Next Up: @ Steelers

I definitely understand the Steelers' frustrations. They do plan their entire weeks around these games and after basically losing their bye week (They already had 4 days of practice before the Titans game got postponed) they're now losing the longest break between games (10 days) that they would have otherwise had.

That being said, they're also 10-0 and shouldn't be acting like they've been disadvantaged in some major way. They're going to be playing a depleted Ravens team that was already on a downward trajectory and aren't going to have as large of a risk of getting Covid as they would have had they played tomorrow.

jboy19 said:

I definitely understand the Steelers' frustrations. They do plan their entire weeks around these games and after basically losing their bye week (They already had 4 days of practice before the Titans game got postponed) they're now losing the longest break between games (10 days) that they would have otherwise had.

That being said, they're also 10-0 and shouldn't be acting like they've been disadvantaged in some major way. They're going to be playing a depleted Ravens team that was already on a downward trajectory and aren't going to have as large of a risk of getting Covid as they would have had they played tomorrow.

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It's also the fact that those same players would be complaining if they had tested positive in the coming days as a result of someone on the Ravens having it and playing tomorrow night. I get it. It sucks for them that they keep getting impacted. But the optics of complaining on Twitter in the middle of a pandemic because your game got moved is just awful. No empathy for the people that have tested positive.

Simba said:

I'm glad they made the right choice. Sucks that the Steelers keep getting impacted but damn do their players and fans look foolish right now. They aren't postponing this game to spite them - it's to make sure that the spread is contained and that they aren't putting a positive testing person on the field tomorrow night. I'm not sure putting 90 guys on a plane as guys are still testing positive daily is the most prudent move, but maybe that's just me. We're still going to be shorthanded Sunday vs. tomorrow night.

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exactly - unless something comes out that changes what we know right now - the only player who could be available sunday for us who wouldnt have been on Thursday is Brandon Williams who is injured anyway

like i get that there's a massive advantage to having a home Thursday night game (which is borne out statistically through history) but all this is doing is replacing 1 competitive advantage with a different 1 rather than potentially sending an outbreak to Pittsburgh

Simba said:

It's also the fact that those same players would be complaining if they had tested positive in the coming days as a result of someone on the Ravens having it and playing tomorrow night. I get it. It sucks for them that they keep getting impacted. But the optics of complaining on Twitter in the middle of a pandemic because your game got moved is just awful. No empathy for the people that have tested positive.

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that's what i dont get - like be frustrated, vent that it's annoying that it's affected them again

but the idea that the ravens are somehow doing this on purpose or that the NFL is treating them unfairly in any way comes across as whiny and lacking in self-awareness

For once the NFL did the right thing. At this point we have to get this controlled on our part. Steelers just too limited to understand that this will help to protect themselves.

rossihunter2 said:

that's what i dont get - like be frustrated, vent that it's annoying that it's affected them again

but the idea that the ravens are somehow doing this on purpose or that the NFL is treating them unfairly in any way comes across as whiny and lacking in self-awareness

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Even Warren Sharp doesn't get it.

my guess is also that it's highly likely we have more positives tomorrow - if we do have an outbreak within the team then it's likely that it happened either late last week at practice (potentially starting with Trace maybe) or during Sunday's game despite the fact they didnt call anyone at the game a close contact

either that or there's just a ton of coincidental community spread from outside the facility which isnt beyond the realms of possibility given the recent spike in covid cases but it is unlikely if we keep seeing new positives

and if this did start up sunday we may be seeing new positives right up until maybe friday

cdp said:

Even Warren Sharp doesn't get it.

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he's the one that's been most frustrating to watch because he's normally so level-headed - he was also one of the first football commentators to take the virus seriously too all the way back in March so for him to be saying some of this stuff is a real 180 from him

Simba said:

It's also the fact that those same players would be complaining if they had tested positive in the coming days as a result of someone on the Ravens having it and playing tomorrow night. I get it. It sucks for them that they keep getting impacted. But the optics of complaining on Twitter in the middle of a pandemic because your game got moved is just awful. No empathy for the people that have tested positive.

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I guess the Steelers players wanted the NFL to force the Ravens to forfeit? It'd obviously hurt them more if they played tomorrow and the outbreak spread to them.

rossihunter2 said:

my guess is also that it's highly likely we have more positives tomorrow - if we do have an outbreak within the team then it's likely that it happened either late last week at practice (potentially starting with Trace maybe) or during Sunday's game despite the fact they didnt call anyone at the game a close contact

either that or there's just a ton of coincidental community spread from outside the facility which isnt beyond the realms of possibility given the recent spike in covid cases but it is unlikely if we keep seeing new positives

and if this did start up sunday we may be seeing new positives right up until maybe friday

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I don't trust a lot of what PFT says, but they're reporting that the NFL and Ravens know where the spread started and would need to wait until Friday to know where they stand and if more people would be testing positive.

Simba said:

I don't trust a lot of what PFT says, but they're reporting that the NFL and Ravens know where the spread started and would need to wait until Friday to know where they stand and if more people would be testing positive.

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well that would suggest it was Sunday at the game then

rossihunter2 said:

he's the one that's been most frustrating to watch because he's normally so level-headed - he was also one of the first football commentators to take the virus seriously too all the way back in March so for him to be saying some of this stuff is a real 180 from him

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The level of non-existing self awareness i have to cope with on Twitter is catastrophic.

I think the problem is the NFL had the longest of any sporting organisation to figure out how to get through the season but has stubbornly stuck to the line of "business as usual" the whole time - there was nothing preventing them from adding in an extra bye week (or 2) at the end of the year to play postponed games or even have a bye week every 4 weeks where catch-up games could be played

they put in a ton of schedule flexibilities so that they could postpone entire slates of games and still have the ability to catchup at the end of the year without too many schedule clashes but they've refused to actually adjust

they adjusted roster rules but not really anything else - they had so much time to look at other leagues and see where they've succeeded/failed and they didnt put in contingency plans so now there's no leeway left in the schedule and all they've done is added in the potential for an 8th seed in the playoffs if not all the games get played which is like the worst of all worlds

rossihunter2 said:

I think the problem is the NFL had the longest of any sporting organisation to figure out how to get through the season but has stubbornly stuck to the line of "business as usual" the whole time - there was nothing preventing them from adding in an extra bye week (or 2) at the end of the year to play postponed games or even have a bye week every 4 weeks where catch-up games could be played

they put in a ton of schedule flexibilities so that they could postpone entire slates of games and still have the ability to catchup at the end of the year without too many schedule clashes but they've refused to actually adjust

they adjusted roster rules but not really anything else - they had so much time to look at other leagues and see where they've succeeded/failed and they didnt put in contingency plans so now there's no leeway left in the schedule and all they've done is added in the potential for an 8th seed in the playoffs if not all the games get played which is like the worst of all worlds

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Exactly. Arrogance from their side. I mean, the MLB played nearly every damn day and still had a couple of teams have outbreaks and games that weren't made up. The NFL should have known they don't have that much control of players with only one game a week. That's 6 days where they can do whatever they want and you can't do anything about it. And they banked on this going so well and now they're caught.

rossihunter2 said:

I think the problem is the NFL had the longest of any sporting organisation to figure out how to get through the season but has stubbornly stuck to the line of "business as usual" the whole time - there was nothing preventing them from adding in an extra bye week (or 2) at the end of the year to play postponed games or even have a bye week every 4 weeks where catch-up games could be played

they put in a ton of schedule flexibilities so that they could postpone entire slates of games and still have the ability to catchup at the end of the year without too many schedule clashes but they've refused to actually adjust

they adjusted roster rules but not really anything else - they had so much time to look at other leagues and see where they've succeeded/failed and they didnt put in contingency plans so now there's no leeway left in the schedule and all they've done is added in the potential for an 8th seed in the playoffs if not all the games get played which is like the worst of all worlds

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Well, in defense, the 8th playoff team is, by definition, a contingency, and they have a week 18 baked into the schedule already (and have for many years now). They just push the playoffs back one week and eliminate the week between the Conference Championship games and the SB, which never really had much meaning to begin with and was the deadest of dead periods in the sports calendar.

Plus as we saw earlier, they had built in capability earlier in the season to shift around bye weeks and schedules to make games easier to play. I think they always knew that wasn't realistic once you get into the mid-point of the season, but they also made it extremely far along without any significant issues to begin with.

Realistically, a one team "outbreak" is really kind of trivial. Like the NFL is perfectly content with that. The only thing that they have to avoid is multi-team, multi-game shifts over a multi-week period, or a multi-week outbreak on the same team that requires multiple game postponements across multiple weeks (i.e. Ravens have to postpone 2-3 games in a row because they can't get things under control).

Outside of that, if you're not in a bubble, there really aren't many other versions.

rossihunter2 said:

I think the problem is the NFL had the longest of any sporting organisation to figure out how to get through the season but has stubbornly stuck to the line of "business as usual" the whole time - there was nothing preventing them from adding in an extra bye week (or 2) at the end of the year to play postponed games or even have a bye week every 4 weeks where catch-up games could be played

they put in a ton of schedule flexibilities so that they could postpone entire slates of games and still have the ability to catchup at the end of the year without too many schedule clashes but they've refused to actually adjust

they adjusted roster rules but not really anything else - they had so much time to look at other leagues and see where they've succeeded/failed and they didnt put in contingency plans so now there's no leeway left in the schedule and all they've done is added in the potential for an 8th seed in the playoffs if not all the games get played which is like the worst of all worlds

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The second bye week should have became a thing this year, hell I'm for 2 bye weeks permanently each year. Teams have their normal bye then everyone gets a league wide bye the week before Thanksgiving or after Thanksgiving. Then all teams come back for the playoff run.

As for Sunday, I was just waiting for our game to be moved. I think the NFL is desperately trying to everything to avoid a 8 team playoff and it's not working. Now tomorrow is going to suck, the other two games are terrible.

Simba said:

I'm glad they made the right choice. Sucks that the Steelers keep getting impacted but damn do their players and fans look foolish right now. They aren't postponing this game to spite them - it's to make sure that the spread is contained and that they aren't putting a positive testing person on the field tomorrow night. I'm not sure putting 90 guys on a plane as guys are still testing positive daily is the most prudent move, but maybe that's just me. We're still going to be shorthanded Sunday vs. tomorrow night.

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you ever met northwestern PA folks?

Any word on a replacement game? Might be nice to have a thanksgiving with no night game. Home alone 2 with the family ??


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at this point im just hopeful that nobody ends up with a bad case and that everyone is able to make it through this healthy in the end