It's Tuesday, and I've got Takes ...
• Vance McDonald's locker stall in the Steelers' South Side practice facility is right next to Ben Roethlisberger's.
There. Got everyone's attention now?
Good, because it really is. Has been for years.
And now that McDonald's tested positive for coronavirus, as the team announced Monday, feel free to add that mental snapshot to the list of potential ramifications that could run far beyond McDonald's own status. Because that's how these things tend to play out in a pandemic. It's seldom just one being affected. When an unidentified team staffer tested positive this past Saturday, it seemed a matter of time before we'd hear the next name ... and maybe the next ... and maybe the next.
(UPDATE 9:56 a.m.: Ummmmmm ... I guess this is what it looks like when morning columns come to life later in the morning, but Roethlisberger, Vince Williams, Jaylen Samuels and Jerald Hawkins just joined McDonald on the COVID list, though none of the four has tested positive. So let's take this approach: In the interest of preserving this original piece, I'll leave it untouched other than to add parenthetical paragraphs like this along the way, OK?)
I'll say this first: Here's wishing the best for McDonald and the staffer.
I'll say this second: What in the hell was McDonald doing on that football field Sunday in Arlington, Texas?
This past Friday, he was held out of practice due to what the Steelers simply described as "illness." The next day, the same one on which the staffer's test was announced, McDonald joined his teammates for the charter flight to Dallas. And on Sunday, he was out there in the game, logging 26 snaps in the 24-19 victory over the Cowboys.
We might know more about what went down today at noon with Mike Tomlin's weekly press conference, and I'm certainly looking forward to hearing it. For now, it's obvious that McDonald would've tested negative at some point over the weekend and, thus, would've been cleared to travel and play. I'm fully expecting to hear that, given that the team's announcement Monday afternoon stated they had no word of a positive test until Monday morning after flying back to Pittsburgh.
(UPDATE 12:15 p.m.: Yep, that's basically what we just heard from Tomlin. Asked why McDonald was allowed to fly to Dallas, Tomlin responded that the Steelers were simply following protocol established by the NFL: "It's all in the procedural policy of COVID: As long as he is negative and not showing signs of COVID, he can travel. We don't over-analyze it in any way.")
That'll get the Steelers off the hook. Technically.
See, the NFL's protocols don't currently stipulate that a player who's sick -- or who shows other COVID-type symptoms -- has to produce more than one negative test before returning to the fold. Which is reckless and really hard to explain from the league perspective, since players take rapid tests all through the week, then their only full test on Sunday mornings.
Did you know that?
I hadn't until this occurred, and I find it nuts. COVID tests are far from perfect. And the faster the results, generally speaking, the less perfect they are. So having the most reliable test performed Sunday morning, then returning those results to the teams Monday morning -- after the game's been played -- is so dumb it defies belief.
Happened to the Ravens, too. Marlon Humphrey, their All-Pro corner, was held out of practice for an illness the week before facing the Steelers, he tested negative, was right back at practice, went out and played the game on that Sunday ... and got his positive test result Monday morning.
I ripped the league when that happened, just as I ripped the Ravens, so you'd better believe I'll rip the league and the Steelers on this one.
At some point, someone on the Pittsburgh side could've smartly pointed out the similarities between Humphrey's illness and initial negative test, then applied some extra care McDonald's case. And this is doubly true since, because of Humphrey, the Steelers themselves had to spend the entire past week under a league-mandated heightened state of caution through their facility.
What were they thinking?
Seriously, can't wait to hear this.
(UPDATE 12:21 p.m.: Whatever. It wasn't that interesting.)
• What comes next for the Steelers?
That's to be determined by further testing and contact tracing, but know that McDonald must quarantine for 10 days for having the positive test, and know further that the Ravens were forced to place seven additional players on the COVID list once contact tracing identified them as "high-risk exposures," per league guidelines. It wasn't until Saturday of that week that players could come off that list, and even then it was only six.
This is not over.
(UPDATE 12:22 p.m.: No, it most assuredly is not.)
• Nor is it over in Arlington, where the Cowboys now have to spend their coming week under the same heightened state of caution at their facility. Mike McCarthy confirmed as much to Dallas reporters Monday, saying his team will conduct all meetings virtually and will now skip the Wednesday practice entirely.
Think he'd have appreciated the Steelers showing some appropriate caution with McDonald?
• Funny, but the Steelers were maybe the most vocal critics in the NFL when the Titans had the league's biggest outbreak, and McDonald and Roethlisberger were right at the forefront of it.
"I spent the weekend being angry," McDonald said at the time of the Steelers losing their bye week. "I spent the weekend being angry that I had to drive in from my farm to get tested. It is what it is. ... Let’s have respect and honor for everyone and just follow the rules. That, to me, is the only way you’re going to have fair play. As soon as that's compromised, you’re going to have a team that gets the short stick. I feel, in my opinion, we were that team."
Ouch.
• Worth noting: The NFL has yet to record a single case of coronavirus being transmitted on the field among participants.
• Anyway, the Steelers are 8-0. All the warm and fuzzies. I think.
• Also, the Steelers' other tight end has been quite a find.
Eric Ebron's 29 catches rank 11th in the NFL at his position, which is pretty good, and he's amassed 285 yards, three touchdowns and 15 third downs, also pretty good. But what's stood out the most, at least from this perspective, is that he brings some serious swagger to games at vital stages.
Like this:
That play wasn't even designed to score, as Ben and Ebron both acknowledged. It was a second-and-5 with a realistic outcome of taking advantage of a softer underneath route. But when the Cowboys' Anthony Brown came low, Ebron went high with all 6 feet 4, 253 pounds of that frame for the winning touchdown.
Then laughed. As ever.
"I'm just a playmaker, man! Honestly!" he beamed when it was broached afterward. "It's just what I do. When push comes to shove and we need a play, I'm always available and I'm always gonna try to deliver. That's my job. That's what I came here for."
And the hurdle?
"That's just extra!"
It's good to have someone like that on your side. Any sport. Any level of sports.
• Is there a new nose tackle yet?
Henry Mondeaux, promoted from the practice squad, and Isaiah Buggs have shared the job of trying to replace injured Tyson Alualu, and it hasn't exactly gone well, judging by the 409 rushing yards opponents have amassed the past two weeks.
Mondeaux had this to say Monday about that: "It's a big challenge when a guy like Tyson goes down. He's such a good player, especially at stopping the run. I think me and Buggs and Carlos Davis this past game have stepped in and helped out as much as we can. We played two great running opponents, and it's always a challenge when you have the Cowboys' offensive line and Ezekiel Elliott, and the Ravens and Lamar Jackson and all their options."
He paused a moment.
"I think we're doing our best."
I'm sure they are.
Is there a new nose tackle yet?
• Wording this respectfully: David DeCastro's playing through a knee issue that's lingered from the opening of training camp and, a couple weeks into the season, he was knocked flat again by an abdominal issue. It's hardly inconceivable that he's not close to 100 percent.
I won't be the one to say Kevin Dotson should play more and maybe give DeCastro a chance to mend ... but I will say that the Steelers' best rushing performances this season have come when going through Dotson and Chuks Okorafor on the right side. The kids seem to love sledding downhill.
• Roethlisberger's targeted JuJu Smith-Schuster 57 times this season. JuJu hasn't been charged with a single drop while also making 45 catches for an exceptional 78.9% completion rate.
Who's ready to pay up?
• Tomlin needed to kick a field goal near the end of the game Sunday, a 36-yard chip shot that would've put the Steelers up by eight. It boggles the mind that he didn't, and his answer to my question on that topic -- "I didn't feel good about it" -- because of two earlier blocks ... sorry, that doesn't cut it there. Had that final Dallas drive delivered a dagger, the whole football world would've been abuzz about it.
He's having one of his finest seasons as a head coach, but man, he'll still come through with the occasional head-scratcher.
AP
Two Towel-waving Steelers fans Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
• I never, ever tire of experiencing the scope of Steelers Nation in other places, but it's that much neater in Texas. Whether it's Dallas or Houston, the way the Latino population turns out -- my goodness, is Pittsburgh's team ever popular in Mexico -- is something to see. And this crowd of 30,070, with a two-thirds composition of black and gold, was heavily made up that way.
What a franchise. Never take that for granted.
• Maybe let James Conner get going a little before bumping him, huh?
• There's absolutely something to the notion that the Steelers and Ravens knock the snot out of each other one week, then struggle the next.
While the Steelers were slogging by the Cowboys, the Ravens weren't winning any artistic points in working by the Colts, 24-10, in Indianapolis, moving John Harbaugh to observe afterward, "I think they understood how tough that win was and know they feel good about it. They're going to be proud of that one."
Sounds familiar.
• Watched the Sunday game again after flying home, and still came away with the same primary impression: The Cowboys played out of their minds, commensurate with the roster at hand.
Get used to it. There's always a target on the Steelers based on their marquee value, and that's amplified all the more when they've got the NFL's only zero following the hyphen.
"We're the Pittsburgh Steelers," was how Tomlin worded it. "Everybody knows what that means. We get everybody's best punch, regardless of record. I think people respect our brand and they respect our franchise and its history."
Beating the Steelers can undo a lot of damage to the seasons the Bengals and/or Jaguars have endured. Keep it in mind when recalling what had the Cowboys all wound up.
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GETTY
The Patriots congratulate Nick Folk on his late field goal that beat the Jets, 30-27, Monday night in East Rutherford, N.J.
• A Pittsburgh team is 8-0 in the same league that's got a New York team now 0-9 with the fans there openly clamoring for a tank job to get the No. 1 overall pick.
Salary. Cap. Now.
• I thought the Bills weren't for real. But now, I think they're as real as Josh Allen. Which, most weeks, is very real.
But best in the AFC, as some are beginning to express?
Eh. They're 7-2, but their two losses are to the Chiefs and Titans, two other potential claimants to such a title. Ask me again Dec. 13 after the drive up to Orchard Park.
• The best team in the AFC plays in Pittsburgh. Best in the NFL, actually. It's not an opinion.
• It's also not an opinion that the Steelers have put together precisely one complete performance all season, that coming against the Browns. And the way this week's already shaping up, I wouldn't expect the next to come against Ohio's other woebegone franchise.
• Hey, check back later here, OK?
I'll update what's up top to reflect Tomlin's remarks at the press conference.
