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I agree the first seeds in each conference, whoever they are, would be royally screwed if they don't get their bye week due to some stupid week 18 makeup game. And the new stupid 7 teams per conference means only 1 team gets a bye, making the screw-job even worse if the week 18 scenario plays out.
Why? As far as we can tell they've been following the protocols. People can test positive even while doing so through no fault of their own.
Very few details have been released yet, but it appears the S&C coach repeatedly violated protocols.
@AdamSchefter: Ravens-Steelers being tentatively moved from Sunday to Tuesday night, per @diannaESPN and me.
Not to try and outdo you but I have.....
Ridiculous. Play the game as scheduled. Let the Ravens use their practice squad if necessary.
Why? They’d likely be extremely biased. And maybe I am as a Ravens fan which is why I’m curious if there’s something I’m missing. The Pats had an active player test positive Friday I believe? Game got moved to Monday, there were no close contacts deemed or maybe that wasn’t a thing at the time so they played 2 days later. I think a staff member or practice squad player tested positive as well. How exactly were they wronged?
Agreed and if they can’t determine if the chain of infection has been stopped by Tuesday they should just cancel the game outright and not force two teams to play week 18 while the rest of the playoff teams enjoy a bye before the playoffs.
Heated rivalry sure.
My first impulse is to make teams play with whomever they can have take the field.
But this is spot on and is the reason I'd cancel the game or postpone it to week 18.
I get this thought, but giving these teams another bye week now isn't really fair to other teams either. There's no perfect solution. After this game there's a really good chance the Ravens win out but let's say they lose to the browns. So if they skip this game entirely they have a good chance to be 10-5. I guess you just consider the cancelled game the same as a tie, but there's a legitimate chance that the Ravens get in the playoffs if the game is skipped while they wouldn't at 10-6. I get that I'm speculating here, but that's why you leave the option for a week 18 game open.
Some sportswriter the other day opined that, if Baltimore is found negligent and is fined, that the fine should be enough to cover game checks should the game not be played.
Another bye week? The Steelers haven't had their first one yet, and won't have one the rest of the way. They may not have played in Week 5, but they didn't know that until after they had practiced all week.
Someone mentioned upthread that neither team gets paid if the game is a forfeit.
This is the truth right here. 9ers and patriots didn’t continue to have positive tests so they could play the game (short handed unfortunately). Right now there was no way to be sure that all of the ravens players that could play Sunday would be clear so they have to be safe otherwise you could have 2 teams with a ton of positives.
They didn't play the game. I get that a real bye week means different schedule for practice. But there's still a big difference between practice and playing a game.
The dynamics of this game could very well change dramatically if played week 18 vs week 12.
That’s a weird way to look at it. I get that the Steelers fans want the layup and get to play a short handed team. But you can’t compare that as the same thing as the Steelers just don’t feel like putting in effort if they play week 18.
Steelers fans wanted to play on Thursday as scheduled. Then the Ravens staff screwed up and are in danger of not playing at all this week.
Both of these are fair points. Although if they played week 18, they'd probably still get a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
I believe if there is a week 18 no one is getting a bye.
How would that work? Especially if the Ravens would make the playoffs with a win. I'd assume they'd play week 18, then the playoffs start the next week.
I don't the exact details or if NFL has worked them out past the discussions that took place on what they might need to do if they have to have makeup games but the main idea I've heard floated around was if they need to play week 18 they would increase the playoff field from 14 to 16 and reduce the time from end of conference championships to Super Bowl from 2 weeks to one week.
I tend to agree. I do wonder if legal accommodations can't be made between the union and the league to compensate the Steelers in such a scenario. Ultimately a forfeit seems orders of magnitude worse on the "unintended consequences of setting such a dramatic precedent" scale compared to some sort of rescheduling hijinks. So far I have heard all kinds of wild speculation on what a week 18 might look like, going back several weeks since this has been a topic. But I have yet to see anything (I haven't looked much TBH) that I would call concrete, believable, or real news from the NFL. I don't especially feel like trying to sift through the noise with it, but now I'm starting to.
