The Cleveland Browns have dealt with coronavirus problems in their own locker room for the past two weeks and that affected Sunday’s squad against the Pittsburgh Steelers, even in victory.
Joel Bitonio lost the game and Cleveland was forced to play Michael Dunn instead. Dunn and the offensive line kept their share of the bargain, but the untrained rookie injured his calf at the end of the game.
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Blake Hance, who just joined the Browns’ lead squad earlier in the week and never played an NFL game, replaced Dunn at the end of the game and kept quarterback Baker Mayfield away from Steelers defenders. Mayfield was not fired during the entire game.
Hance didn’t even have a chance to practice with Mayfield because of the team’s coronavirus problems, which shut down its facilities.
The third-year quarterback told Michelle Tafoya of NBC after the game that he didn’t know who Hance was and that he had just met him in the locker room before the game.
“We put Michael Dunn on Joel Bitonio’s left guard and then Michael got hurt and a guy named Blake, whom I literally introduced myself to in the locker room before the game, stepped up in the fourth period,” said Mayfield.
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Peter King documented Hance’s arrival and the Browns’ problems in Monday’s Football Morning in America column.
Cleveland dismissed Hance from the New York Jets training team before the week 17 game. According to King, Hance needed to be within walking distance of Cleveland and already on a regular testing program with an NFL team. Because of the coronavirus health and safety protocols, a player who signed with a new team needs to test negative for five consecutive days and Hance had tested negative earlier in the day.
Hance arrived at the team’s hotel and immediately recognized Brown’s backup, Case Keenum, according to King. The two had previously been part of the Washington football team.
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“It’s a 2020 story,” said Browns general manager Andrew Berry to King.