Thursday-nighter vs. Dallas pushed to following Monday.
It’s a game of “Musical Chairs”… but nobody’s dancing. With this week’s spate of additions to the NFL’s COVID-19 list, the Ravens’ road game against AFC North Division rival Pittsburgh, originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night, has been moved a second time.
It will now be played on Tuesday, December 1 at 8 p.m. and will be televised by NBC, as originally scheduled.
Plus, with Baltimore’s home game against the Dallas Cowboys looming on December 3, that game was shifted to Monday, December 7 at 5 p.m. and, as planned, will be shown on Fox.
Ironically, the Steelers have placed three players on the COVID list, including standout defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt and promising young linebacker Isaiah Buggs.
As far as time crunches are concerned, the Ravens’ schedule shuffle moves seem to make the most sense, given that the game following the two affected contests is a Monday-night road contest at Cleveland on December 14. The reworked schedule at least gives the Ravens a normal time lapse in between games to which they should be accustomed.
The Ravens have had five straight days of positive tests and close-contact citations; the total of players they have placed on the list swelled to 22, with defensive tackle Brandon Williams having gone on the list twice.
That number does not include several off-field staff members who have also tested positive. After some scattered brushes with the virus in training camp, Baltimore had been largely free of COVID until November.
Nine defensive players were cited and placed on the list earlier this month before this week’s devastating rash of positive tests.
Here is the list of players that have been placed on the league’s COVID-19 list over the course of the entire month, sorted by offense, defense and special teams.
DEFENSE: NT Brandon Williams (twice), LB Pernell McPhee, DT Calais Campbell, DE Jihad Ward, DT Justin Madabuike, CB Marlon Humphrey, LB Patrick Queen, CB Terrell Bonds, LB Tyus Bowser, S DeShon Elliott, LB LJ Fort, LB Malik Harrison, LB Matthew Judon, CB Iman Marshall
OFFENSE: RB Mark Ingram, RB JK Dobbins, QB Trace McSorley, C Matt Skura, C-G Patrick Mekari, QB Lamar Jackson, FB Patrick Ricard
SPECIAL TEAMS: LS Morgan Cox.
There were three isolated cases (Queen, Judon, Elliott) where the quarantine period did not keep the player off the field at all. They are three of only five defensive players that have made every start for the Ravens up to this point; the others are cornerback Marcus Peters and safety Chuck Clark.
As the starting quarterback, Jackson has naturally made every start, but he is one of only three offensive players that can say that, along with guard Bradley Bozeman and tackle Orlando Brown, Jr.
With a ten-day quarantine period coming, Jackson will miss the Pittsburgh game and, if all goes well, return against Dallas.
Cox’s streak of 160 straight games will come to an end Tuesday night in Pittsburgh as practice-squadder Nick Moore is likely to take those duties. Moore has been a practice-squad-protected player most of the season, just in case of situations like this.
Cox’s streak is tied with that of Hall of Fame free safety Ed Reed for the eighth-longest in team history. Punter Sam Koch’s 234-game run is the franchise record.
