– The COVID-19 outbreak in Baltimore has led to the Ravens–Steelers game being postponed to Wednesday.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 3:40 p.m. ET. It becomes the first game of the NFL season to get postponed three times. The game is kicking off at 3:40 p.m. because NBC, which is broadcasting the game, wanted to honor its commitment to broadcast the 88th Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday night, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
With the latest postponement, the Steelers’ Week 13 game on Sunday against the Washington Football Team will now be played Monday at 5 p.m. ET, and the Ravens’ Week 13 game against the Dallas Cowboys, which had already been moved once to Dec. 7, will now be played Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 8:05 p.m. ET.
While the Steelers-Washington game was pushed to Monday, the Ravens’ game against the Cowboys was pushed to Tuesday because of scheduling, a league source told ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
The latest postponement came after the Ravens players said Monday in a teleconference meeting that they did not want to play Tuesday because of concerns over safety. Baltimore had another positive test on Monday, making it nine straight days with at least one player testing positive. The source added that one suggestion from the players was to move the game to Thursday, but the NFL compromised by shifting it to Wednesday.
The Ravens will hold a walkthrough Monday night and will hold another one before departing for Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Baltimore hasn’t had a full practice since Nov. 20, a span of 10 days.