CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Browns ’Covid-19 plight continues on Sunday as they prepare to face the Steelers, but they found more players than they lost when the spinning door closed on Thursday.
Two more players tested positive on linebacker McCullum Smith and tight end Harrison Bryant on Thursday, meaning both will have to sit out of the game.
Bryant had already been placed on the Covid-19 reserve list as a close contact with someone outside the building who tested positive.
They are linebacker B.J. Goodson and Safety will join Andrew Sandejo, who also tested positive and will be out of the game.
Who has scored for a total of 10 players from the regular roster reserve list – four positive and six close contacts – but five close contacts, including early receivers Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins, were active from the reserve list today and will be on the field for practice. Other receivers were Donovan Peoples-Jones and Khadrel Hodge and linebacker Jacob Phillips.
The Browns also have two players on the practice squad who are positive at center Javan Patterson and safety Elijah Benton, and an unnamed assistant coach – no one is the coordinator.
Smith’s loss is huge, as Brown is already without linebacker Goodson, who tested positive on Saturday and also missed the Jets’ game.
Two other linebackers suffered ankle injuries in that game and were limited to Wednesday: Tai Davis and Sion Takitaki. But Stephensky both went well in short practice on Wednesday.
Their facility was shut down the next day on Thursday when they conducted contact tracing and kept fingers crossed that no one else would be added to the list. Once that is done, they hope to practice later in the afternoon for Sunday’s big “win-in” game, against the Steelers at FirstNergy Stadium, just like Wednesday.
The offensive coordinator admitted that losing to the Jets was difficult for the six players who went on the reserve list on Saturday, especially Jarvis Landry, who missed his career game straight after 110.
“I’m sure it killed him,” Van Pelt said. “It was a real pleasure to have him back in the building.”
Baker Mayfield acknowledged that the issue of COVID was difficult.
“These days can be very boring – the schedule changes and you don’t know exactly when to come and when to come to practice and workouts, so you just have to stay by your phone, as they tell us, and only Beware of it, “quarterback Baker Mayfield said Wednesday. “There is nothing we can do about it so there is no reason to complain. You roll with the punch and have to deal with it. We are not just about dealing with compromises. ”
In a conference call on Wednesday, NFL Chief Medical Officer Fischer Dr. Alan Seals said the game was “not in danger” of being postponed, as there was no evidence of a transition to the facility. Seals said the league will continue to monitor the situation.
In addition to the batch of players coming out of the reserve list, the other good news for the Browns today is that the Steelers will give their star players more rest for Sunday’s game.
Gary Dulek of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that pro bowlers TJ Watt, Cam Hayward and Morkis Paunsi will be out of the game in addition to quarterback Ben Rothlisberger, who has been leading 23-2-1 against Brown since 2004.
Watt leads the NFL with 15 sacks and is the leading candidate for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, and Hayward led the Stutters with eight tackles in his first meeting with the Browns, a 38-7 victory for the Steelers.
Dulek reports that Cornwack will only play veteran players like Had Hayden and guard David DeCastro, but on a limited basis.
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