The Baltimore Ravens have been dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak over the last week that has seen their Week 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers be rescheduled twice prior to today. With the game originally scheduled for Tuesday (it’s been rescheduled again), Baltimore’s players drew a line in the sand.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens players had a meeting with NFLPA representatives about the health and safety of such a quick turnaround. Though Baltimore last played a football game more than a week ago, they have yet to practice outside of a walkthrough prior to the outbreak. The Ravens had tried to hold a practice on Monday morning but the NFL canceled it. According to Rapoport, players were adamant that they get at least one day of practice before playing against the Steelers.
That wasn’t the only concern and complaint from Baltimore’s players, however. The Ravens haven’t had a single day without a positive COVID-19 test since last Monday. In total, Baltimore has placed 22 players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list over the last week in addition to several staff members testing positive as well. According to Rapoport, Baltimore’s players were concerned about playing a game despite not having any days with negative tests.
It’s unclear if the Ravens’ concerns were a driving factor for the NFL rescheduling the game again or not. However, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and Jonas Shaffer of The Baltimore Sun noted players had been frustrated with how the league handled the outbreak and there was concern they’d refuse to play on Tuesday.
It wouldn’t be the first time Baltimore’s players had shown some frustration over the league’s handling of the outbreak and the schedule this week. Defensive end Derek Wolfe had shared his exasperation in a now-deleted tweet that questioned the league’s stance on player health and safety prior to the game being rescheduled.
We’ll see if the game does indeed happen Wednesday. But that would seemingly involve no further positive COVID-19 tests and there being some time for Baltimore to practice.
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