Bears defensive end Montez Sweat is back after serving a two-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substances policy, and he says the positive test came as an accident after he unintentionally took a banned substance.
“It definitely was accidental,” Sweat said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “It was a surprise. But you take a lick on the chin and keep moving forward.”
Sweat said he has no intention of ever trying to gain an edge that way and made it clear he’s trying to leave the situation behind him.
“It’s definitely something I’ve got to live with for my career,” Sweat said. “I never want to cheat the game, and I would never do it intentionally, but what happened, happened and I’m moving forward.”
He also pointed out that he has never had a positive PED test before and plans to get back to his normal habits.
“I’ve been in the league going on Year 8 now,” Sweat said. “I haven’t wound up with a positive like that before, so I guess I’ll just get back to my regular routine now.”
In Green Bay, Packers kicker Trey Smack is looking to put his recent issues behind him and get back to the level he showed over his first four weeks.
“It’s a rough loss. I take accountability for my actions.
The sun rises every morning, and it’s not gonna stop for me,” Smack said, via The Athletic. “Just keep trying to do my job.”
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said the team needs to reset after Smack’s struggles.
“We gotta wipe this one clean and gotta move on and hopefully we can be a little bit better,” LaFleur said of Smack’s struggles.
In Minnesota, the Vikings came away with a win over the Colts in Week 7 despite generating only 275 yards of total offense. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said the opening series, which ended in a punt after three straight runs, was on him.
“It might look like run-run-run-run to start the game, but we can’t put it so much in the defense’s hands on ultimately what play we end up running when we have two plays called,” O’Connell said, via VikingsWire. “That totally ends up being on me.”
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