NFL Week 12 thread -- As sweet as a Kolber kiss

Aww, man, mom says I have to do homework till 5!

 

I guess it is possible if they both tested positive after the game Sunday, Nov. 22. I get the feeling the Ravens will have a lot more players back Wednesday than they would have had Tuesday. The league is accommodating them the way it refused to accommodate the Broncos. The Broncos and Steelers both have reason to call bullshit.

 

The Ravens could actually get Dobbins and Ingram back now. They will likely get to play many of the guys who were out due to contact tracing. Griffin gives them a hell of a lot better shot at winning than what the Broncos had. The Steelers are going to be missing their best defensive lineman and their only good running back. This could be a lot better game than anybody figured.

The message board for Steelers fans I read is going into meltdown mode. The theory is that the Ravens leaked that rumor about players refusing to play tomorrow so they could buy more time. If the Steelers manage to lose Wednesday, that theory will never go away.

 

YGBFKM. The Ravens are going to run for 200-plus yards again and win the fucking thing.

 

Yep. The NFL conspiring to help Baltimore. Happens all the time. Except for 1970s ownership swap and March 1984 and 1990s expansion.

 

They caved to pressure after the Broncos debacle. That is not a conspiracy to help a particular team. Try harder to keep up next time.

 

I'm going to ask a question I already know I'm going to regret asking, but what the fuck. Why? Why is the NFL trying to fuck the Steelers? How exactly does that help them? Steelers are a premier franchise. An undefeated run only brings eyeballs to the games and eyeballs means ads and ads mean money in a time when the NFL is missing fans. The Ravens have a cool quarterback but losing to the Steelers doesn't change anything about how you market them. So why are they trying to screw the Steelers? Does it make more sense that the league is flying by the seat of it's pants to get games played and maybe, just maybe, some of their decisions are inconsistent for no other reason than that?

 

They aren’t trying to fuck the Steelers. Seriously, can anyone here keep up? They are caving to pressure to avoid another debacle like Broncos -Saints. This is about public relations. They think this will look better.
Remember, most of the country didn’t get to see that shit show. Everyone could have seen Steelers-Ravens tomorrow night.

 

It's their tribute to Don Shula. Nobody goes 19-0 the year he kicks the bucket.

 

Let me try to make this clearer. Relative to what I'm seeing in text messages, on social media, and on one message board for Steelers fans, I am a voice of reason. I am not claiming this is favoritism toward the Ravens. I don't believe the league really cares to favor any team. I never have. I do think the league does not care who gets screwed over if it can improve its image or make a few more dollars.

The league had no choice but to postpone the game until Tuesday. The Ravens still had one active player test positive Sunday. That said, no active players tested positive Monday. They had one guy on IR test positive, but he wasn't a close contact with any of the players or staff. Simply on the basis of health, unless there was another positive test Tuesday, the game could have been played tomorrow night.

So why move it? For one thing, the league was already facing a backlash over making the Broncos play without a quarterback Sunday. This despite most of the country not being able to see the game, so most fans only had highlights and statistics to tell them the story of that shit show against the Saints. With so many Ravens out, the league was facing another shit show Tuesday night, this one in front of a national television audience.

Then came the reports this afternoon that the Ravens' players were threatening to refuse to play, which exposes the league to yet another disaster. Apparently, they said they weren't comfortable playing without one day of practice. Of course, it never occurred to them that they could get more players back by delaying things, right?



The news of Steelers-Ravens being moved to Wednesday broke about an hour later. Did the Ravens leak the threat to buy the day they needed to get more guys back? Damned if I know, but it was sure a hell of a lot easier for the league to move the game back one day than to hold strong and face a possible forfeit or some other kind of mess Tuesday night. Sure, they lose the prime time audience, but they likely get a better game in the deal.

Let's assume the Ravens do get Ingram and Dobbins back. Now they have their three-headed monster at running back. This is the same team that ran all over the Steelers earlier this season despite injuries on the offensive line. Of course, not having Jackson hurts, but Griffin is still a significant threat to run. The Ravens' RPO gave the Steelers fits the first time around. The only reason the Steelers won that first meeting was Jackson's inability to take care of the ball. He turned it over four times.

The one possible silver lining for Pittsburgh's defense is, if he didn't test positive, they may get Stephon Tuitt back from the COVID list Wednesday. If he was on the list due to contact tracing, it would have been last Wednesday. It still isn't clear if he tested positive or not.

Baltimore is hurting in the front seven on defense, but their secondary is intact. The Steelers don't have a very good running game even with James Conner, who is out with a positive test, so the game likely falls to Roethlisberger against one of the best secondaries in the NFL. Sure, it helps that he should have time to throw, but in no way is this game the mismatch it would have been even one day earlier.