THE NFL SEASON CONTINUES DESPITE POSITIVE COVID CASES, DENVER BRONCOS TAKE FIELD WITH NO QB
By: CaraG @exclusivelycarag
Last Sunday, the Denver Broncos faced the New Orleans Saints.
Three quarterbacks for The Denver Broncos, Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles, came in close contact with quarterback Jeff Driskel, who has tested positive for COVID-19, leaving the team with no quarterback for Sunday’s game. The league’s COVID protocols mandate that players identified as high-risk close contacts must self-isolate for five days.
The Broncos offense relied on running back Phillip Lindsay to take the game’s opening snap, rotating with practice receiver Kendall Hinton and running back Royce Freeman. The game was disastrous as the team only completed one pass the entire game.
Prior to the game, the Broncos pitched assistant coaches also former NFL players Justin Rascati or Rob Calabrese to play today against the Saints. It may sound far-fetched, but the Eagles were short on quarterbacks in 2009 training camp and asked if they could have one of their coaching interns, Matt Nagy, play quarterback in a preseason game. Nagy ended up practicing with the Eagles for a day, but the NFL said that moving him from the coaching staff to the roster would constitute a violation of the league’s limits on roster sizes.
However, the NFL announced last week that, amid a coronavirus outbreak in Baltimore the
Raven’s game against AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers would be pushed back for the third time. Many players from the Raven’s roster were infected with the virus resulting in a reduction in practice time. Kickoff took place at Hines Field on Wednesday at 3:40 in the afternoon.
“I’m not one to complain, but NFL y’all can’t possibly send us into a game without a QB,” wrote tight end Noah Fant on his Twitter account. “The most important position to a offense. We don’t even got a back up.”
Critics raise speculations that the NFL could’ve made this decision based on team records with the Broncos sitting at (4-6) and the Ravens at (6-4) before their most recent games. Baltimore is ultimately a better team than Denver, but there was no guarantee that the Ravens would make the playoffs either, deeming the league’s call unfair.
The Denver Broncos quarantined players will return this Sunday.
