Tag: vaccinations

Browns release statement on the Week 15 COVID-19 postponement, every person who tested positive was vaccinated

The Browns release a statement noting that all players who tested positive were vaccinated and fans will be allowed inside FirstEnergy Stadium for Monday’s game

The Cleveland Browns organization has released an official statement on the decision to postpone Saturday’s home matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders until Monday. The COVID-19 outbreak around the Browns led to the NFL moving the game, one of three contests in Week 15 moved from their original start times.

Via Browns Senior Vice President of Communications Peter John-Baptiste, the team noted its strict adherence to the defined NFL league protocols involving COVID-19. John-Baptiste also declared that every Browns player who tested positive has been previously vaccinated and none are experiencing anything more than mild symptoms.

Also, fans will be allowed at FirstEnergy Stadium for the rescheduled game on Monday.

From the Browns,

“While our team and entire organization diligently prepared for tomorrow’s game as initially scheduled, both from an on-field and fan-experience standpoint, we respect the NFL’s decision to postpone our matchup against the Raiders to Monday at 5 p.m. ET. As always, our top priority is the health and well-being of our community, coaches, players, and their families, whether that is related to COVID-19 or player safety factors. Our team has consistently adhered to the league’s COVID-19 protocols during the past two seasons, and we will continue to operate in a manner that meets and oftentimes exceeds the guidelines dictated by the league and its medical experts.

“We fully recognize the fluidity of the situation, including Browns personnel who may be available this week, and remain in constant communication with the NFL. The team conducted virtual meetings and a virtual walkthrough this morning and plan to hold a practice tomorrow at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus as we continue to prepare for the Raiders game. Although we are unable to disclose specifics, we are fortunate that every member of our organization who has recently tested positive was vaccinated, the majority of which are currently asymptomatic or experiencing mild symptoms.

“As we have done throughout the 2021 season, the Browns and FirstEnergy Stadium on Monday will continue to have various health and safety measures in place for our fans and staff members, including reliable access to hand sanitizer, comprehensive cleaning and disinfecting regimens, and more throughout the venue. In addition, as recommended by the CDC, the Browns strongly encourage everyone, regardless of their vaccination status, to wear masks in indoor spaces; unvaccinated individuals are asked to wear a mask at all times, and vaccinated persons should consider doing the same when unable to socially distance. Ticket holders with questions about ticket policies should contact a Browns ticket office representative.”

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Pete Carroll: Seahawks all getting COVID-19 vaccination booster shots

No team has done a better job of avoiding the dangers of COVID-19 than these Seahawks.

Competing in the NFL is difficult enough under ordinary circumstances. These days, teams also have to navigate a deadly pandemic, keeping their players and staff safe so they can do their jobs without endangering others.

No team has done a better job of avoiding the dangers of COVID-19 than these Seahawks. The team incredibly went the entire 2020 season without a single COVID-19 case. There’s only been one so far this year when tight end Gerald Everett tested positive. Everett is vaccinated, though and returned after missing two games. Now, coach Pete Carroll says the entire team is getting booster shots today.

This continues to be a good look for Carroll and his team. The football element pales in comparison to the good example being set.

It’s also probably worth mentioning that the Packers are no longer the No. 1 seed in the NFC because Aaron Rodgers handled his situation so poorly.

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News: Brady complains about jersey numbers, Cowboys still hoping for Zack Martin

The Bucs QB doesn’t like some Cowboys defenders now wearing offensive numbers, plus Dak’s restructured deal and a surprise injury for Tampa. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Soon, the story will be about an actual football game. But in the final lead-up to opening night, Cowboys fans are being treated to a bizarre mix of topics ranging from a first-ballot Hall of Famer whining about uniforms giving the Cowboys an unfair advantage to the Dallas brass suggesting they might fly their right guard to Thursday night’s game all by himself if the stars align with last-minute COVID tests.

But there’s more to chew on, too: the Bucs are zeroing in on the Cowboys’ run game, one of Tampa’s pass-catching threats is a surprise add to their injury report, and one of the Cowboys’ receivers is singing Dak Prescott’s praises. Speaking of the Dallas quarterback, his record megadeal has already been reworked. The defense faces a defining moment, Cowboys fans get a common-sense talking-to, and a former Dallas passer gets tricky with his still-impressive accuracy. All that, plus team vaccination news and a spotlight on one of the unsung superstars of the Cowboys’ front office. News and Notes, coming right up.

Raiders to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend home games

Raiders to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend home games

Monday the Las Vegas Raiders announced that they will be implementing a policy that requires all fans who attend games at Allegiant Stadium show proof of vaccination. Aside from the obvious health benefits to being vaccinated against COVID-19, there is the added benefit of not having to wear a mask.

The Raiders are the first NFL club to implement a policy requiring vaccination and allowing said vaccinated fans to attend the game without wearing a mask. Which is unlike the preseason match-up with the Seahawks last Saturday which didn’t require vaccination, but did require fans to wear masks at all times.

Fans will show proof of COVID-19 vaccination through CLEAR’s free mobile app and Health Pass feature.

The policy will take effect for the season-opener on Monday Night Football against the Ravens.

The Raiders made the change in accordance with a new Emergency Directive Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak regarding large events.

“Health and safety has always been our number one priority,” said Raiders owner Mark Davis. “After consultation with Governor Sisolak and other community leaders, this policy ensures that we will be able to operate at full capacity without masks for fully vaccinated fans for the entire season,” Davis explained.

If you are not vaccinated in time for the game, and would still like to attend, you’re in luck. Fans can receive a vaccination on site at Allegiant Stadium prior to games, permitting newly vaccinated fans to enter wearing a mask.

The Raiders will hold a press conference at noon on Tuesday August 17th at Allegiant Stadium to announce details of the program and introduce CLEAR representatives who will discuss the verification process.

Falcons become NFL’s first team to be fully vaccinated

According to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein, the Falcons are now the NFL’s first team to be fully vaccinated.

The Atlanta Falcons have plenty of issues to correct on the field after Friday’s disappointing preseason debut, but the team is doing everything possible to keep its players safe from the COVID-19 virus.

According to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein, the Falcons are now the NFL’s first team to be fully vaccinated.

Players are not required to get vaccinated, however, those that choose not to be face a number of restrictions in terms of traveling with the team and being in close contact with teammates.

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith has a tough road ahead as he attempts to get the team out of its three-year playoff slump, so it’s good to see Atlanta unite on an issue that’s caused plenty of controversy around the league.

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Bruce Arians blasted a report about the Bucs’ vaccination wristbands in an expletive-filled rant

He wasn’t happy.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are among the NFL teams that have instituted a wristband system to designate whether a player is vaccinated or not. A red wristband is supposed to signal that the player has been vaccinated while yellow wristbands mean unvaccinated.

The Bucs started training camp a few days ago, and some reporters were already on the lookout for the wristbands. But it was quickly noticed that many players weren’t wearing wristbands at all (like Tom Brady) while some (like Mike Evans) were indeed wearing red.

There was the suggestion that the Bucs were violating their own COVID protocols just days into camp.

On Tuesday, Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians took issue with that notion and blasted the report because players don’t need to wear the wristbands at all during outdoor practices. He also cursed a lot because he’s Bruce Arians, and that’s what he does.

Arians said via ESPN:

“If I give you some information, at least know the (expletive) rules before you put it in the press. Red and yellow bands — they don’t have to wear them at practice. That’s for indoors. I’ve gotta read (expletive) that we should be fined for red and yellow bands because they ain’t got them on at practice. That’s bull(expletive). If you’re gonna report (expletive), make sure it’s (expletive) right.”

In addition to the Bucs, the Steelers and Jaguars are also requiring wristbands for vaccination status.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Monday that 83.6 percent of NFL players have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Ten teams have reached the 90-percent threshold while every team has reached at least 60 percent vaccinated among players.

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Michael Irvin slams current Cowboys for low vaccination rate entering camp

The fiery Ring of Honor receiver thinks Cowboys players who aren’t vaccinated aren’t really “thinking about winning a championship.”

If there was an edge to be had, Cowboys legend Michael Irvin wanted it. From doing wind sprints on the practice field until he puked to publicly confronting teammates who he felt weren’t pulling their weight, the wide receiver had an insatiable need to win. Whatever it took.

Now with the 2021 training camp about to begin and the Cowboys well below the COVID-19 vaccination threshold rate that would allow loosened restrictions for players and staff, the Hall of Famer is upset that the current crop of players are negligently throwing away a chance to gain an early edge.

“Yeah, and it should upset them,” Irvin said recently at the opening of the Dallas chapter for Merging Vets & Players, as per ESPN’s Todd Archer. “It should upset them. Dude, you’re not thinking right. You’re not thinking right… Nothing else can be more important. You’re not going to get this [a Super Bowl win] easily. Nothing else could be more important… And not being one of the [vaccinated teams] says there’s other things to a great number of people on this team that are more important than winning championships, and that makes me worried.”

Irvin was a 1988 draft pick who went 4-28 in his first two seasons with the Cowboys, but then was an integral part of the dynasty that brought three Lombardi Trophies to Dallas in a four-year span.

“Call me stupid because I try to take any little thing and turn it if you are a championship team,” Irvin added, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘s Clarence E. Hill Jr. “Every decision has to be made like you’re winning championships… If you’re not one of the [vaccinated] teams, are you really thinking about winning a championship?”

Under current rules, unvaccinated players are not permitted to leave the team hotel, must wear masks, and remain distanced from people inside the team facilities. Vaccinated players, however, are not required to wear masks, can eat meals with other vaccinated players, and have no limitations in the weight room.

Thirteen teams have apparently reached the 85% threshold; for them, camp will look much like it did pre-pandemic. The Cowboys are not one of those teams.

It is not known exactly how many Cowboys players are vaccinated, but the team has reportedly not reached the 85% target. Worse yet, it appears they’re not even close, with players and coaches assembling in Oxnard on Tuesday.

Like last season, a positive COVID-19 test will result in the player missing at least two games. Irvin knows that could easily be the difference between a postseason berth and missing out on the playoffs yet again.

“If I’m on a team in this situation, I’m going to make sure to ask, ‘You get vaccinated? You get vaccinated?’,” Irvin said. “Somebody in that damn locker room needs to say, ‘Hey man, we’re going to have a chance. Are you vaccinated? Let’s go through this, because this could be two weeks [with] a healthy dude missing games. And in this league, this ain’t the NBA. In this league, that could be it for you. The right person misses two weeks, that’s it. Your [expletive] is out. I’ll fight a [expletive].”

Irvin famously fought with his own teammates over some truly trivial matters. For a Cowboys team seemingly on the cusp of elite status, this fight seems like one worth taking up for someone in the 2021 locker room.

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Chris Ballard: More Colts players have been getting vaccinated

More players seem to be getting vaccinated ahead of the 2021 season.

The Indianapolis Colts were among the teams with low vaccination rates in the NFL when a report came out during June, but it seems they may have increased their numbers a bit in recent weeks.

Potentially due to the protocols the NFL has put in place for vaccinated and unvaccinated, general manager Chris Ballard told Bob Kravitz of The Athletic that they have had more players get vaccinated in the last two weeks.

“We know where we are (in terms of vaccination numbers), but we’ve had more guys get vaccinated in the last two weeks; I don’t know the exact numbers,” said Ballard. “But like anything else, it’s something we’ve got to deal with. We did it last year.”

Neither the NFL or the Colts have mandated the vaccine, leaving the decision up to the players to weigh the pros and cons of getting it. Though they have a low rate relative to other teams, having leaders like DeForest Buckner vaccinated may help convince others to follow suit.

While the Colts aren’t mandating the vaccine, they are encouraging it. They’ve seen what can happen when a key player misses a game due to COVID-19, but they are still leaving the decision up to the players.

“Now, do I think our guys should be vaccinating? Yes, absolutely. But we’re not going to force people. Encourage it? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it’s the right thing to do for our club and our country, but it’s an individual decision to make,” Ballard said. “You talk about hesitancy, well, it’s not like our country is running out to get it, either, so it’s not just the NFL.”

It will be interesting to see what the numbers look like (if they even get released) by the time the season rolls around but if the numbers continue to be lower, this could be a storyline to watch throughout the season.

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Raiders not among teams to reach 85% vaccination threshold

Raiders not among teams to reach 85% vaccination threshold

On Wednesday, the NFL and NFLPA put out the details as far as the guidelines for players who choose to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and those who choose not to get it.

It’s clear the league is taking this seriously and the players and staff know that doing their part to keep from spreading the disease comes with the benefit of a return to normalcy. They aren’t forcing anyone to do this. But life is a lot easier for those who choose wisely.

“I’m not at liberty to give any statistics on our vaccination numbers,” Gruden said Wednesday. “I can speak for myself and our coaches, we’ve all had our vaccinations. I think our players have bought in. I think we’re as good as anybody in the league or better.”

It’s great that all the coaches on the team are in solidarity on being vaccinated and thus setting the example for the players.

In addition to the individual player’s benefits for getting vaccinated, the league has offered up easing restrictions for the team as a whole should they reach the threshold of 85% of player vaccinations. Despite Gruden’s feeling that the Raiders are better in that regard than most of the league, they have not yet reached that 85% threshold while two other teams have.

Ian Rapoport added to Breer’s report that the Broncos are close to hitting the threshold as well. But no mention of the Raiders.

That’s a statistic Gruden hopes to change.

“We hope to have every man vaccinated and most importantly, every man as safe as possible when the season starts,” Gruden added.

Not most of the players, not 85% of them; all of them. Good message, coach.

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Report: Dolphins players surpass 85% threshold for COVID vaccinations

Report: Dolphins players surpass 85% threshold for COVID vaccinations

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has been steadfast on revealing the dynamics of his team and their personal decisions regarding getting vaccinated for COVID-19. As the NFL braces for their second season since the arrival of the global pandemic, new protocols and procedures have been put in place to account for the discrepancies on each team’s individual roster — which are going to have various amounts of vaccination levels as players make a choice for themselves.

The league is not mandating players be vaccinated but make no mistake — life will be a lot more routine for players who have received the vaccination as compared to those who aren’t.

And while Flores has been unwilling to discuss the personal choices of his players, a good practice for player relations, a new report has arisen giving some context to where the Dolphins stand versus the rest of the NFL. According to a new report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Dolphins are one of just two teams across the NFL to have surpassed the 85% threshold of vaccinations among players.

According to Breer, there is an outside chance that the decisions of the vast majority of the Dolphins’ players could end up reaping benefits for all players, even those who have not been vaccinated. Breer suggests that the NFL and the NFLPA have discussed relaxing protocols and procedures for entire teams who surpass that threshold.

The Dolphins have been among the teams at the forefront of the NFL’s handling of COVID-19 in general — the team was among the first to put in COVID-19 policies for game day events at Hard Rock Stadium and has used their grounds to help the community push forward with testing for the virus. And now it seems as though Miami’s head-on approach to meeting the pandemic has positioned the players themselves to feel comfortable with embracing the virus in a bid to return to normalcy.