Browns' situation should revive talks about the NFL's decision not to create a postseason bubbleGETTY IMAGES
The NFL is "still planning for the Browns-Steelers wild-card game to be played on schedule," Sunday evening in Pittsburgh, and that "would only change if there are multiple new positive cases throughout the remainder of the week," according to Lindsay Jones of THE ATHLETIC. The league "never set a benchmark for a set number of positive cases that would trigger a postponement." But the next few days of test results "will be critical," as will the contact tracing process, especially the "genomic sequencing currently being conducted on the five positive samples collected on Monday." The NFL declined to comment on "specific contingency plans for the wild card round," should the Browns’ COVID-19 issues "worsen in the coming days." This is in line with how the league has treated earlier outbreaks, "waiting as long as possible to announce any schedule changes." But now that the NFL is actually in the playoffs, there is "no luxury of time," and there would be "significant ramifications and competitive questions about moving a playoff game to a Monday -- or later, and what that would mean for the following rounds." The Browns’ situation "will certainly revive the conversation about the NFL’s decision not to create a postseason bubble, or even individual localized bubbles." But in this case, even if the NFL or each team had required postseason teams to live in a hotel for the duration of the playoffs, it "might not have helped." The Browns’ COVID-19 issues now "date back to Week 16" (THEATHLETIC.com, 1/5).
UNION LEADERS WEIGH IN: YAHOO SPORTS' Terez Paylor noted the league and its players still have to figure out if Browns-Steelers "can be played as scheduled." In that regard, NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith "insisted that the union will continue to make decisions motivated by what’s in the best safety interests of players and staff." It appears the "only way for the Browns’ upcoming playoff game to be moved is if their COVID situation isn’t contained," a possibility Browns C and NFLPA President JC Tretter acknowledged. But even with his team staring at a situation where it will possibly be "forced to play its long-awaited playoff game short-handed," Tretter still "doesn’t think teams would have been better off with a postseason bubble." Tretter said, "If we bubbled up, everything we know now, and we brought everybody together under the same roof, now we have five people turning positive inside the bubble and I think that makes us more susceptive to negative outcomes than separating ourselves" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/5).
REALITY CHECK AROUND LEAGUE: In Pittsburgh, Paul Zeise writes the Browns' situation is a "reality check for every NFL team still alive in the playoffs that their fortunes may not be 100 percent in their hands." Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, "There are continual reminders of how fragile these circumstances are so what is transpiring in Cleveland is not reinforcement or verification it is just more of the same for us like it has been for everyone else throughout the course of this journey.” Zeise notes if the Browns lose on Sunday, it "will be a blip on the radar, a tiny footnote in history." Zeise: "However, there are many other teams with Super Bowl aspirations that could certainly get taken out of the playoffs with a bad batch of COVID-19 tests. And that would be a nightmare for the NFL as they have forged through a lot of uncertainty and adversity to get to the point where they can put on the playoffs and showcase the best of the league" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 1/6).
