Despite reports this morning of yet another positive COVID test within the Titans organization, the matchup with the Bills is still on for Tuesday night according to reports.
Unfortunately for the Titans, the positive test likely costs them the only full speed day of practice that they were going to have in preparation for Buffalo.
UPDATE: The Titans actually did practice on Sunday after getting clearance from the NFL.
The positive result, revealed this morning from Saturday morning’s daily PCR tests, was from an assistant coach on the defensive side of the ball, per Jay Glazer.
Since the test was administered prior to the Titans practice on Saturday, we know that virus was not acquired as a result of Tennessee’s first practice in two weeks. However, the concern, of course, is whether or not the coach may have had close contacts with other Titans players and coaches to create more cases moving forward.
There are a couple reasons for optimism on that front though. For one, the initial reports this morning indicated that the NFL would be going through the contact tracing to determine whether or not the Bills game would need to be moved. The fact that the game is still on indicates that the league’s review found a relatively low number of potential close contacts.
Additionally, the Titans practice yesterday under the new, more stringent protocols from the NFL for teams in the midst of a COVID breakout.
Those protocols are in place to help keep positive tests isolated.
The timeline of this test after the Titans coaches had been away from the facility for 12 straight days suggests that this positive test is likely not related to the initial breakout.
Obviously, testing over the next two days will be critical, but as of now, we are still on for a battle of undefeated teams on Tuesday night.
Will we at any point get indications of who the coaches affected by COVID-19 are? Or is that just something that will not be shared since they are not subject to injury reporting and roster move reporting?
I get it if not. Just wondering what we can assume about how well the team will be staffed on Tuesday night.
I’d be surprised if we ever found out tbh
Yeah, I agree. My guess is we never know. Only way we’d learn would be if a reporter put it out there (I think they’re terrified to do that with COVID) or if a coach isn’t there on Tuesday night. Obviously, that would be a giveaway at that point.