Week 5: Bills at Titans on Tuesday Night Football

[Rochesterian Bills Fan]

Man the injury situation for this game is such a mess.

[zow2]

is this game nationally televised on CBS ? i know it’s on Yahoo as well.  i’ll be watching from out of the Bills market.

[HappyDays]

I wonder if the refs will give us favorable calls. I can't imagine the NFL is happy with the Titans players acting like they did nothing wrong.

[whatdrought]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I wonder if the refs will give us favorable calls. I can't imagine the NFL is happy with the Titans players acting like they did nothing wrong.

Penalty on Tennessee: unnecessary jackassery. 20yrd penalty, Bills get 10 points. 

[zow2]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I wonder if the refs will give us favorable calls. I can't imagine the NFL is happy with the Titans players acting like they did nothing wrong.

 

I think any favorable calls (or non calls on Buffalo) would come from McDermott finally earning the respect of the refs.  

Remember when Rex’s teams were flagged for everything in part because Rex was known for lack of discipline?  McDermott is the opposite and i think refs go in to these games with that stuff subconsciously playing in their heads.

[mannc]

1 hour ago, SWATeam said:

Do we know anything about that?

Not sure.  But I’m assuming a lot of their guys will be ruled out, such as Simmons and Davis.  What do you know about it?

[HOUSE]

Great, We always play horrible on Tuesday Night

[SWATeam]

7 minutes ago, mannc said:

Not sure.  But I’m assuming a lot of their guys will be ruled out, such as Simmons and Davis.  What do you know about it?

I have seen nothing definitive.

[par73]

I hate to cite a Patriot for this, but Jason McCourty questions whether the NFL or NFLPA  are concerned with player safety. He thinks they are more interested in setting covid protocols that allow games to be played, without enough concern for player health. I have to believe many players feel this way at this point. Story on Espn.com

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, par73 said:

I hate to cite a Patriot for this, but Jason McCourty questions whether the NFL or NFLPA  are concerned with player safety. He thinks they are more interested in setting covid protocols that allow games to be played, without enough concern for player health. I have to believe many players feel this way at this point. Story on Espn.com

 

Got a linky?

[par73]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Got a linky?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30086126/patriots-jason-mccourty-questions-whether-nfl-nflpa-care-player-safety

[Hapless Bills Fan]

18 minutes ago, SWATeam said:

I have seen nothing definitive.

 

I believe that's because there is nothing definitive at this point? 

https://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/return-to-play/testing-screening-treatment/

 

It all depends upon when they tested positive, whether or not they've had symptoms, and whether they test negative now 2x 24 hrs apart

[mannc]

10 minutes ago, par73 said:

I hate to cite a Patriot for this, but Jason McCourty questions whether the NFL or NFLPA  are concerned with player safety. He thinks they are more interested in setting covid protocols that allow games to be played, without enough concern for player health. I have to believe many players feel this way at this point. Story on Espn.com

Have any players actually gotten sick (as opposed to testing positive)?  I’m not aware of any.  

5 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I believe that's because there is nothing definitive at this point? 

https://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/return-to-play/testing-screening-treatment/

 

It all depends upon when they tested positive, whether or not they've had symptoms, and whether they test negative now 2x 24 hrs apart

So is that a game time decision?  When is a player officially ruled out, or cleared to play?  There has to be some deadline, right?

Edited October 11, 2020 by mannc

[Scott7975]

11 minutes ago, par73 said:

I hate to cite a Patriot for this, but Jason McCourty questions whether the NFL or NFLPA  are concerned with player safety. He thinks they are more interested in setting covid protocols that allow games to be played, without enough concern for player health. I have to believe many players feel this way at this point. Story on Espn.com

 

Probably some truth to it.

[Bferra13]

13 minutes ago, par73 said:

I hate to cite a Patriot for this, but Jason McCourty questions whether the NFL or NFLPA  are concerned with player safety. He thinks they are more interested in setting covid protocols that allow games to be played, without enough concern for player health. I have to believe many players feel this way at this point. Story on Espn.com

 

Not sure what you can do though. You don't play the games, especially this early, then you have to add weeks on the season at the end... Thats not fair and tactically improbable with a solid super bowl date. Its not perfect, but keep pushing on I say. These guys had their opportunity to opt out. Only thing that pisses me off is where are these Titans punishments???

Edited October 11, 2020 by Bferra13

[YoloinOhio]

8 minutes ago, mannc said:

Have any players actually gotten sick (as opposed to testing positive)?  I’m not aware of any.  

So is that a game time decision?  When is a player officially ruled out, or cleared to play?  There has to be some deadline, right?

They have to be activated off of the Covid reserve list first and then there is an “acclimation” period 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

25 minutes ago, mannc said:

Have any players actually gotten sick (as opposed to testing positive)?  I’m not aware of any.

 

Why do you feel you would or should be aware?  They do have the same right to health information privacy as any other human, unless they choose to share.

 

Vrabel has stated they have symptomatic players, and it's hard to imagine the players they just got off being on the list so long without symptoms:

-Isaiah Wilson went on the list Sept 6, just got off today.  That's more than a month.

-Greg Mabin went on Sept 24 and just came off today, that's 16 days which is 6 days longer than required for an asymptomatic player

-Vrabel said "There's been a wide range of levels of symptoms. They'll be back, and whenever they pass the protocol we'll get them back to work and help the team"

-DL DaQuan Jones and long snapper Beau Brinkley went on the list 29 September from a 28 September swab, so if they were asymptomatic, they should have been eligible to come off no later than Thursday or Friday by my count (10 days).

 

"Wide range of symptoms" plus a guy who's been on there >1 month and other guys who have been on longer than an asymptomatic person would have to be, implies that yes, players have actually gotten sick. 

 

Quote

So is that a game time decision?  When is a player officially ruled out, or cleared to play?  There has to be some deadline, right?

 

I don't know if there's a deadline, but you can read about the process here:

 

 

An asymptomatic player who tests negative could theoretically come off the list after 5 days and 2 consecutive negative tests 24 hrs apart, after he undergoes cardiac screening.

Or it might take as long as 10 days plus cardiac screening if he's still testing positive.

 

For a symptomatic player, it looks as though there's a judgement call about symptom severity (hope they have differential diagnostic criteria somewhere), but they need 10 days AND 72 hrs without symptoms.  Then (if mild) they need cardiac screening and a 3 day progressive exercise program.

 

I think the bottom line is it can't be a game day decision - it will be known if a guy has his 10 days and his 72 hrs and getting his cardiac screening or in the progressive program.

 

[die hard bills fan]

This is such a mess.  Don't know how anyone can be sure a player is ready to return based on symptoms.  I hope no one lies just because he wants to  play.☹️

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, par73 said:

I hate to cite a Patriot for this, but Jason McCourty questions whether the NFL or NFLPA  are concerned with player safety. He thinks they are more interested in setting covid protocols that allow games to be played, without enough concern for player health. I have to believe many players feel this way at this point. Story on Espn.com

 

This is where IMHO it would help the situation a lot if the NFL and its experts "stood and delivered" on justifying the thinking behind their protocols and timelines.

 

I doubt McCourty is the only player with these questions.  In fact I believe there are probably a number of players on every team in the league who have watched the Titans outbreak play out and have questions.  It's significant because on other teams, there has been either no spread, or spread only to a known close contact (Newton and Gilmore dinner).

 

I think it's more likely than not that the NFL would prefer to scapegoat the Titans as a scofflaw, rule-breaking team vs. acknowledging that the timelines in their original protocols for bringing in new players etc. were insufficient to ensure safety.   Maybe the Titans were lax.  Maybe they weren't more lax than a lot of other teams have actually been in their interpretation of the protocols.  Maybe there were communication breakdowns, or lack of clarity in the communication.

 

But communication, communication, and communication would help the NFL and NFLPA with players around the league.  Lay it out there what the reasoning is behind the various protocols and let players pressure-test them.  Communicate ASAP what was actually found in talking to the Titans players and coaches, where the infection points are believed to have been, etc.

This is where a focus on possible punishment IMHO can be counter-productive by inhibiting constructive learnings

[Dont Stop Billeiving]

A big X-factor for this game I haven't seen mentioned here yet:

 

With Adoree Jackson ruled out, Kristian Fulton has been Tennessee's starting slot CB. However, he is on the COVID list. If he is also out, the Titans will have to start their 2020 7th round draft pick Chris Jackson. Advantage Bills.