The NFL's ranks of undefeated teams should thin by one Tuesday night, Oct. 13, 2020, when the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans finally meet in a rescheduled game. (AP Photo/David Berding, File)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The NFL's ranks of undefeated teams should thin by one Tuesday night when the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans finally meet in a rescheduled game. The NFL first postponed, then rescheduled their Oct. 4 game with Pittsburgh to Oct. 25, and their game with the Bills pushed back two days. “As a team that’s off to a good start, we feel like we’ve got a good thing rolling here and we want to play,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said. The Bills will be the first team to play the Titans since the NFL closed Tennessee's facility Sept. 29.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee general manager Jon Robinson has a very personal stake in keeping the Titans safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Robinson noted that's why the Titans worked hard to follow all protocols to protect everyone connected with the franchise. Still, the Titans wound up with the NFL's first COVID-19 outbreak, with a total of 24 players and personnel testing positive since Sept. 24. “We’ve been extremely transparent with both groups with our situation as they try to piece things together,” Robinson said of the NFL and the NFL Players Association. The NFL allowed Tennessee to practice with only players, coaches and trainers Sunday after the team closed its facility following a staff member testing positive.
“And then we'll kind of see where we're at with the league and hopeful to return and get back in the building,” Vrabel said. The NFL and its players union had people in Nashville meeting with the Titans to review how the team handled the outbreak and checking protocols. The Titans’ outbreak reached 20 cases on Sunday, the team’s sixth straight day of at least one positive, with 18 returned since Sept. 29. “ I’m not even thinking about that.”The Titans' outbreak also affected the Baltimore Ravens, who now will have a bye Week 7 instead of playing Pittsburgh. The NFL and the players union agreed Oct. 2 to continue daily testing, and they both agreed to ramp up health and safety procedures in the wake of the Titans' outbreak.
The Titans suspended in-person activities through Friday after the NFL says three Titans players and five personnel tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first COVID-19 outbreak of the NFL season in Week 4. Their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers is now postponed until later in the season because of the league's first COVID-19 outbreak. The NFL postponed Sunday's game in Nashville after one additional Titans player and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19. The NFL decided to postpone the game “to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel." For now both the Titans and Steelers went from game preparation to an unexpected bye and a chance to heal up some players.
