Opinion: Colts' fate now lies with CDC, NFL and NFLPA after Carson Wentz catches COVID
Sure would be nice to say something comforting about the Colts’ playoff hopes right now, something like: It’s in God’s hands. Only, it’s not in His hands. Not in his hands either. Carson Wentz, I’m talking about. It was announced Tuesday he went on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Current NFL guidelines say he’ll miss Sunday’s game against Las Vegas and, depending on how his unvaccinated body fights the coronavirus, he could be compromised for the regular-season finale next week at Jacksonville.
The Indianapolis Colts’ season, once a 97% lock to reach the 2021 NFL playoffs, could be in the hands of the CDC, also known as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, for reasons I’ll explain in a minute.
The Colts’ season also could be in the hands of SGE or BAH, also known as Samuel George Ehlinger and Brett Alan Hundley Jr., for reasons I’ll explain now. Ehlinger is the Colts’ backup QB, which means he’s in line to start Sunday against the Raiders at Lucas Oil Stadium. Hundley is the third quarterback on roster, which means he’d become the backup QB. Unless the Colts decided Hundley’s wealth of experience trumps his dearth of talent, as they did for the Tennesse game on Sept. 16 when they leapfrogged Hundley ahead of then-backup QB Jacob Eason on the depth chart.
Pretty sure the Colts learned their lesson there.
Then again.
Nobody seems to be learning a damn thing when it comes to the coronavirus' impact.
From Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck to ... him
Remember when the Colts had quarterbacks who’d do anything for this city? Peyton Manning was so caring, so wonderful, they put his name on a children’s hospital. Andrew Luck was so caring, so wonderful, he made the city’s other children’s hospital his mission. Manning and Luck were devoted to kids, to medicine, to health.
Carson Wentz won’t take the vaccination. Not for himself. Not for his family. Not for his community. Not for his football team.
Easiest way to avoid COVID this season has been to take the vaccine. Not the perfect way. Not the foolproof or guaranteed way. If you want a sure thing, read fiction. Those stories are finished and cannot be changed. We know exactly how every work of fiction ends – it’s on the last page! So it is written, so it shall be done.
The coronavirus? Good luck guessing with that sucker. It has mutated time and again and isn’t finished evolving, so while I’m encouraged that the omicron variant – much more contagious, much less dangerous – has been squeezing out the deadlier delta variant, we’re not finished with the coronavirus yet because it’s not finished with us. The pandemic vs. endemic debate has begun, meaning, when does the coronavirus reach the level of the flu or cold, something that will affect us but won’t cripple us?
We’re not there yet. Anyone tells you we are, don’t believe them. There are no answers, just gray area where our smartest people – the line starts with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky – are making their best educated guesses on data that rolls in by the minute. Occasionally it rolls in with a mutation that changes everything we thought we knew about COVID-19.
COLTS: Will Indianapolis call Philip Rivers with Wentz on COVID-19 list?
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There was no way for Carson Wentz, Darius Leonard or Quenton Nelson – three of the Colts’ best five players, along with Jonathan Taylor and DeForest Buckner – to guarantee avoiding COVID for the entire season. Nope, the vaccine wouldn’t have done that.
BUT IT WOULD HAVE MADE THEM 1,000% SAFER.
Sorry. Shouting. But vaccinated people are 1,000% safer – 10 times less likely to test positive for COVID – than the unvaccinated. That’s the science. That’s a fact.
The unvaccinated also are 20 times more likely to die from the coronavirus.
Look at those numbers. Now tell me WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU NOT BE VACCINATED.
Still shouting. Not sorry. This is most of us, on this side of the line, wondering what Carson Wentz and Darius Leonard (who says he is unvaccinated) and Quenton Nelson (who missed time earlier as an unvaccinated close contact) and anyone else is doing on the other side of the line.
This is all of us wondering why there’s a line in the first place. Two sides to every story? Not this one. There’s one side. The vaccine is the best way for you and me as individuals, and all of us as society, to get past this thing.
But some of us, like the Colts’ starting quarterback and their All-Pro linebacker, won’t do it.
Actions have consequences.
So does inaction.
CDC, NFL, NFLPA could rescue Colts
The Colts are not the only team going through this. The Saints had to play Ian Book at quarterback Miami on Monday night because their top two quarterbacks, Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian, are on the COVID list. The Saints lost 20-3. Book threw a pick-six on his third NFL play.
The Washington Football Team had to sign Gilbert Garrett or Garrett Gilbert off another team’s practice squad, introduce him to the playbook and his teammates, then throw him out there five days later against Philadelphia. The Browns put Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum on the COVID list and had to play Nick Mullens against Green Bay. The WFT’s and the Browns lost.
Maybe Sam Ehlinger changes the narrative. Or maybe Brett Hundl—no, sorry, can’t even finish that sentence. It’s Ehlinger or bust this week for the Colts.
Unless.
This is where the CDC comes in. On Monday the CDC halved the time it recommends isolation for people who test positive, from 10 days to five. Things change, remember? Data rolls in, and our smartest people adjust. If only … never mind.
To be clear, that reduced isolation window is only for asymptomatic people who test positive. We don’t know if Wentz has symptoms, and the Colts haven’t said he does not. You’d think they'd be shouting that from the rooftops at their 56th Street complex, if he doesn't have symptoms, but that’s neither here nor there.
As of this moment, the NFL still uses the 10-day recommendation, which is why Leonard is still scheduled to miss this week’s game after testing positive Saturday in Arizona.
Unless.
Leonard could return Sunday against Las Vegas, if the NFL follows the CDC’s lead and cuts its isolation time for asymptomatic coronavirus patients from 10 days to five.
So could Carson Wentz.
In spite of himself, Wentz might still play Sunday, five days since his positive test, if the NFL changes its guidelines. There would be no practice this week for Wentz, but he could and surely would play. Look at the alternatives.
We’ll see. The CDC, NFL and NFLPA will decide the weekend playing fate of Carson Wentz and Darius Leonard.
Wentz and Leonard have zero control right now. It’s out of their hands, as it should be. Lord knows they didn’t do nearly enough – not for them, not for you, not for the Colts – to avoid this mess.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.