It’s been awhile since the Cowboys have taken the field for a postseason game. Rather than dwell on what went wrong for those three, long years and explore the depths of your emotional frustration, here’s a quick quiz designed to look ahead to this weekend and beyond:
Question: Which of these teams will hang around the longest in the playoffs.
A.) Dallas Cowboys
B.) Cincinnati Bengals
C.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
D.) Team Omicron
Omicron may not be the most feared opponent in this postseason, but it’s the most opportunistic. The virus introduces a random element to the proceedings that can tilt the competitive balance from one game to the next.
The NFL walks a fine line here. It must be responsible in its protocols but not Draconian. It must isolate those who test positive while acknowledging this variant is more contagious but less severe than those that preceded it.
All of this takes place in a sport where playing hurt is more of an expectation than a badge of honor. An element of don’t ask, don’t tell is at work now that vaccinated players are no longer subjected to weekly tests.
Obvious cases will be flagged. If a player’s symptoms are pronounced enough that it keeps him out of practice one day, he will be tested. If he tests positive, the five-day protocol begins.
But let’s say quarterback Dak Prescott has a runny nose and no other symptoms the night before the Cowboys face San Francisco this weekend. Will he submit himself for a test?
Should he?
If Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald loses his sense of smell at breakfast Monday morning before his team plays Arizona later that night, will he go to the training staff and ask for a test?
We all know the answer to these hypotheticals.
Rail about hypocrisy if you want, but with so much at stake, is it reasonable to ask any player to go out of his way to be tested? Would you?
Athletes often play in games with a cold or the flu. If their symptoms are comparable — and remember, there have been no documented cases of the virus being transmitted through an NFL game — is it proportional to take them off the field for 10 days as was the case earlier this season?
When Washington placed 23 players on the COVID-19 list in Week 15, Anthony Casolaro, the team’s chief medical officer, told reporters only two of the players had symptoms that would have led them to be held out of practice. Yet they couldn’t work their way through protocol in time to take part in the game.
Three games were postponed that week due to outbreaks with Washington, Cleveland and the LA Rams. A few days later the league updated its protocols not to test vaccinated players on a weekly basis going forward.
On Dec. 28, the league updated its protocols again. Those procedures remain in place as the postseason begins. A quick primer:
- While weekly testing has ceased for all fully vaccinated players and staff, a few random tests will be administered on a weekly basis. Any player, vaccinated or not, who has had COVID-19 will be placed in a 90-day window where no further tests are required.
- Masks are required to be worn indoors at the club’s practice facility at all times. Masks are required to be worn at all times in the weight room with no more than 15 players in the room at any one time.
- Players and staff are not allowed to eat together. All tables in the dining hall must be arranged at least 10 feet apart with no more than one person at any table.
- A voluntary program is in place for the postseason that allows players to move into a hotel — at the club’s expense — as long as the team is part of the playoff field. A number of Cowboys have already moved into the hotel adjacent to the club’s Frisco practice facility.
- Teams normally charter a flight for road games. The NFL will reimburse the organization for a second plane in the interest of creating a safer environment for the traveling party if the club chooses that option.
Interesting sidelight: On their charter flights this season, the Cowboys not only put more distance between the seats, they broke up the configuration and didn’t allow players to sit in position groups. That way if a player tested positive it was less likely to spread through one position.
Once visiting teams arrive at the hotel for road games, they are not allowed to leave to go out to eat or visit family and friends.
There are more specifics — many more — but this gives you a pretty good idea of what’s in place.
When the league stopped testing its players weekly when positive tests were going up around the country, when it was clearly looking for a way to get to the finish line and start the playoffs, it was easy to make jokes at the NFL’s expense.
Little known fact: The league also changed its protocol in Week 16 of the Bubonic Plague to let players have pet rats.
That’s not entirely fair. The league is dealing with a different variant than it was to start the season. More information is available. What made scientific sense then doesn’t necessarily make sense now.
None of this is meant to diminish the severity of omicron or argue against continued vigilance in this fight. This is about adopting a flexible response that is responsible and respects the competitive ideal of fairness. That’s what the league, with guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has done.
Let the playoffs begin.
Catch David Moore and Robert Wilonsky as they co-host Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) every Wednesday night from 7-8 p.m. through the Super Bowl.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
