NFL Moves Titans, Patriots Games After Virus Outbreaks

(Bloomberg) -- The National Football League is reworking its schedule to adapt to positive Covid-19 tests among the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots.

The Titans game against the Buffalo Bills scheduled for Sunday Oct. 11 will be moved to Tuesday Oct. 13, according to ESPN. The Patriots game against the Denver Broncos will be moved from Sunday to Monday Oct. 12, according to ESPN. The fate of both games will hinge on the Titans and Patriots registering no new positives in the coming days.

Both the Titans and Patriots were unable to practice this week as their facilities were closed following positive tests within their organizations.

New England Patriots star cornerback Stephon Gilmore tested positive earlier this week after the team’s Oct. 5 game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Quarterback Cam Newton was unavailable for that game because of his own positive Covid-19 test.

It’s the second week in a row that the Titans have seen a game moved because of a spreading Covid-19 outbreak within the organization. Last weekend’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was moved to Oct. 25 after 13 players and team personnel tested positive for the virus.

The number of positive results among the Titans has jumped to 23 since Oct. 2. The NFL’s protocols for containing the virus within the organization by ordering a shutdown of team facilities were subverted when a group of players held an informal workout at an off-site location.

That breach of protocol led to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issuing a warning to teams that additional infractions could result in the forfeit of games or the loss of draft picks.

“Protocol violations that result in virus spread requiring adjustments to the schedule or otherwise impacting other teams will result in additional financial and competitive discipline, including the adjustment or loss of draft choices or even the forfeit of a game,” Goodell wrote in the memo obtained by the Associated Press.

With just one bye week per team, the league has little flexibility to make changes during the season if it plans to stick to 16 games played per team. The league could use the open week before the Super Bowl to push the season back a week, but such a change would upend broadcasting schedules and wouldn’t guarantee that all teams are able to play their full slate of games.

The NFL knew coming into this season that it might be forced to cancel games due to the pandemic.

“There will be potential competitive inequities that will be required this season because of the virus and because of the circumstances that we wouldn’t do in other years,” said Goodell in a September interview with Football Morning in America. “That’s going to be a reality of 2020. If we feel like we have an outbreak, that’s going to be driven by medical decisions -- not competitive decisions.”

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