robert Prince will be Detroit’s third head coach this season at Ford Field against the Bucs, who are a win away from clinching a postseason berth. Bevell was
1-2 after Matt Patricia was fired last month. In another key game this weekend, the Browns may have to try and secure a playoff spot — their first since 2002 — on Sunday in New York without starting rookie left tackle Jedrick Wills, who was placed on the
COVID-19 list Thursday.
Chargers tight end Hunter Henry, Los
Angeles’ second-leading receiver in most categories, also went on theCOVID-19 list.
Kingsbury: Cards’ Gardeck to IR
TEMPE, ARIZ. » Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury said linebacker Dennis Gardeck is out for the rest of the regular season and will be placed on injured reserve with a knee injury.
Gardeck had a surprise emergence as one of Arizona’s biggest playmakers on defense and is second on the team with seven sacks. The undrafted 26-year-old was a special teams ace during his first two seasons and hadn’t played a defensive snap in the NFL until 2019 All-Pro Chandler Jones was lost for the year because of a biceps injury in October.
Gardeck was hurt in Sunday’s 33-26 win against the Eagles. He had two sacks in the game before the injury. The Cardinals (8-6) host the 49ers (5-9) on Saturday and are trying to clinch their first playoff berth since 2015.
Widby, punter for Dallas’ first Super Bowl title, dies
Ron Widby, the 1967 SEC player of the year in basketball and punter for the Dallas Cowboys’ first Super Bowl championship has died. He was 75.
Widby, who was living in Allen, Texas, died Tuesday. He had been in poor health in recent years.
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Widby played six seasons in the NFL starting his career with the Cowboys after originally being drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1967. He played 81 games in the NFL, and his 84-yard punt in 1968 remains the Dallas record for longest punt.
Widby averaged 42 yards a punt for his career and finished his career with two seasons in Green Bay. In his first season with the Packers, Widby completed the only two passes of his career, one for a touchdown.
He was selected in three different professional drafts in two sports. In addition to New Orleans drafting him in 1967, Widby also was drafted by the New Orleans Buccaneers in the 1967 ABA draft and by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA draft that same year.
Widby played a season with the Bucs in the ABA before turning back to football.