Struggling Ravens deal with outbreak
With their starting quarterback quarantined due to a COVID-19 outbreak that has ravaged their roster, the Baltimore Ravens have shifted their focus from breaking out of a slump to simply getting healthy and returning to practice.
The Ravens have more than a dozen players on the NFL’s COVID- 19 reserve list, and their training facility is closed to prevent the spread of the virus. Lamar Jackson, their multitalented quarterback and the 2019 league MVP, tested positive for the virus this week and will not play against the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday night.
Originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night, on Wednesday the game was postponed to Sunday before the NFL moved the date again Friday. The makeup for the makeup is set to kick off at 8 p.m. and be televised nationally by NBC.
With the Ravens- Steelers game moving to Tuesday, Baltimore’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3, will instead be played at 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 7, and telecast by Fox, NFL Network and Amazon.
“We appreciate the efforts of the NFL and Pittsburgh Steelers throughout this process while we all work to create an environment that keeps the health and safety of everyone involved at the forefront of each decision,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in a statement released Friday afternoon. “Our organization has a plan in place, and we will be prepared to play the Steelers. We thank everyone for their adaptability and look forward to the challenge of facing a very good football team at Heinz Field on Tuesday night.”
Baltimore ( 6- 4) will be decidedly shorthanded for its AFC North Division game against Pittsburgh (10-0), the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL this season.
Jackson, fullback Patrick Ricard, defensive tackle Justin Madubuike and long snapper Morgan Cox have joined a COVID-19 list that already included Baltimore defensive linemen Calais Campbell, Jihad Ward and Brandon Williams, centers Patrick Mekari and Matt Skura, running backs J. K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram, linebacker Pernell McPhee and quarterback Trace McSorley.
The Ravens finished with the best record ( 14-2) in the 2019 regular season behind the play of Jackson, who threw 36 touchdown passes and set a single-season record for rushing yards by an NFL quarterback. Now Jackson is part of a massive disruption for a team that couldn’t avoid COVID19 during a season the NFL staged amid a pandemic.
Baltimore’s problems started after an overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, the third defeat in four games for a team that has gone from a 5-1 start to scrambling to make the playoffs after back-to-back appearances. Dobbins and Ingram were placed on the COVID-19 list the following day, starting a chain reaction that has decimated the roster.
Robert Griffin III is slated to start at quarterback for the Ravens on Tuesday against the Steelers. He will be taking snaps from a third-string center and handing off to backup running backs Gus Edwards and Justice Hill.
“We just want to contain this outbreak! Speaking from experience … you don’t want to catch COVID!,” Campbell wrote on Twitter. “This virus is brutal! I pray no one else has to go thru this. This is bigger than football.”
The Ravens have disciplined one of their staff members for failure to follow protocol, reportedly a strength and conditioning coach.
This isn’t the first time this season COVID-19 has toyed with Pittsburgh’s schedule.
The Steelers were scheduled to play the Titans in Nashville on Sunday, Oct. 4. The league then postponed the game with plans to play Monday or Tuesday. When the positive tests continued to roll in for the Titans, the NFL eventually moved the game to Sunday, Oct. 25 — forcing the Steelers, in essence, to give up their scheduled open date initially set for Nov. 1, and finish the regular season by playing 13 consecutive weeks.
Coach Mike Tomlin stressed he was hardly concerned with the switch, saying emphatically “we do not care” when asked about the Steelers’ routine being thrown off.
In a sign of just how pervasive COVID-19 has become, shortly after the league announced it was moving the contest to Tuesday, the Steelers placed defensive end Stephon Tuitt, offensive lineman Jerald Hawkins and defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs on the COVID-19 reserve list.