Sam Darnold thinks Jets are up for challenge of avoiding COVID-19
Jets QB Sam Darnold (14) and RB Le'Veon Bell (26). Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
The advice from Le’Veon Bell to Sam Darnold was tongue-in-cheek … well, mostly.
When asked the other day if he had any words of wisdom for the Jets’ third-year quarterback, Bell said Darnold needs to stay healthy, adding, “I told him no bars.”
Bell was joking about the time late last season when Darnold went out to celebrate after a 34-3 win over the Bills, a rare time when Darnold indulged into some postgame celebration that made the gossip columns and a few entertainment websites. But there was a seriousness to Bell’s comments, because this really is no time to hit the bars for NFL players. With the league attempting the difficult task of carrying on amidst the coronavirus, off-field behavior is just as important as what happens in practice and games.
“It’s great advice,” Darnold said Tuesday when asked about Bell’s comments. “He’s always got words of wisdom. It’s good to hear that from a vet.”
Darnold is already well aware of how critical it is that players protect themselves from getting the virus, especially when they leave the highly controlled confines of their training facility. The quarterback had already made a point of saying life would be quite dull away from the field, that he’d basically spend his time shuttling back and forth between home and practice.
But Darnold isn’t the only one heeding the league’s persistent message of being careful. A month into training camp, and there are already encouraging signs that the league can legitimately think about pulling this off. That they can potentially stage their regular season as the deadliest pandemic in a century continues to ravage the United States and other parts of the world.
The Jets and several other teams got a scare over the weekend with the news of 77 positive COVID-19 tests on Saturday, forcing the cancellation or postponement of practice activities. The good news: All the tests were false positives, the result of contamination in the New Jersey-based laboratory in which they were conducted.
The more encouraging news: According to figures released by the league, there were zero positive tests among the 23,260 administered to players from Aug. 12-20. Of the 35,137 tests admitted to NFL personnel, there were six new confirmed positives. That is an exceptionally low rate of positivity, and the fact that no new cases among the players were detected shows that the painstaking work done by the league and the NFL Players Association to develop protocols has been largely successful so far.
No one should celebrate just yet, however, because there is still much work to be done – and perhaps some good luck involved, too – for the regular season and playoffs to proceed on schedule. But the fact that there have been many areas around the country that experienced a surge of positive cases in recent weeks shows that the efforts from NFL coaches, players and staff members have already created positive results.
“No one really knows much about the virus and how it can spread,” Darnold said. “I wasn’t sure about how serious it would be with the long-term effects of anything, so being able to hear that (low positive test numbers) and see how serious guys are taking it, that part doesn’t really surprise me.”
Darnold said it points to the commitment players have had in getting the sport going after the entire off-season was lost due to the pandemic. Training camps opened late last month, and all preseason games were canceled to give the players the best chance to ramp up for the regular season. And while it’s still too soon to pronounce the coronavirus protocols a permanent success, the fact that things are off to such a promising start is certainly heartening.
“We all wanted to come back and play football,” Darnold said. “That part’s awesome. Around the league, it’s about the guys just seeing it throughout the entire season, so I think that’s going to be a challenge. I think we’re up for it.”
That means Darnold and others, including Bell himself, will need to continue to stay away from situations outside the team facilities that might put them at risk. While the league has created 32 mini-bubbles with their respective workout facilities, the players will live outside those bubbles on their off time. Social distancing and mask wearing will be prerequisites to their off-field behavior.
Success will come “if we can stay disciplined in terms of doing things outside the building, outside of where we live and to be able to continue to have negative tests,” according to Darnold.
A month into the most challenging training camp in the century-long history of the NFL – so far, so good.
Here’s hoping it stays that way in the weeks and months ahead.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
