METAIRIE, La. — Monday night’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers would be relocated to Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium if needed because of Hurricane Delta, sources told ESPN.
The Saints could also move their practice operations to Indianapolis if needed — as they did for a week in 2008 when Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana. The Saints have long considered Indianapolis as a contingency option because of the ample hotel space and convenient location of the downtown stadium.
Delta is bearing down on the state of Louisiana and is expected to make landfall as a hurricane on Friday night. LSU already has moved its scheduled Saturday home game against Missouri to Columbia, Missouri, as a result.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The NFL knew it would likely have to deal with the coronavirus pandemic at some point when it proceeded with the 2020 season.
“At the end of the day, the safest teams and the healthiest team this year is going to be the one that’s going to be playing in January and February. We can only control what we can control,” Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard said in August.
The Titans became the first NFL team to experience a COVID-19 outbreak. The number of positive tests is now up to 18, and the Titans’ game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, originally scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed. The Titans maintain that they have adhered to NFL/NFLPA protocols and procedures.
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Contact tracing was initiated as soon as positive tests were received, according to Titans coach Mike Vrabel. Players and select team employees wear a proximity recording device that tracks interaction with others who wear the device. Anyone who was in close proximity to a person who tests positive is subjected to multiple tests. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus has an incubation period that can last up to 14 days. An infected person can be contagious up to 72 hours before they even begin showing symptoms.
While the Titans were the first team to be affected, they weren’t the last. Here is a timeline of how everything unfolded for the Titans and the NFL leading up to Saturday’s decision to postpone the
“When you try players out, they go through a process of testing and quarantine before you work them out, and then when you work them out, you decide to sign them or not, and then they’re into the testing protocol,” Vrabel said Thursday. “At that point in time, when he tested positive, we went through and followed the protocol and he was removed from the facility.”
Sept. 26: Titans outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen tests positive. The Titans received Bowen’s positive test last Saturday morning. Bowen didn’t make the trip to Minnesota when the Titans played the Vikings.
“When we get the results early in the morning, Todd [Toriscelli, director of sports medicine] and his staff and Adrian [Dixon, assistant athletic trainer] begin the contact tracing. They do the follow-up testing and then we proceed from there with the protocol as it relates to any of the positives that would come up,” Vrabel said Thursday. “There’s a POC test which happens, and we’re very confident that we’ve followed the guidelines with the protocol that the league and the players’ association have set forth as it relates to identifying those persons of close contact and by using the tracing devices.”
Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell was placed on the Reserve-Covid list. Contact tracing to other players and personnel members didn’t produce any positive tests so the Falcons were cleared to play the Chicago Bears.
Sept. 27: Titans play the Vikings in Minnesota. The Titans defeated the Vikings with Vrabel calling the defensive plays in place of Bowen, who did it for the first two games.
No Vikings have tested positive since the Titans game.
Sept. 28: News breaks of Bowen’s positive test. Vrabel confirmed that Bowen had a positive test and didn’t make the trip to Minnesota. He said that Bowen wasn’t with the team and that the Titans had followed NFL/NFLPA procedures.
“I’d say we’ve followed all the protocols as it relates to COVID,” Vrabel said. “We’re following the hundred memos that they’ve sent out verbatim.”
Titans’ positive tests: one player, one team personnel member
Sept. 29: Titans have eight more positive tests. The Titans received new positive tests from three players and five staff members. They placed defensive lineman
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Oct. 1: Two more Titans test positive; NFL postpones Steelers vs. Titans. The Titans placed cornerback Kristian Fulton on the reserve/COVID list. An additional unnamed team personnel member also tested positive.
According to a statement, the NFL’s decision to move the game to a later date was made “to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel.”
Vrabel told the media the Titans were “very confident that we’ve followed the guidelines with the protocol that the league and the players’ association have set forth.” The Titans’ facility remained closed. All players, coaches and select team members continued testing while the team was on its bye week as a result of the postponement.
Vrabel delivered news of the postponement to the Titans during a virtual team meeting at 8:30 a.m. The Titans turned their attention to their Week 5 opponent, the Buffalo Bills.
“We had a squad meeting to inform the team that, in light of the two recent positive tests that we had, the NFL had made the smart and safe decision to postpone our game, and that we would be on a bye week starting now,” Vrabel said. “[We] reminded them to not gather with each other, players and staff, until we can find a safe way to enter in back to our building … hopefully which would happen Monday or Tuesday, [and] we would then [begin] preparation against Buffalo.”
The NFL also issued a memo with enhanced protocols for teams to follow after exposure to the coronavirus — including two daily tests. PPE and face masks must be worn by all players and coaches on the practice field, and gloves must be worn by everyone except quarterbacks on their throwing hand. All meetings must be virtual, and there will also be daily deep cleanings of the facility. The protocols also prohibit team or player gatherings away from the facility.
Titans’ positive tests: six players, seven team personnel members
Oct 2: Two more Titans test positive; NFL reschedules Steelers vs. Titans for Week 7. The Titans placed wide receivers Adam Humphries and Cam Batson on the reserve/COVID list.
New time for @Colts and @ChicagoBears on CBS pic.twitter.com/DH7gENKPgJ
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) October 3, 2020
Both the Titans and the Steelers now have Week 4 as their bye week. Officials from the NFL and NFLPA visit Nashville to look into the outbreak further.
The NFL released another memo, this time outlining procedures during the bye week and “testing cadence.” The statement reminds players there is a $50,000 fine for missing a test. A second missed test results in a one-game suspension.
Any player who misses a daily test without authorization during the bye week must have five negative PCR tests (taken 24 hours apart) before reentering a team facility.
Titans’ positive tests: eight players, seven team personnel members
Oct. 3: Multiple NFL positive tests. The Titans received another positive test for a player — defensive end
HOUSTON — For the first time since the 2008 season, the Houston Texans are winless through four games.
Monday, it cost general manager and coach Bill O’Brien his job. A series of moves made by O’Brien, combined with the lousy start, led to the firing. Assistant head coach Romeo Crennel is taking over as interim coach, and the rest of the coaching staff will remain in place, a source told ESPN.
Two years ago, Houston won the AFC South with a team full of stars. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was throwing to one of the best wide receivers in football, DeAndre Hopkins. On defense, J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney led an elite front seven with Tyrann Mathieu providing a spark in the secondary.
| Stat | Worst Since | |
|---|---|---|
| W-L | 0-4 | 2008 |
| Point diff. | -46 | 2008 |
| Opponent QBR | 79 | 2008 |
| Opponent PPG | 31.5 | 2008 |
| ESPN Stats & Information | ||
Two seasons later, only Watson and Watt are left. O’Brien let Mathieu go in free agency and traded away Hopkins and Clowney for next to nothing.
Before the 2019 season, O’Brien mortgaged the future by trading a package of picks for left tackle
Houston’s 2021 first- and second-round draft picks belong to the Everything you need this week:
• Full schedule » | Standings »
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When O’Brien made the trade with Miami, he did it because he wanted to protect his best player, and acquiring Tunsil and spending a first-round pick on Tytus Howard did fill big needs. However, the price for the Tunsil trade looked steep at the time and it’s even more glaring now — just more than a year later — with so many roster holes.
Of course, O’Brien never would have imagined having a high pick two years after finally protecting his franchise quarterback. But not only could the Texans have used the No. 26 pick in 2020 on a player who could make an immediate impact, but a top-10 pick in 2021 certainly could bring in a strong left tackle prospect. He wouldn’t cost an average of $22 million per season like Tunsil, either.
Per the ESPN Roster Management system, the Texans are spending more than $245 million in cash on their roster this season, more than any other team in the NFL. Even more of that money will be going toward Watson moving forward, and if Houston shows no progress the rest of the season, why would the team spend a similar amount next year?
No impact rookies
No draft capital means no young talent to build around. The Texans haven’t had the chance to draft many young impact players in recent years. While other teams are able to identify and capitalize on starters with salary cap-friendly rookie contracts, Houston’s roster is built around free-agent acquisitions and middling veterans.
In their Week 3 loss to the Steelers, the Texans did not have a single rookie play a snap from scrimmage on offense or defense. Only cornerback John Reid, a fourth-round pick, saw action on special teams.
Let that sink in. Not a single rookie. Second-round pick Ross Blacklock was inactive after he was ejected for punching a player in Week 2. Third-round pick Jonathan Greenard was inactive. Fourth-round tackle Charlie Heck was, you guessed it, a healthy scratch. Fifth-round wide receiver Isaiah Coulter is on injured reserve.
Fuller is on his fifth-year option and hasn’t been re-signed because the Texans need to make sure they can depend on him. (His production has been inconsistent throughout his career, and he missed 22 games in his first four seasons due to injury.) Fuller and Stills are set to be free agents after the season.
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks is owed $12 million next season with no guaranteed money. Will Houston be able to keep him at that salary, and would Cooks be eager to take a pay cut if it means staying with the Texans? Through four games, Cooks has 10 catches for 138 yards, including no catches in Week 4. Behind Cooks, Fuller and Stills, that leaves slot receiver Randall Cobb, who has a cap hit of $10.6 million in 2021, Keke Coutee and Coulter. O’Brien hasn’t shown much faith in Coutee, and so far Coulter is redshirting his rookie season.
In the backfield, Johnson has a $9 million cap hit in 2021. That is a lot of money for a player who largely has been ineffective and has not shown the ability to replicate the form that got him his current contract with the Arizona Cardinals.
When listing the things Houston needs to improve, O’Brien said Sunday, “We’ve got to find a running game, a consistent running game.” O’Brien, of course, traded Hopkins for Johnson and a second-round pick (that turned into Blacklock) this offseason. The Texans also traded a third-round pick for Duke Johnson during training camp in 2019.
On the wrong path
Following the 2017 season, O’Brien signed a five-year extension that took him through the 2022 season. In January, he was also named the general manager. Now he is unemployed.
Regardless of how this season ends, it was clear to ownership that the franchise that has won the AFC South in four out of the last five years wasn’t on the right track moving forward. Houston will overhaul its front office and coaching staff.
It didn’t take long for the McNair family, the team’s owners, to rescind the faith it put into O’Brien. The McNairs have often said their goal is to bring a championship to the city of Houston. Winning an AFC South title isn’t the same as a Super Bowl and that’s why big changes are on the way.
