The goalposts keep moving for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The Week 12 meeting between these AFC North rivals is now scheduled to kick off at 3:40 p.m. ET Wednesday, and marks the first game this NFL season to be rescheduled three times due to COVID-19 — in this case, an outbreak in Baltimore.
The game originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night was moved to Sunday and then Tuesday night before being pushed back yet again. The Wednesday game will be the NFL's first since the 2012 season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, which was scheduled for that day to avoid a Thursday conflict with President Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention.
As reported by ESPN, 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.
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 Steelers preferred to play the Ravens this week, rather than postponing to later in the season, like a Week 18 game.
"These decisions were made out of an abundance of caution to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game-day personnel and in consultation with medical experts," the NFL said in a statement.
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 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.
