Sarcastic Joe’s thoughts on NFL schedule changes
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The NFL has postponed the Ravens/Steelers game 3 times due to COVID-19.
December 3, 2020
These constant schedule changes have fans more confused than Tom Brady on 4th down.
Not only is the NFL biased, they’re not even trying to hide it. You may have heard of the schedule changes for the Steelers vs. Ravens game, which was initially supposed to be played on Thanksgiving. It felt like everybody on the Ravens contracted Covid-19: Lamar Jackson was infected, Mark Ingram II, J.K. Dobbins, and plenty of others. Practices were canceled for the Ravens, and RGIII got the start, which is hilarious.
The NFL received a lot of criticism, so the league said that it would postpone the game to Monday, then Tuesday, and then finally slated it for Wednesday. At 3:40 PM. Yes, 3:40 PM. I don’t think in the history of the NFL there has a game that has been played at 3:40 PM.
I don’t know what is going on with Roger Goodell. I’m convinced he’s trying to ruin the NFL. Goodell seems to hate protecting player’s health, Tom Brady, and apparently, postponements. At the beginning of the season, Goodell was adamant in his position of making sure no games would be canceled or postponed. Even when half of the Patriots team contracted COVID, they still had to play; when the Titans violated every single COVID-19 rule, they still played; and when the Broncos didn’t have a quarterback, they still had to play.
I’m not joking when I say the Broncos didn’t have any quarterback; all of their QB’s either had COVID or were at risk, so they had to quarantine. So the Broncos had to call up Kendall Hinton from their practice squad, Hinton is a wide receiver who last played quarterback in his sophomore season at college. Despite the circumstances and the adversity, Vic Fangio, the Broncos’ Head Coach, gave a Hoosiers-type speech, rallied his team, and they won. Just kidding! They lost 31-3, and Kendall Hinton went 1-9 with two interceptions and threw for 13 yards.
Goodell was unwilling to postpone the Broncos-Saints game, which occurred just days ago, so why wasn’t their game postponed? Because the Broncos are not a big market team like the Ravens. Goodell is all about the money and couldn’t care less about the players. Google Roger Goodell. There are few positive opinions about the guy.
Goodell did the Patriots dirty when he didn’t postpone their games and when Goodell didn’t punish the Titans seriously enough for protocol violations. He should be postponing games. Are NFL fans going to be complaining when the season goes into March? No. I personally would be overjoyed. This season has gone by way too fast.
When Goodell didn’t postpone the Patriots games when the team had COVID, it was most unfair to Cam Newton, who would be having a great season if Goodell postponed their games and gave time to Newton to get better and be able to practice. It turns out Newton’s kryptonite isn’t shoulder injuries. It’s Roger Goodell’s schedule.
But the focus is on the Ravens and the Steelers. I mean, for goodness sake, why did they have to cancel their game on Thanksgiving? It was the right thing to do, but without the Ravens-Steelers, I had to sit through the Lions vs. Texans and the Washington Football Team vs. the Cowboys. Both games were just about entertaining to me as a vegan Thanksgiving dinner. At least we would’ve seen RGIII, back as the quarterback. That would’ve been cool for ten minutes. And then we would all realize there’s a reason he’s no longer a starter.
It doesn’t matter if all of the Ravens players had been back and had time to practice. They’re were still going to lose, and it was still going to be bad. This is the entire Ravens playbook: the ball is snapped, Marquise Brown runs downfield and gets wide open, and then Lamar Jackson scrambles for a five-yard gain. Or, my favorite, Marquise Brown runs downfield, gets wide open, and Lamar dumps it off to Mark Andrews, who drops it.
The Ravens run one play all year, and they wonder why Derrick Henry owns them like Tarantino owns plagiarism. The Ravens’ defense up front is alright, the linebackers are alright, and the secondary is uh………not very good. Even if Lamar had been back, the Ravens opened as +10 underdogs. That’s pathetic. Even the Giants, who play the Seahawks next week, are only +7.5 underdogs. And the Giants are 4-7.
The Steelers should have enjoyed this time off. Big Ben could lay back in his Lazy Boy right now making adjustments to his Wikipedia page, Juju could make more TikTok’s because nothing is sacred anymore, and Mike Tomlin could laugh his butt off about dumping Antonio Brown just at the right time. This game did not fare well for the Ravens.
I predicted the Steelers would crush the Ravens, and it will undoubtedly be the last straw between John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson who definitely have a functioning relationship. That was sarcasm, they do not have a good relationship. Just speaking facts. As this is strictly a fact column, not an opinion column.
I expect low ratings, unenthusiastic announcers, and flat play by the Ravens.