Patriots: NFL’s treatment of Ravens proves Pats got disrespected
By Jerry Trotta
The NFL catering to Baltimore in light of their COVID-19 outbreak proves the Patriots weren’t treated fairly.
Despite several teams experiencing coronavirus outbreaks, the NFL has somehow avoided being forced into implementing its nuclear option of adding an extra week to the regular season so that postponed games can be made up.
However, the league is coming dangerously close to having to do so in light of the controversy surrounding the Baltimore Ravens, who had 10 players in total on the COVID-19 reserve list as of Friday morning.
Their Thanksgiving showdown against Pittsburgh was already postponed until Sunday before the latest batch of positive tests, which included reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, but now it appears as though that game has a slim (at best) chance of being played at any point in Week 12 — despite its recent bump to Tuesday (we’re rolling our eyes).
If the game does end up being moved to a different week, the NFL deserves props for prioritizing the health and safety of its players, and that is absolutely jarring when you consider what it put the Patriots through earlier in the season leading up to their fixture vs the Chiefs.
You smell that, Patriots fans? It REEKS of double standard.
Pats played in KC without Cam and took two flights to the game. Seems like a double standard https://t.co/DLfpKtdxfJ
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) November 27, 2020
We couldn’t agree more. Keep in mind that the Ravens enforced that precaution with Sunday’s game still scheduled, so it sounds like they were going to boycott the game regardless of whether it was postponed.
It’s downright infuriating to think that the league is giving them this much leeway after it made the Patriots fly to Kansas City (on two planes) after quarterback Cam Newton tested positive and before a handful of close contacts were subsequently ruled out. Yes, Stephon Gilmore was on that plane!
If there’s any silver lining to be had for Patriots fans here, it’s that the NFL is once again exploiting every loophole in the book before it’s faced with no other noice but to postpone Ravens-Steelers to later in the season. ESPN insider Adam Schefter just reported that the box office clash is “tentatively” being moved from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday night.
Ravens-Steelers being tentatively moved from Sunday to Tuesday night, per @diannaESPN and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 27, 2020
The NFL biding more time to see if Baltimore produces more negative tests is such a cowardly and irresponsible move, and we would expect nothing less.
We don’t want to go as far as to say that league higher-ups have an agenda against the Patriots, but their willingness to cater to the Ravens’ outbreak and apparent refusal to do the same for the reigning AFC East champs is the living definition of incompetence.
