Captain Caveman

I'm seeing some say players will get paid, and some saying they won't get paid if the game is a forfeit. I have an easy solution if they're not supposed to be paid - fine the Titans each an extra game check and distribute it to the Bills players. I know this isn't going to happen, but it should.

This whole sketch is worth watching (NSFW due to vulgarity) but I tried to have it start at 3:39, because it's relevant.

Yeah but if the outbreak gets worse over the winter (as has been predicted) it will be harder to keep teams outbreak free at that point (unless they are in a full bubble.)

I'm not saying that is going to be the primary concern, but fairness also ties into optics which the league typically seems driven by. In any case, with winter and a second wave likely coming, adding extra weeks at the end of the season may not really be possible / practical.

Let's say a team finishes 1st in the conference and earns the bye, and also ends up not needing any games rescheduled. Is it fair to have them wait a month (or more?) to play and get rusty?

it just so happens that Whoever is carrying it is the NFL Network.

maybe but how dumb do you have to be to not understand that if the facility is shut down and you've got multiple positive cases that you're not supposed to go practice somewhere else? and in general, the league has never really shied away from making up punishment rules as they go along. in this case all they need too say is "You can't safely play the game because you broke the rules, and there's no time to make it up, so it's a forfeit." I would guess the majority of owners (and players) would go along with it based on what's come out today.

1 - that may end up happening 2 - the Raiders game also probably shouldn't have happened after their maskless adventures 3 - If the NFL wants to have a season, they need to come down hard on any team that is shown to be not deadly serious about this (and even that may not be enough.)

I think the language the league's been using has been confusing - They've said 2 straight days of no positives and the team can open back up, but hasn't been how they've handled it. They had no positives Monday or Tuesday, so if this was the case they could have opened up Tuesday morning. They didn't. I think what they're really saying is if you have two days with no new cases, then the NEXT day you can open things up (assuming no new positives on the third day.) I think they'll get added to the Covid lists which have seemed to be public.

I keep seeing people post that Tennessee should be forced to play the game with whatever lineup they can pull together. Why should the Bills be forced to play against a team who are in the middle of a giant outbreak, with no assurance that the outbreak is over. For everyone who keeps saying that only players who test negative will be allowed to play - over the last week how many players tested negative and then tested positive? It's mind boggling that this argument is still being used. The incubation period renders the testing pretty ineffective unfortunately. I don't love the idea of the Bills winning this game via forfeit, but I honestly think the League has no choice given what's come out about the continued meetings / practices after everything was supposed to be shut down.

Except if the reports of the Titans work out are true it seems the Titans did not do what they had to do. So ***** 'em.

We didn't draft a goalie did we?

None of us actually knows what happened in NE or Tennessee. You're assuming NE won't continue to have more positive tests - if they do I'd be surprised if that game is played.

Pats / Broncos is also at risk with 3 players having tested positive within a week, and the Pats have gone remote today.

I'd be surprised if the league allows it, even if the teams wanted to. The League has shown they care about public perception, and I don't think they want to be (or appear) responsible for an outbreak.

I think having 2 days of no positives means the first day they could get in would be Saturday (this week Monday and Tuesday had no positive tests but they weren't plannning to open until today.) So practice Saturday Sunday and play Monday? But it's seeming much more likely this game isn't getting played this week. I hope the league decides soon so we can start focusing on the Chiefs.

Tampa Bay's top 4 wrs are hurt, right?

I was more worried about playing the Raiders last week after their maskless adventures.

Does anyone know when the last time we had a 2 game lead in the division? Was Indy still in the division?

MLB teams have half as many players to keep healthy and much less physical contact.

They're also likely to be down several players who won't have been cleared to play.

This is a lousy statement to make. We don't have any clue how he caught it. It could have been contact with someone who worked for the team. It could have been his housecleaner, or a family member who went to the grocery store. I'd be very surprised if he did anything dumb to jeopardize his season, knowing how much he enjoys winning, and also how much $ he has at stake. There are some dumb players, there are some addicts (which is not the same thing.) Cam hasn't done anything that I'm aware of that would indicate he's in either of those groups.

Has this ever happened to you?

I disagree https://youtu.be/sZ76ckSPSGE

I feel like I've seen this before: I know what stomach cancer (Covid) looks like. I've seen it, and you don't eat three cheeseburgers a day with french fries when you got it.