Getty Dez Bryant pulls his helmet off before a Ravens game.
The Baltimore Ravens are dealing with arguably the biggest COVID-19 outbreak in the NFL this season, and as a result there has been another shift in schedule.
This week’s game with the Pittsburgh Steelers, originally scheduled for Thursday night, was moved to Sunday afternoon. Now, it’s being postponed again until Tuesday according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Diana Russini. The duo reported the league’s next move on Friday afternoon.
Ravens-Steelers being tentatively moved from Sunday to Tuesday night, per @diannaESPN and me.
Now confirmed: Tuesday game, Ravens-Steelers.
In recent days, the situation has only become more dire in Baltimore with more players testing positive and the team held out of their own facility to work remotely the rest of this week. Knowing this, it always seemed more possible that the Ravens would miss out on playing on Thanksgiving as well as perhaps even having Sunday be in jeopardy.
Whether or not Tuesday’s game gets played is anyone’s guess as well, but it’s clear that the league is looking for the situation in Baltimore to calm down considerably before even attempting to play the game for Week 12.
Baltimore’s next game against the Cowboys on Thursday, December 3 is likely to be moved as a result per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, so it’s clear the Ravens’ schedule only stands to get more complicated in the days ahead with this news being revealed.
Ravens Serious COVID-19 Situation
Earlier this week, the Ravens shut down their facility due to multiple folks testing positive for COVID-19 within the team. While it wasn’t known how many official positives there were or who specifically any of the players were, reports later surfaced a few of the players dealing with COVID-19 were running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram. More positives came for the Ravens late Tuesday as well as Wednesday and Thursday night, and with that news, it always seemed ambitious that the teams would be able to play with a quick turnaround this week. Having Lamar Jackson reportedly join the ranks of the positive probably didn’t help, either.
Now, it’s clear that Baltimore’s outbreak will cost the teams at least a few more days before kickoff happens.
Future of Ravens vs. Steelers
Regardless of when it happens, this is an important game in the standings for both teams. The If the Steelers win this game like they did a few weeks, they will take complete command of the AFC North and arguably slam the door on both the Ravens and Browns as it relates to a comeback. For Baltimore, the Ravens need to find a way to win in order to keep pace for the AFC playoff race. They are fighting the likes of the Titans, Colts, Browns and Raiders for playoff inclusion this year.
The issue of a possible forfeit has come up as well, and it would be fascinating to see if the league would make the Ravens give up the game due to the outbreak. At this point, all of that remains up in the air, but it’s clear the league wants to give the situation a few more days to breathe and see what happens.
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