On Friday, two days before Eagles head coach Doug Pederson tested positive for COVID-19, several of his assistant coaches spoke about how effective they believe the Eagles' safety protocols are inside the NovaCare Complex and how safe they consider the facility.
The Eagles, under the direction of vice president of football operations and compliance Jon Ferrari, reconfigured the South Philadelphia facility over the last several weeks to comply with NFL safety measures once the players arrived.
On Monday, the Eagles' so-called IDER plan – that stands for Infectious Disease Emergency Response plan – was approved by the league, meaning the team's plan to deal with the virus in the facility met the safety standards required by the league and the players' association.
Yet here we are.
Without knowing how or where Pederson contracted the virus, it's impossible to determine whether the safety measures are working.
If nobody else in the building contracts it, they're working. If it turns out there are additional positive tests within the building in the coming days, it's possible that even the strictest adherence to the safety measures isn't enough.
We'll know more in the coming days, but offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, running backs coach and assistant head coach (and interim head coach) Duce Staley and special teams coach Dave Fipp all spoke on Friday about how effective the measures the Eagles took to create a safe working environment appeared to be.
Stoutland: "Coming through the front door, going through the gate, getting tested each morning, I gotta tell you guys, I've never felt more safe in my life. I told my wife that, I told my kids that. Mr. (Jeff) Lurie, he cares about his team, his coaches, and just proves it once again with the group of people that he's put together to organize this whole operation. It's all different, it's all new, (team president) Don Smolenski, Jon Ferrari, it's unbelievable. Every little detail that's going on right now, the door handles, everything that I notice, I'm like, ‘Oh my goodness, they think of everything to keep us safe.' That part of it is great I think for all of us because it kind of lets you (know), ‘OK, let me just focus on my job and detail what I have to do and the other stuff, we're good. We're going to be in good hands.'"
Staley: "We have to be careful, that's something that all coaches are being redundant with. We're talking with our players, we're talking amongst ourselves. We're all reminding each other how serious this is, reminding ourselves as coaches and reminding the players. This is a different time for us and as a team we must make the adjustments so we can be successful down the road. We must make the adjustments. I think the Eagles, this organization, Howie, Jeffery, along with Jon Ferrari, they've got a great plan here for us while we're in the building, so we feel 100 percent safe in the building. Now, we understand everything going on, how it can be contracted, but we feel safe."
Fipp: "I think common sense is the biggest thing. Gotta be smart, obviously. There's definitely an issue going on out there. I think we feel good about it as long as we wear masks and take care of our responsibility outside the building. I feel great about being inside the building."
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Eagles coaches 'never felt more safe' at NovaCare Complex originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
