The NFL and NFLPA are looking into whether there was any sort of coach direction on the player workoutsGETTY IMAGES
The investigation into whether the Titans violated COVID-19 protocols may not "finish up until after they, presumably, play on Tuesday night," according to Albert Breer of SI.com. The "main things at issue are that mask compliance appeared to be at around 75 to 80 percent (which, by the league’s standards, isn't nearly good enough)," and "contact tracing showed that physical distancing in the building wasn't where it needed to be." The NFL and NFLPA also are "looking into whether there was any sort of coach direction on the player workouts at a local high school." The "question of whether a tryout player might've brought the virus into the Titans' facility has been raised," and presumably, that is "one reason why the NFL strengthened its rules on teams holding free-agent workouts and visits last week" (SI.com, 10/12).
PUNISHMENT INCOMING: CBSSPORTS.com's Jason La Canfora said he continues to hear that the "hammer will drop" on the Titans. He added, "People at the league office are stunned by some of what they've seen to this point. ... If that game isn't played Tuesday and has to be pushed back again, I talked to people at the league office this week to drill down further on what would constitute the point where we are forfeiting games, and I was told that if there is a building where repeatedly there seems to be egregious violations and they cannot get the numbers under control, and we reach a point where we now have to start inconveniencing their opponents who have done things the right way ... the go-to isn't to add a week 18" ("That Other Pregame Show," CBSSN, 10/11). In Nashville, Gentry Estes wrote "hanging over everything" has been the "prospect of an NFL hammer, polished and poised, ready to drop on the Titans at any moment as retribution for their own culpability in the outbreak that tore through the team." There is "plenty of speculation around the NFL" that "sanctions are coming." After it "became public knowledge that Titans players gathered for an impermissible Sept. 30 workout" with their facility shuttered, "all bets were off on how the NFL might react" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 10/10).
PUNISHMENT DESERVED: In Phoenix, Kent Somers noted it is a "time when athletes and coaches are not only accountable to teammates, but also to opponents," and that is what makes the Titans outbreak "so troublesome." If reports of protocol violations are true, the NFL "needs to fine the Titans millions and take away some high future draft picks" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/10). Former Eagles President Joe Banner: "I certainly think (making them forfeit) should be on the table. To totally disregard the rules in such a fundamental way and risk the entire season for the rest of the players, the owners, the fans, everybody, for what? To get in a practice? A partial practice? An uncoached practice? I mean, are you kidding me?" Banner continued, "If they have to cancel the game, they deserve a really, really significant penalty. Not just forfeiting, but the biggest penalty we've ever seen any team receive for anything" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/11).
