Poor air quality from Canadian wildfires causes NFL teams to move activities indoors
The dangerous air quality stemming from Canadian wildfires forced at least one NFL team to cancel scheduled organized team activities and a handful more indoors.
The New York Giants, who originally moved practice indoors, canceled Thursday's session. They're likely to nix Friday's practice too, per ESPN.
The Washington Commanders will practice at the team's indoor bubble at their practice facility in Ashburn, Virginia, which had an air quality index (AQI) of 313; 0 to 50 is considered good, while a number more than 300 is deemed hazardous.
Washington held its second day of mandatory minicamp outside Wednesday, when conditions were with head coach Ron Rivera saying they were monitoring the situation and consulting the team's medical personnel. Players with respiratory issues would be excused or if they started to feel strained during practice, they would be sent inside.
"If we can avoid (practicing indoors), we will," Rivera said. "But if not, if the air quality becomes a little too concerning then we most certainly will go in."
In the bubble, the team has less space to disperse the 90 players currently on the roster during minicamp. Position drills likely won't be an option, and the team will have to move into the "meat" of its practice after warmups, Rivera said.
Washington safety Jeremy Reaves intercepted a pass during Wednesday's 11-on-11 portion, and told the Washington Times he "was a little winded."
"I was kind of thrown off a little bit because, honestly, I wasn’t paying attention with what was happening in Canada," he told the paper.
Additionally, the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles will also hold practice indoors.
Florham Park, New Jersey (Jets) and East Rutherford, New Jersey (Giants) had AQIs of 243 and 205, respectively, as of Thursday morning. Philadelphia's AQI was measured at 325.
As a low-pressure weather system over Maine and Nova Scotia funnels polluted air down the Eastern seaboard, many sports have been impacted, including Major League Baseball and WNBA games on Wednesday.
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wildfire smoke causing NFL teams to move activities indoors
