Ravens vs. Steelers Moved to Wednesday; 3rd Postponement Due to COVID

Timothy Rapp @@TRappaRTFeatured ColumnistNovember 30, 2020

Gail Burton/Associated Press

The NFL has moved the scheduled matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon at 3:40 p.m. ET.

NFL Football Operations @NFLFootballOps
The Week 12 @Ravens-@steelers game has been moved to Wednesday at 3:40pm ET on NBC. Here's a look at the changes and the full schedule: https://t.co/UUfSeq2uvh https://t.co/59eCLmLlX6

Baltimore Ravens @Ravens
Statement from the Baltimore Ravens: https://t.co/triP9L8e9i

This marks the third time the game has been postponed, as it was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night and initially rescheduled for Sunday, Nov. 29.

According to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, Wednesday was being considered as a possibility, as it "would give one more day to make sure COVID-19 outbreak with Ravens is under control and also give them a day to get a practice in."

The shift to Wednesday isn't a surprise. As the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported, "Ravens players had a players-only meeting recently to express serious concern about playing on Tuesday. They have been adamant about wanting a day to practice."

Ian Rapoport @RapSheet
From the #Ravens players-only meeting, two main points: — They want to play. — Health and safety has to come first. Once source in the meeting asked, “Can’t we have at least two days of negative tests after this outbreak before we are expected to get back on the field?"

Albert Breer @AlbertBreer
Source: The Ravens plan is to fly on Tuesday night to Pittsburgh after their COVID-19 testing for the day comes back. Snow's in the forecast for Western Pennsylvania. Again, Baltimore players back at the facility for a 6:30 p.m. ET walkthrough tonight.

Ronnie Stanley @megatronnie
Wowowowowowow 🤨🤨🤨 https://t.co/zRoAp6HhGJ

Big Bud @Bud_Dupree
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The Ravens have had a major breakout of the coronavirus, with 18 players put on the reserve/COVID-19 list in the past week and 20 players on the list overall, including star quarterback Lamar Jackson. ESPN's Jamison Hensley reported Saturday that the Ravens "had seven straight days with at least one positive test."

The team has not practiced since Tuesday, with all meetings being held virtually.

As for the implications of the schedule going forward, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Steelers matchup with the Washington Football Team in Week 13 is being moved from Sunday, Dec. 6 to Monday, Dec. 7.

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Still, the NFL could just postpone the game and tack on an extra week to the end of the season. That would give the league some more flexibility in the event other games need to be postponed, with coronavirus cases spiking around the country.

However, at the moment it seems that the league just doesn't want to:

Jeff Zrebiec @jeffzrebiec
League has been consistent in not wanting to go to a Week 18, so that has never seemed to be a viable option in discussing postponement plans for Ravens-Steelers which will now be on Wednesday

Surely there are postseason scheduling and television considerations at play, though it could also be argued that the NFL should have had the foresight to bake a bit more flexibility into their schedule this year. Instead, the Ravens and Steelers have now had their game postponed three times and are being pushed closer and closer to Week 13.