Welcome to Wednesday Afternoon Football.
The NFL has pushed back its Week 12 game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers to 3:40 p.m., marking the game’s third postponement because of the Ravens’ COVID-19 outbreak, according to multiple reports.
With Baltimore already slated to face the Dallas Cowboys next Monday, the NFL also is moving Pittsburgh’s next scheduled game Sunday against the Washington Football Team back one day, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The latest shift to Wednesday comes after the NFL ordered the Ravens’ facility to remain closed Monday morning, and a reported threat of a wildcat strike by Baltimore players if the game remained scheduled for Tuesday night without practice time. The Ravens now are slated to hold a walk-through practice Monday night, and “they will presumably get some practice time Tuesday, as well,” according to NBC’s ProFootballTalk.
The Ravens and Steelers were initially slated to play on Thanksgiving night before several positive tests on the Baltimore roster forced a postponement to Sunday and then to Tuesday night.
While it’s rare for the NFL to play on Wednesdays, the Giants opened their 2012 season against Dallas on a Wednesday night because President Barack Obama was slated to speak the following night at the Democratic National Convention.