Three days ago, the large majority of NFL teams took the field as usual to partake in Week 14 action. And three days after that, the league has uncovered 65 new positive COVID tests, with multiple teams operating in enhanced protocols due to overwhelming breakouts.
The Browns are one of those teams, with a number of people testing positive including Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, John Johnson III and head coach Kevin Stefanski. Joining them are the Bears, Lions, Rams, Vikings, Washington Football Team and, as Arthur Blank is now aware, his Atlanta Falcons.
At quarterly ownership meetings held in Dallas, Blank addressed the current situation and gave a pretty grave summary of the events at play.
"At some point, you feel like you are fighting a ghost," Blank said, via NFL.com's Judy Battista. "You don't know where to swing."
New York Giants owner John Mara seemed similarly concerned — and out of ideas — in his overarching view of the current scene: "It seems like it's never going away." With that said, Battista stressed that the owners and the league are doing everything they can to avoid delaying the Raiders-Browns game, currently set for Saturday afternoon.
An NFL spokesman reiterated that idea, while the Browns continue to prepare as if some of their key figures, including the triple-vaccinated Stefanski, will be available come gameday.
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