DENVER — The Detroit Lions had a widespread COVID outbreak last week, with seven positive cases on their 53-man roster and practice squad.
But Lions coach Dan Campbell said he believes the organization has gone “above and beyond” in its measures to prevent the spread of a virus that left the Lions without several key players in Sunday’s 38-10 loss to the Denver Broncos.
“I’d like to think that,” Campbell said. “I mean, hell, we split the building and some of them came in to lift on Tuesday, we didn’t even have the whole team there. And then Wednesday, we (did not have a full practice), so I felt like we had already gone above and beyond. That was for the flu, much less COVID. So, yeah, I feel like we’re doing all we can do with what it is. I don’t know what else to do.”
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The Lions placed six players on the reserve/COVID list in a six-day span last week, starting with center Evan Brown on Monday.
Cornerback Bobby Price tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The Lions added safety Tracy Walker and running back Jamaal Williams to reserve/COVID on Friday. And cornerbacks Ifeatu Melifonwu and Mark Gilbert tested positive for the virus before leaving for Denver on Saturday.
The Lions also placed linebacker Tavante Beckett on practice squad reserve/COVID on Saturday.
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NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said by email Saturday the league has no plans to investigate the Lions’ COVID spread “beyond the standard genomic sequencing” it does to determine where cases originate.
Campbell said, “I don’t know who patient zero is,” when asked about the spread Sunday, and he noted the Lions altered their work schedule after Brown’s positive test and amid a flu outbreak.
The Lions had split-squad workouts and meetings Wednesday, when offensive players reported to Allen Park in the morning and defensive players were at the facility in the afternoon. On Thursday, the Lions sent all offensive and defensive linemen but backup center Evan McCollum home before holding a 7-on-7 practice for offensive skill players, linebackers and defensive backs.
Quarterback Jared Goff insisted the altered practice schedule was not a factor in the Lions’ poor performance Sunday, when they committed two second half turnovers and could not stop a Denver offense that ran for 184 yards.
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“I don’t think we were affected in practice nearly as much as you guys may think,” he said. “It was really fairly standard outside of Wednesday.”
Campbell said the Lions were not planning any additional precautions on their flight home from Denver.
“Certainly the good thing is we all tested negative on the flight (to Denver),” he said. “The same group that played today, we were all negative and so hopefully it stays that way. But we’ll be safe and tomorrow we’ll just probably bring in the guys that are injured and that need to be in there and everybody else, I would imagine we’ll probably keep them home. And then certainly we’ll hear from the league, see what they say. They might not let anybody in the building, which, that’s, I get it.”
Missing man formation
The Broncos paid tribute to former receiver Demaryius Thomas on their first offensive play Sunday, when they sent 10 men on the field and took an intentional delay-of-game penalty.
The Lions declined the penalty.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Patrick Smyth, the team’s chief communications officer, came up with the idea to open in a missing man formation, and he ran the idea by Campbell on Saturday.
“He agreed to not accept the penalty, which was a classy move on his part and the Detroit Lions,” Fangio said. “They are a classy organization. And John Hussey, the referee, was in on it, he knew about it.”
Thomas played parts of nine seasons with the Broncos, where he caught 665 passes for 9,055 yards and 60 touchdowns. He died this week at age 33.
“That was for him,” Campbell said. “That was for DT. That’s who I did that for.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.