Ricardo Allen didn’t budge when Georgia was one of the first states to open businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Atlanta Falcons safety believes it is smart to stay home. He says he worries about the time when teams across the league open for practice.
Restaurants, barber shops and other businesses were cleared by Gov. Brian Kemp in late April to open their doors. Allen believes the smart move is to stay home.
The NFL has set protocols for reopening team facilities and has made a 2020 season seem more real by releasing schedules this week. All of which makes Allen uneasy.
“This is nerve-racking,” he said this week. “This is different. This is something that us as players and us as human beings, we’ve never had to think about before.”
The NFL has not announced dates for when players can return to team facilities.
Allen sees daily reminders of lives lost to COVID-19 as he adheres to his quarantine. He knows the virus can kill anyone, even professional athletes.
“It’s tough to look at the news sometimes and see all the cases and all the trauma and the deaths that are going on in this world, and we know that we’re not like immune to it,” Allen said. “We know no one is immune to it.”
That’s why Allen stays home. He says most of his teammates have taken the same safety-first stance “as much as possible.”
“Everybody is still trying to find ways to be creative and still work out, but really that’s all I’ve seen my teammates do,” he said. “I haven’t seen many people leave the house other than to just go to a private workout.”
Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews’ private workouts at his home near Houston have included time spent with his father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews. Jake Matthews said last month his father puts him through “some old-school gasser conditioning run workout,” and it’s not easy.
RAMS: The Los Angeles Rams finally have a date and an opponent for the long-awaited opening of SoFi Stadium, the multibillion-dollar reason for their return to California over four years ago.
The Rams still don’t know for sure whether they’ll actually be able to have their big Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13. Even if it happens, they don’t know whether there will be fans in the stands of their palatial new home for its first football game.
The coronavirus pandemic is occurring during a historic year for this NFL franchise. The unprecedented circumstances are dismaying to Coach Sean McVay, but he hasn’t given up hope of a proper homecoming for the Rams.
When asked Friday on a video conference call about the likelihood of opening SoFi Stadium in four months without fans, McVay said: “We certainly hope that that’s not the case.”
“But we’re not going to speculate on any of that,” he added. “It’s still so far away. I mean, think about how much has taken place even (in the last) two months that we’ve been in these quarantine positions, I think we’ll just let it play itself out. It’s still going to be a football game, and we’re hopeful that it’ll be as normal as possible, but obviously the health and safety of everybody is the first and foremost consideration.”
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