Whether the NFL season grinds to a halt over positive coronavirus tests or not is to be determined.
One thing’s for sure — the Raiders, fair or not, are becoming poster children for violating coronavirus protocol.
A fundraiser Monday night on behalf of the Darren Waller Foundation was the Raiders’ third and the most serious known breach of policy in that it took risk outside the cocoon of their own facility and those of NFL stadiums.
Quarterback Derek Carr, who was there, said videos from the event represented only “a few moments, a few minutes” of a night that included signing waivers, hand-sanitizer and the proper precautions. He explained that Raiders players only wanted guests to see their faces when introduced.
This wasn’t a handful of Raiders with half a buzz on hitting the Las Vegas strip. It was some of their core leaders — Waller, Carr, tight end Jason Witten, slot receiver Hunter Renfrow and others — doing a good thing, but letting their guard down when they shouldn’t have.
Waller is a recovering addict, and Monday night’s “Beyond the Wall” event was to raise money to “equip youth to avoid and overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol.” Coach Jon Gruden said the event raised $300,000.
But there’s no denying mistakes were made and it isn’t the first slip-up involving the Raiders. Following a Week 2 win over the Saints, ESPN reported the Raiders were being investigated for having a non-credentialed team employee in the locker room. Gruden was one of five coaches hit with fines of $100,000 with their teams fined $250,000 for not wearing protective masks along the sideline.
It makes the Raiders look as if they’re not taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously. Raiders owner Mark Davis, reached by text message Tuesday night, addressed that perception with the following response:
“We continually message precaution when in social situations. The locker room and Darren Waller Foundation incidents were isolated and not condoned nor representative of the overall actions of the majority of the Raider organization. We continue to take the virus very seriously.”
Gruden, who said following the Saints game he had the coronavirus in mid-July, pushed back hard on the perception Wednesday in his video call with reporters.
“We’ve done an excellent job taking proper care of each other. I’m really proud of everybody,” Gruden said. “They may have let their (guard) down a little bit by taking their mask off during the event. But it’s been addressed.”
Carr said he hasn’t even ventured into public with his wife.
“I haven’t taken her out to eat all season,” Carr said. “There’s a lot of kids running around my house. I think she’s ready for a date.”
But the first two transgressions were minor in comparison to what occurred at the Dragon Ridge Country Club in Henderson, Nev., and it happened amid the backdrop of a COVID-19 outbreak that postponed Sunday’s game in Nashville between the Titans and Steelers. It’s the first in-season coronavirus crisis for the NFL.
Having an unauthorized club employee in the locker room was regrettable, but at least the employee stepped into a controlled environment. The Raiders are doing all the appropriate testing: Media members, who don’t get near the players or coaches, are getting daily tests.
Same goes for the mask fines. Outsiders aren’t included in the traveling party for road games and players are confined to their rooms. The stadiums they’ve seen through three games haven’t included fans. One of the reasons Davis shut out fans for the season at Allegiant Stadium was the fear of people flying in for the game carrying the virus.
This isn’t the real world. If testing and caution throughout the country was as good as it’s been in the NFL, coronavirus would have ceased to be such a massive problem a long time ago.
Maybe Raiders players attending Waller’s event simply got lazy and overconfident, given their own privileged existence when it comes to being protected from the virus.
Whatever the reason, the players went without masks for an undetermined amount of time in an environment that was in direct violation of NFL guidelines as set on Aug. 3 and agreed upon by the players union. And it was on video for the world to see.
They could face fines and suspensions from the club. Not likely, given Gruden’s defense of his players. The NFL’s involvement — a spokesman said they’re looking in to it — is murky at best since the Aug. 3 memo put discipline in the hands of the teams.
The bottom line is Raiders players ventured in to the public at a facility that has already been fined for violating Nevada restrictions. If, as Carr said, it was only a few minutes that happened to be caught on tape, then maybe nobody got infected and everybody is fine. But controlling what you can control is one of the longest standing cliches in the NFL, and for a period of time Raiders players gave up control.
It’s surprising the Raiders weren’t on top of this from an organizational standpoint. Surely they knew about Waller’s event. There wasn’t anyone to do some advance work and make sure everything was copacetic?
There are instances found in social and mainstream media every day of people who have made masks into some sort of political statement, believing it is their right to put themselves as well as others at risk. Professional sports, for the most part, has been a beacon of common sense, albeit a privileged one.
These well-intentioned Raiders took a risk, even if it was brief. Hopefully the consequences won’t go beyond embarrassment for bad judgement.
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