Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Chris Hubbard tested positive for COVID-19, which forced the club to close team facilities and put a cloud of doubt over the Week 10 game with the Houston Texans.
Even though the NFL has not given any official word as to the postponement of the game, Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel and the players are still getting ready to play Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“You have to get ready to play because no game has been canceled,” Crennel said. “They have a positive. They will be doing contact tracing probably all day to find out who’s been in close contact and then after that, they’ll make a determination, the league will, about whether the game continues or not. So, in the meantime, we have to prepare like we’re playing, and really hope that we’re playing because we want to play because we’ve been practicing all week.”
The Texans are coming out of their own COVID-19 outbreak as guard Max Scharping tested positive for the novel coronavirus over the Texans’ bye week on Oct. 26. On Nov. 4, outside linebacker Jacob Martin was placed on the COVID-19 reserve as he also tested positive. Outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus and inside linebacker Dylan Cole were placed on the COVID-19 reserve, even though they didn’t test positive, due to contact tracing.
The Texans were able to conclude Cole and Mercilus had been in close contact to Martin due to contact tracing.
“I know our team, everybody has devices on and they’re able to tell how long people have been close and in close contact with each other,” said Crennel. “So, if you’ve got a guy who’s positive, you check him and see how many people he’s been with, how long he’s been with them and then they make the determination.
Just like last week when Martin tested positive, and then they did the contact tracing and two of the other linebackers had to sit out the game because they were close. I would imagine that something similar would happen if [the Browns] have guys who are in close contact for a long period of time, then they will have to sit out the game and they’ll probably go on with the game.”
The Texans want to play, but it all comes down to what the league will allow after further investigation.
“I’m sure [the Browns] want to play as well,” Crennel said. “But it’s kind of out of our hands. We’ll do what we normally do until we’re told that we have to do something different.”