The growing coronavirus outbreak among Tennessee Titans players pushed the NFL to cancel this weekend’s scheduled game between the Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers, opting to reschedule the game for a later, unspecified date, ESPN reports.
With one additional player and one additional staffer testing positive, the total number of Titans personnel now stands at eleven, five players and six staff.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said some of the players who were infected showed “flu-like symptoms.” The other players were preparing for the game, while the infected players were placed in quarantine.
“They wanted to play; they were preparing to play. But I think that they understood and realized why the decision was made,” Vrabel said. “I think that they’ll handle this like they do everything else; they’ll handle it with professionalism, with understanding and a compassion towards not only ourselves and those people that have been affected, but also Pittsburgh, the Steelers — they were preparing for a game and now will have their schedule changed as well.”
The Titans opponent last Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings, have not had any players or staff test positive.
It’s rare, but not unheard of, for the NFL to cancel a game to be rescheduled at a later date. Typically, however, it has to do with weather issues, such as lightning or hurricanes. The league rescheduled all scheduled games the week after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, adding those games to another week at the end of the schedule.