Titans Covid positives, first outbreak

SHOWTIME15 · Sep 29, 2020

XLIX said:
The NFL could not have a "bubble" due to the nature of the game. Where could you find the facilities for 32 different teams to hold practice? Where could you find 16 football fields all within a single "bubble"? Keep in mind that those football fields would have to be more than just open spaces, they would *each* have to be able to handle national TV broadcasts and all the equipment and personnel.

There's a reason why MLB and NFL didn't bubble up.

Each division can have its own bubble...for example, AFC East based out of NY, AFC West based out of Los Angeles, AFC South out of Indy, etc. On any given Sunday, a stadium can have 3 separate games, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. If a team plays an out of division game, they would travel to another bubble and switch places with a team from that bubble. They can find local colleges and high schools that would accommodate them for practice. Is it a pain to implement? Yes, but it's probably the only way to prevent a covid outbreak. The players would have to make a big sacrifice to being away from their families for 4-5 months.

farn · Sep 29, 2020

Back to the topic at hand : Will be interesting to see (1) how many people end up testing positive and (2) how the teams involved are able to progress. Not practicing an entire week is just not going to lead to success on the field.

Ian · Sep 29, 2020

Nehalem said:
What competitive advantage?

Would you be in favor of the PAtriots getting a 2nd bye week in exchange for starting the season with 1L?

Go back and read my other posts. I'd have to be consistent so yes, I'd have to say if the Patriots had an outbreak, that would have to be the result (a forfeit). Just like if the Chiefs had an outbreak, I wouldn't want the Patriots to have to move up their bye two weeks earlier.

Teams who are doing the right things and avoiding outbreaks shouldn't be penalized by ones that have one. That's essentially the issue and where the conflict lies.

Bill Lee · Sep 29, 2020

XLIX said:
The NFL could not have a "bubble" due to the nature of the game. Where could you find the facilities for 32 different teams to hold practice? Where could you find 16 football fields all within a single "bubble"? Keep in mind that those football fields would have to be more than just open spaces, they would *each* have to be able to handle national TV broadcasts and all the equipment and personnel.

There's a reason why MLB and NFL didn't bubble up.

Yes, probably not practical.

The next best step would have been 32 bubbles where each team takes over a hotel/resort/whatever near their training facility so friends and family that catch the virus without symptoms can't be the vector for the virus to follow into the team and in to the league.

NFL didn't want to go there to start with, but maybe they'll want to consider this kind of escalation.

Ian · Sep 29, 2020

farn said:
Back to the topic at hand : Will be interesting to see (1) how many people end up testing positive and (2) how the teams involved are able to progress. Not practicing an entire week is just not going to lead to success on the field.

But not practicing for an entire week helps players who are banged up and will benefit from the break. That might mean they wouldn't have been as effective this week and will be more effective in the next game, which if this is rescheduled, is a residual competitive advantage of this.

Again, this was mentioned by Titans fans and I hadn't even thought about it until I read that side of it, so it really is a surprising benefit that definitely helps since players end up with an unexpected break.

XLIX · Sep 29, 2020

TommyBrady12 said:
Each division has its own bubble...

Well if each division has its own bubble, then it's not really a bubble, is it?

TommyBrady12 said:
On any given Sunday, a stadium can have 3 separate games, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night.

Weaksauce. That would be a HUGE change to TV schedules, one I would gladly do without. Plus I don't think you have any clue about the logistics of an NFL game. What do you think happens? The Patriots show up for a game at 12:30 and leave by 4:30? Sure the game is only 3 1/2 hours long but there's all sorts of on-field pre-game workouts that take place. The locker room is occupied pretty much from early morning all the way to nighttime, long after the game is over. I'd be interested in how you want to force 6 teams into 2 locker rooms.

TommyBrady12 said:
If a team plays on out of division game, they travel to another bubble and switch places with a team from that bubble.

Well then it's not really a bubble, is it?

TommyBrady12 said:
They can find local colleges and high schools that would accomodate them for practice.

If teams are practicing at local college and high schools, well then it's not really a bubble, is it?

Bill Lee · Sep 29, 2020

Ian said:
In Week 4, yes, but down the road, it's going to be tougher. Like I said, if this happens a few more times (which as I said, probably will happen), you don't exactly have much flexibility. But definitely curious to see how this plays out. I would force a forfeit out of fairness to keep things moving, and only because I can't see how it's fair to make the other team adjust because the opponent couldn't maintain the protocols.

As the tweet posted earlier said, in the end we're probably going to have to deal with some unfairness.

NFL already was willing to expand the playoff field and take away one bye game so more borderline teams could make the playoffs so the NFL had more inventory to sell.

I think they're willing to go to the extent of having an utterly meaningless Super Bowl, as long as they can still sell ads.

To me the limiting factor will be players deciding the NFL is putting $$$ ahead of their health and their careers and deciding to shut it down on their own.

It was players that caused the NBA stoppage, after all.

However we're a long way away from this kind of scenario.

XLIX · Sep 29, 2020

Bill Lee said:
To me the limiting factor will be players deciding the NFL is putting $$$ ahead of their health and their careers and deciding to shut it down on their own.

Every single player was given the opportunity to opt out. Some took that opportunity, but there is no reason whatsoever why the players who want to play should not be permitted to.

bobbutts · Sep 29, 2020

I see some logic to forcing a forfeit if there is an outbreak and a team cannot safely field a full squad. Who knows though, that's a hard question.
The big thing is containing any outbreak quickly so it's only a handful of people infected. As long as they can do that we should be able to play through.

SHOWTIME15 · Sep 29, 2020

XLIX said:
Well if each division has its own bubble, then it's not really a bubble, is it?
Weaksauce. That would be a HUGE change to TV schedules, one I would gladly do without. Plus I don't think you have any clue about the logistics of an NFL game. What do you think happens? The Patriots show up for a game at 12:30 and leave by 4:30? Sure the game is only 3 1/2 hours long but there's all sorts of on-field pre-game workouts that take place. The locker room is occupied pretty much from early morning all the way to nighttime, long after the game is over. I'd be interested in how you want to force 6 teams into 2 locker rooms.
Well then it's not really a bubble, is it?
If teams are practicing at local college and high schools, well then it's not really a bubble, is it?

Look, you can get technical with the definition of a "bubble," but the point I was making is that the league could have found a bettet way to limit players' contacts with those outside the team...the current format allows players to head home and be with family members who may come in contact with someone who has covid.

XLIX · Sep 29, 2020

TommyBrady12 said:
Look, you can get technical with the definition of a "bubble,"

It's not being "technical". Your solution says put the players in separate bubbles and have them travel back and forth. Well once you're leaving your "bubble" and traveling across the country to another "bubble" then it's not really a bubble, is it?

TommyBrady12 said:
but the point I was making is that the league could have found a bettet way to limit players' contacts with those outside the team...the current format allows players to head home and be with family members who may come in contact with someone who has covid.

Good luck getting the Union to agree to 6 months of isolation away from family.

amfootball · Sep 29, 2020

Everyone needs to relax. The NFL has a good system in place for this exact scenario. The PS is expanded so guys will be able to be back filled. They will either play the games or switch the bye weeks or tack it on at the end of the season.

luuked · Sep 29, 2020

I don't understand why anyone would assume that the Titans didn't follow the guidelines. The most likely vectors are either something that happened on the flight home from the Vikings game or that someone got infected by their families at home when they returned.

The teams are already working in something pretty close to a bubble. The one aspect nobody can account for is when they go home each day to their families/significant others.

I am a bit surprised that the facilities need to be closed until Saturday and can't be available on Thursday already after 2 days of powercleaning but better to be safe than sorry.

Personally, it just shows once again that the league had a totally moronic approach to the entire situation starting from last minute CBA renegotiations that caused some players to opt-out and continuing now with a total lack of clarity when it comes to the protocol for affected teams.

They keep being reactive, putting their fingers in the ears and are just hoping everything goes well. It would have been pretty easy to add in optional buffer weeks at the end of the season that could be used in case of an outbreak. Hell, it is still the most sensible thing to do instead of making one of the teams prepare entirely digitally for their opponent.

1960Pats · Sep 29, 2020

Bill Lee said:
As the tweet posted earlier said, in the end we're probably going to have to deal with some unfairness.

NFL already was willing to expand the playoff field and take away one bye game so more borderline teams could make the playoffs so the NFL had more inventory to sell.

I think they're willing to go to the extent of having an utterly meaningless Super Bowl, as long as they can still sell ads.

To me the limiting factor will be players deciding the NFL is putting $$$ ahead of their health and their careers and deciding to shut it down on their own.

It was players that caused the NBA stoppage, after all.

However we're a long way away from this kind of scenario.

The players control the NBA. Not so for the NYFL players.

amfootball · Sep 29, 2020

luuked said:
I don't understand why anyone would assume that the Titans didn't follow the guidelines. The most likely vectors are either something that happened on the flight home from the Vikings game or that someone got infected by their families at home when they returned.

The teams are already working in something pretty close to a bubble. The one aspect nobody can account for is when they go home each day to their families/significant others.

I am a bit surprised that the facilities need to be closed until Saturday and can't be available on Thursday already after 2 days of powercleaning but better to be safe than sorry.

Personally, it just shows once again that the league had a totally moronic approach to the entire situation starting from last minute CBA renegotiations that caused some players to opt-out and continuing now with a total lack of clarity when it comes to the protocol for affected teams.

They keep being reactive, putting their fingers in the ears and are just hoping everything goes well. It would have been pretty easy to add in optional buffer weeks at the end of the season that could be used in case of an outbreak. Hell, it is still the most sensible thing to do instead of making one of the teams prepare entirely digitally for their opponent.

They do have a plan. The game gets moved to the bye weeks or is played at the end of the season. The NFL has a bunch of different scenarios outlined for this exact situation including moving the SB to the end of Feb.

1960Pats · Sep 29, 2020

The interesting thing about Pitt is that up to this point their opponents have a record of 0-9. Now that they finally have to face one of the few decent team's on their schedule, they're looking at a possible forfeit or a huge advantage come game time. Things are certainly going their way so far.

XLIX · Sep 29, 2020

1960Pats said:
The interesting thing about Pitt is that up to this point their opponents have a record of 0-9. Now that they finally have to face one of the few decent team's on their schedule, they're looking at a possible forfeit or a huge advantage come game time. Things are certainly going their way so far.

I can see games potentially being cancelled, but I just can't see any forfeits. Giving a team a free win would be ridiculously unfair. It would be far better to simply finish the season with 15 games played for some teams (although I still think they are going to play at some point anyway).

XLIX · Sep 29, 2020

Brotherblues said:
That's a little exaggerated, no? Don't recall any talk of the outbreak in mlb being regarded as "massive." Nor that a complete cancelation and thousands dead was the expectation at any point.

I don't think anyone was predicting thousands dead, but when MLB had their initial wave of outbreaks, there were some who thought that would spiral to the eventual cancelation of the entire season.

amfootball · Sep 29, 2020

XLIX said:
I can see games potentially being cancelled, but I just can't see any forfeits. Giving a team a free win would be ridiculously unfair. It would be far better to simply finish the season with 15 games played for some teams (although I still think they are going to play at some point anyway).

I agree with no forfeits but how in the world do you figure out tiebreakers if a team is 10-6 and another one is 10-5?

patman12 · Sep 29, 2020

luuked said:
I don't understand why anyone would assume that the Titans didn't follow the guidelines. The most likely vectors are either something that happened on the flight home from the Vikings game or that someone got infected by their families at home when they returned.

There are unsubstantiated rumors that the source was the Titans OLB coach and that the team knew he tested positive before going into the game. Again, unsubstantiated.

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