Ravens’ COVID-19 struggles playing havoc
Game with Steelers is now scheduled for Wednesday
The Baltimore Ravens’ struggle to contain an extended outbreak of the coronavirus forced their rescheduled game Tuesday night against the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers to be moved back to Wednesday afternoon.
It’s the third fix to a matchup originally slated to be played Thanksgiving night. The game will remain on NBC, but at 1:40 p.m. MT.
Also, the Steelers’ home game in Week 13 against Washington has been moved from Sunday to Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. The Ravens’ home game against Dallas will be on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 8:05 p.m. on Fox and NFL Network. It was originally set for Thursday night, then moved to Dec. 7.
Ravens-Steelers was moved back one more day for medical reasons, but now Baltimore gets some time for workouts. The NFL has permitted the Ravens to return to their facility on Monday night under doctors’ supervision, which is similar to what happened when the Tennessee Titans had a coronavirus outbreak earlier this season. The Titans got three days of workouts in that scenario.
The NFL announced the most recent switches Monday after the Ravens placed starters Matthew Judon, Willie Snead and Mark Andrews on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Although Baltimore also had four players return from that list, the team will still be severely short-handed when this game is finally played. But it will get back running backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins from the COVID-19 list; they tested positive on Nov. 23
The addition of Judon, a standout linebacker, and Andrews, the leading receiver on the team, brings to seven the number of 2019 Pro Bowl players that Baltimore has placed on the COVID-19 list over the past week. But Ingram will be eligible to play at Pittsburgh, leaving 12 active players and one practice squad member on the list — including 2019 league MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Cornerback Terrell Bonds, who’s on injured reserve, was also added to the expansive list Monday.
There was a bit of other good news for Baltimore, which activated linebacker Jayson Ferguson, offensive lineman D.J. Fluker and defensive tackle Broderick Washington from the COVID-19 list. Defensive back Iman Marshall was also activated, although he’s been on IR since tearing his right ACL in August.
The contest pitting two longtime rivals was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night before a rash of coronavirus cases among the Ravens forced the game to be postponed to Sunday. As Baltimore continued to stack up positive tests, the game was moved back to Tuesday night.
Now, perhaps, they’ll finally meet on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
The Ravens (6-4) will face the Steelers without several of their top playmakers, including Jackson, Andrews, and defensive linemen Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams.
The loss of Andrews and Snead will further hinder backup quarterback Robert Griffin III, who will be taking snaps from a third-string center after Patrick Mekari and Matt Skura were placed on the COVID-19 list on Wednesday.
Andrews is a Type-1 diabetic, which makes COVID-19 potentially more dangerous. His loss should have an impact in that he leads Baltimore in receptions (38), yards receiving (454) and touchdown catches (6).
Andrews, Judon, Jackson, Ingram, Campbell, fullback Patrick Ricard and long snapper Morgan Cox were all selected to the Pro Bowl last season.
Judon owns Baltimore’s franchise tag. He is tied for the team lead with four sacks and has 34 tackles.
Snead has 17 catches for 230 yards and two touchdowns over the past four games.
The NFL’s last Wednesday game was the 2012 season opener between the Giants and the Cowboys, which was moved from a Thursday night because of a conflict with the Democratic National Convention, which was scheduled to have President Barack Obama speak on Thursday night.
“We understand that every team is going through something like this,” Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward said. “Not to this extent, but we have to be ready for any situation. I think (coach Mike Tomlin) has laid out the plan. It’s up for us to follow it and it’s up for us to bounce back with it.”
Added Steelers tackle Zach Banner, who was injured in the season opener: “I’m gonna be healthy by the time we play this game.”
ABC GETS IN THE GAME: ESPN has announced that two Monday Night Football games in December will be simulcast on ABC.
ABC will air the Buffalo-San Francisco game on Dec. 7 and the Bills-New England contest on Dec. 28. ABC aired its first Monday Night game since the package moved to ESPN in 2006 on Sept. 21 when the Raiders had their first game in Las Vegas against New Orleans. That game had a combined audience of 16,072,000 viewers.
That game was also significant because it came on the 50th anniversary of the first “Monday Night Football” game.
It is anticipated that Walt Disney Company, which owns both ABC and ESPN, will try to get a package of games back on ABC when the next television contract with the league comes up for negotiations before the start of next season. That could also get ABC back in the Super Bowl rotation for the first time since it aired Super Bowl 40 in 2006.
TEXANS: Houston receiver Will Fuller says he’s been suspended for six games for violating the NFL’s policy on performanceenhancing drugs.
Fuller announced the suspension on Instagram on Monday, saying that the suspension was from a medication he was prescribed that he believed to be permitted, but that was banned under the league’s policy.
“I want to sincerely apologize to the Texans organization and all of my fans for this mistake,” he wrote on Instagram. “I am looking forward to putting this all behind me and returning better than ever in 2021.”
The suspension is a big blow for a team on which he had become the No. 1 receiver in the wake of the offseason trade of DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. Fuller ranks 10th in the NFL with 879 yards receiving and eight touchdowns this season, which are both career highs.