No team wants the fiasco that happened in Tennessee to happen to them. If anything, it was a wake-up call to the 31 other clubs exactly what can transpire if protocols and guidelines aren’t strictly adhered to.
The NFL and NFLPA are in the process of investigating the Titans’ handling of COVID-19 protocols. Until what went wrong is revealed, it’s all speculation, but the Steelers are working to make sure whatever it was, it doesn’t happen in Pittsburgh.
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“With this situation, the way the world is now, me personally, I only go from practice to home and the grocery store if need be,” linebacker Bud Dupree told the media on Monday. “Other than that, it’s kind of like just stay home. Don’t try to do extra like we normally do during the season. Just think about the team first.”
As for what Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson is doing to keep safe, he told the media that it’s nothing different than what he’s always done. “I am a family guy, so I just go and be with my family,” Nelson shared with the media on Monday. “I think that is the easiest way to stay away from everybody and isolate yourself.”
Because of daily COVID testing, players couldn’t get away from work for a break as they would during a traditional season.
“There is nothing you can really do,” said Nelson. “Before guys might have gone home to their offseason homes. There is no need to travel or anything. You just show up, take your COVID test, and go back home.”
But no complaints are coming from Pittsburgh about what players have to go through in an effort to complete the 2020 season.
They fully understood in the preseason what to expect going forward, and there would be procedures to be followed.
“We embrace it,” said Nelson. “We knew coming into the season there were going to be a lot of ups and downs and unexpected things. We embrace those things, and we take them on as we come and prepare as such.”
The way the Steelers see it, as do most other teams, if you keep yourself out of situations that could cause the virus to spread, you’ll be less likely to catch it.
Team first. It’s as simple as that.
And it could save the season.
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