Big Spring Herald

Ravens-Steelers reschedule­d again by COVID-19 to Wednesday

- By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer

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 3:40 p.m. ET.

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 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.

"Players arrived already prepared to work out on the field, and they did not enter the locker room or training room," the Ravens said in a statement. "We intend to hold another walk-through session on Tuesday, in preparatio­n for traveling to Pittsburgh Tuesday evening."

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.

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