Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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To prevent any large-scale infections, it was a team-wide commitment to following protocols inside the facility and on road trips as well as taking proper precautions on their personal time.
"Everyone wanted to do whatever they could to make the season possible in the safest way possible," safety Anthony Harris said. "So from there, it was just taking what you were given in terms of information, in terms of resources, and preparing, leading up to the season and trying to maximize it as best way possible.
"From within the locker room and myself, the staff and players and coaches, we all tried to be accommodating in terms of what we needed to do," Harris continued. "I think everyone is happy that we were able to come up with the collaborative effort to make it successful."
Harrison Smith also tipped his cap to Sugarman, Zimmer and his teammates.
"Starting with Zim' and Eric Sugarman, getting things set up appropriately, taking care of us, and then the players did a great job of checking off all the boxes every day," Smith said. "It can get tedious, you've got a lot of other things going on, so the guys did a great job of that, of keeping the COVID from kind of taking us out, so we gave ourselves a chance in that area. We just didn't do enough on the field."
Throughout the season, Minnesota had to add a dozen-plus players to the COVID-19/Reserve list due to positive tests or being deemed a close contact to someone infected with the virus.
That group included receiver Adam Thielen, who was sidelined Week 12 for the Panthers game, and tackle Riley Reiff, who was added to the list last week and unable to play the season finale.