The NFL bumped back three games last week due to ongoing COVID-19 spread.
The NFL moved three games last week due to rising COVID-19 numbers, pushing Browns–Raiders to Monday and Eagles–Washington and Rams–Seahawks to Tuesday. With the latest strain of the virus, the omicron variant, spreading across the country, a number of teams are dealing with serious roster crunches this week as well, just days before most Week 16 games are slated to be played.
The Texas, Jets, Ravens and Saints all have double-digit numbers of players on the COVID-19/reserve list. Even so, with just days to decide, the NFL says it does not plan to push any games this weekend.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said there has been “no discussion of changing the status of any game” for Week 16, per ProFootballTalk.
Of the games most likely to be impacted, Jets–Jaguars, Bengals–Ravens and Texans–Chargers are all set for 1 p.m. ET kickoffs on Sunday afternoon.
Saints–Dolphins is this week's scheduled Monday Night Football game, kicking off at 8:15 p.m. ET on Dec. 27.
Last week's games were the first of the 2021 season to be moved due to COVID-19. The NFL has amended its testing protocols for vaccinated players, which could lower the number of positive tests but could also allow asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to slip through the cracks. On Thursday, the league's chief medical officer Allen Sills said that league data indicates that those without symptoms are very unlikely to spread the virus.
“We’ve really not seen this phenomenon that people have discussed, which is asymptomatic people in the facility spreading the virus to others,” Sills said, per ESPN. “As we’ve gone back and looked throughout the entire season, what we’ve seen consistently is that when people have symptoms, that’s when they seem to be contagious to others.
“Our data has been consistent of that throughout the season, and I think it’s particularly true of this new variant, with omicron, of what we’re seeing.”
Sills's statements are a significant departure from the CDC, which still recommends quarantine for those with asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.
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