The COVID-19 outbreak in Baltimore has prompted the Ravens-Steelers game being deferred to Wednesday.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 3:40 p.m. ET. It turns into the primary round of the NFL season to get deferred multiple times. The game is commencing at 3:40 p.m. since NBC, which is communicating the game, needed to respect its pledge to communicate the 88th Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting service on Wednesday night, sources revealed to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
With the most recent deferment, the Steelers’ Week 13 game on Sunday against the Washington Football Team will presently be played Monday at 5 p.m. ET, and the Ravens’ Week 13 game against the Dallas Cowboys, which had just been moved once to Dec. 7, will presently be played Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 8:05 p.m. ET.
While the Steelers-Washington game was pushed to Monday, the Ravens’ down against the Cowboys was pushed to Tuesday in view of planning, an association source revealed to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
“These decisions were made out of an abundance of caution to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel and in consultation with medical experts,” the NFL said in a statement.
The Steelers liked to play the Ravens this week, as opposed to deferring to later in the season, similar to a Week 18 game, due to the “can of worms” that could open, sources told Pryor. The Steelers were additionally for pushing the Sunday game against the Washington Football Team to Monday for an additional day of rest, sources said.
The Week 12 game between the Ravens and Steelers that was initially booked for Thanksgiving night – and was moved to Sunday and afterward Tuesday night – was moved for the third time. This will stamp the NFL’s first game on Wednesday since the 2012 season opener between the Cowboys and New York Giants, which was booked for that day to dodge a contention with President Barack Obama’s discourse at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.
The most recent delay came after the Ravens players said Monday in a video chat meeting that they would not like to play Tuesday in light of worries over security. Baltimore had another positive test on Monday, making it nine straight days with at any rate one player testing positive. The source added that one proposal from the players was to move the game to Thursday, however the NFL undermined by moving it to Wednesday.
The Ravens will hold a walkthrough Monday night and will hold another prior to leaving for Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Baltimore hasn’t had a full practice since Nov. 20, a range of 10 days.
“This evening, we hosted a safely distanced walk-through/conditioning session at the Under Armour Performance Center,” the Ravens said in an explanation Monday. “Players arrived already prepared to work out on the field, and they did not enter the locker room or training room. “We intend to hold another walk-through session on Tuesday, in preparation for traveling to Pittsburgh Tuesday evening.”
For the Ravens, Monday was maybe the weirdest day in what has been one of the most testing a long time in establishment history. Players had answered to the group office about a half hour before the booked 9:30 a.m. practice when the NFL dropped it to hang tight for the most recent test outcomes, a source said. The Ravens stood by a large portion of the day not knowing whether they would rehearse again that evening and get onto a plane to play the NFL’s just undefeated group. The day finished with the game between AFC North adversaries getting moved for the third time in six days.
Baltimore is amidst perhaps the biggest episode in pro athletics. The Ravens have had 22 players test positive or get recognized as a high-hazard close contact in the course of recent days.
At any rate twelve Ravens players have tried positive, including ruling NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, alongside five Pro Bowl players: protective end Calais Campbell, tight end Mark Andrews, outside linebacker Matthew Judon, running back Mark Ingram and fullback Patrick Ricard.
The Ravens actually have 20 players on the hold/COVID-19 rundown. Baltimore added four players (Andrews, Judon, wide beneficiary Willie Snead IV and cornerback Terrell Bonds) and eliminated four players (outside linebacker Jaylon Ferguson, hostile lineman D.J. Fluker, cornerback Iman Marshall and protective tackle Broderick Washington). Marshall will return to harmed hold.
Running backs JK Dobbins and Ingram will be qualified to play Wednesday however 13 Ravens players, including Jackson, will stay on the save/COVID-19 rundown, a source told Schefter.
As of Monday night, the Ravens have 38 players on their 53-man list after gatekeeper Tire Phillips (shoulder) was enacted off harmed hold and cornerback Davontae Harris was authoritatively marked.
Monday’s round of Ravens tests delivered one new sure outcome, however it’s a player on harmed hold who hasn’t had close contact with any other individual, a source revealed to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
The main other game this season that had recently been deferred twice was a Week 5 game between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots. Positive Covid tests in New England pushed that game from Oct. 11 to Oct. 12 preceding it was played on Oct. 18.
The Ravens-Steelers game turns into the subsequent Wednesday game in the NFL since 1948. The last one preceding the 2012 season opener was Sept. 22, 1948, when the Los Angeles Rams played the Detroit Lions.
