But all of this movement this morning in a shit show. You're telling a team consistently that they have to play tomorrow despite a continuing outbreak. Fine, we already know why the NFL is doing that. But now they're telling the same team they can't do a damn walkthrough the day before the game - the day that they're supposed to fly out to Pittsburgh - as they await testing results. It's the last part that's damning. They're so confident that this is the tail end, yet they make a move like this that shows they really have no clue if more positives are on the horizon.
No consistency at all. Cancelling a walkthrough is actually a good move, but it shows all they've been saying up until this point is lip service and that they actually have no idea.
I agree. And again, my theory (thought it's not really mine) is that some of the newer tests are unrelated to the "original outbreak". If that's true, then the Ravens are just making too many mistakes and putting the league in a bind.
If its not true, sure, I agree with the inconsistency on the NFL's side.
To be honest, I don't really care about the practicing or any of the nonsense. The only thing I'll really fault the NFL for is going forward with the game if they can't get a day or two of cleared testing in beforehand. Everything else I put solely on the Ravens hands.
Like I'm ignoring Steelers gripes until the point where the NFL postpones this game until later in the year and the Ravens get rest, recovery and a full complement of players for their next meeting. The Steelers would be absolutely punished, unfairly, for that. If the Ravens don't get the practice, tough shit. If they don't get to fly out until morning, tough shit. All the cost of not be vigilant.
Some of the NFL's protocols and policies are not great. And obviously, even as much as they say it, there's no way "player safety" is the priority, because if it was, there would be no season.
That being said... I've read many things about the NFL's protocols and policies in regards to COVID. And based on what I've read, and what I've seen in terms of guidance of the CDC and various other medical institutions, their protocols are damn near close to "world class" in terms of preventing outbreaks, or at least, in the context of a physical contact sport.
That being said... I equate this situation to the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's apartment is robbed because Kramer leaves the door open. Jerry buys the most impenetrable door lock on the market. And as he says... it has only one known flaw. In order to work, the door, must be closed.
In order for the protocols to work, they must be followed. If they're not, all bets are off. This is what it looks like. I promise over the next few weeks the NFL will peal back the onion on this, and find many ways by which the Ravens screwed the pooch. Draft pick or picks will be taken away. Fines will be large. Its inevitable.
And if this happened in another locker room, I'd be all for forcing the team to play with half their roster gone and no practice time. I don't even think you can argue its not fair at this point. The only thing I wouldn't make them do is play without at least short term proof of contained spread, which we don't have.