John Harbaugh Calls NFL’s COVID-19 Guidelines “Humanly Impossible”

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5 years ago

Not news NFL fans, or really anybody for that matter, wants to hear regarding the NFL’s COVID-19 guidelines. With coronavirus worries picking up steam again, all of us sports fans are trying to be optimistic that the NFL will proceed without incident. However, the reality is that the virus is still here and likely won’t go anywhere until a vaccine is developed. The feasibility of being able to play a full season of NFL could very well rely on the effectiveness of the NFL’s COVID-19 plans to keep the players and other employees of the NFL safe.

So when you hear the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, John Harbaugh, say that the NFL’s COVID-19 guidelines are “humanly impossible,” that should raise some concern.

Strong comments fr @Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on @1057TheFan. Says he’s frustrated w #NFL memos on how practices & procedures will be when teams reconvene amid Covid-19, calling the rules “humanly impossible.”
This should be interesting 🏈 @IA1057TheFan @wjz

— Mark Viviano (@MarkWJZ) June 11, 2020

That’s Mark Viviano of WJZ-TV Channel 13 Baltimore. Harbaugh added,

“This is a communication sport… The NFL & PA need to get a handle on it & some common sense… The way I’m reading these memos, you just throw your hands up & go ‘what the heck.'”

Look, football needs to fucking happen, OK? If anything, it needs to happen for our own sanity because I’m tired of CS:GO DFS lineups and I’ve watched more NASCAR in the past month than I have in my entire life combined. So the NFL needs to get this right. Got it, Goodell?

The NBA seems like they have a solid plan in place of quarantining in a bubble in Orlando … I’m not reading the entire memo the NFL sent out regarding the COVID-19 guidelines, but here are some of the highlights:

a. Clubs must establish physical distancing protocols to allow players and/or staff to maintain six fee of distance from one another when inside the facility.

b. Clubs are required to promote physical distancing by rearranging or removing furniture and/or using distance marker to assure spacing (e.g., workstations, meeting rooms), modifying the use of common areas, displaying signs that discourage hand shaking or other contact, and using cones or tape to establish a one-way traffic in hallways and common corridors where possible.

c. Clubs must reconfigure locker rooms to permit six feet of space between each player (by using every other locker or adding additional lockers) where possible. Each player must have individual space designated to store his belongings, without commingling, if locker space is unavailable.

d. Strength and conditioning workouts must be limited to small groups (no more than 15) of scheduled players to allow for physical distancing. The athletic training staff must require individual, staggered player appointments instead of setting a single time for large groups to arrive. Clubs must stagger other player appointments, meetings and workouts at the facility in order to permit physical distancing.

e. Meetings must be conducted virtually to the extent possible. If in-person meetings are necessary, Clubs must make efforts to hold in-person meetings outdoors with participants sitting apart from one another and wearing masks. In-person meetings that do not permit physical distancing are prohibited. Meetings with more than twenty individuals must be conducted virtually, unless physical distancing practices can be adhered to. Communal use of materials, devices, or supplies during meetings ins prohibited. Any administrative, playbook, and advanced work should be conducted on a personal electronic device.

These are just five of the many bullet points and my head already hurts. Yeah, I agree with Harbaugh. This isn’t happening.

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