New York Post - USA (2020-12-03)

New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020

nypost.com

By RyAn DunLEAVy

You get an NFL game. You

get an NFL game. Every day

gets an NFL game!

A rise in the number of

positive COVID-19 tests in

the NFL mirroring the spike

in cases around the country

has wreaked havoc on the

late-season schedule. There

will be a game played on ev-

ery day of the week over the

course of December — in-

stead of the traditional Sun-

days, Mondays and Thurs-

days — now that Ravens-

Steelers was rescheduled

from Thanksgiving to

Wednesday and subse-

quently Ravens-Cowboys

was rescheduled to next

Tuesday.

But commissioner Roger

Goodell isn’t going to pause

the season.

“It’s a remarkable achieve-

ment to reach this point and

we are proud of our players

and all personnel for their

tireless work and commit-

ment,” Goodell said. “Like

our teams, we are focused

on finishing strong.”

If a COVID-19 vaccination

is approved for use in the

United States, the NFL will

not cut to the front of the

line in terms of availability,

according to the league’s

chief medical officer Dr. Al-

len Sills.

“We have been discussing

for the past weeks how we

would proceed in the post-

season,” Goodell said.

“We’re continuing to evalu-

ate the kinds of changes we

might want to make coming

into the postseason. They do

present different challenges.

... We’re considering a num-

ber of alternatives to meet

those challenges. All options

are on the table.”

Well, not all options. The

MLB, NBA and NHL all

went to a neutral-site bubble

for the playoffs.

“We feel strongly our pro-

tocols are working. I don’t

see us doing a bubble in the

sense that I think a lot of the

media focuses on it,” Good-

ell said. “We may look at

ways to reduce the risks to

our personnel — whether it

is players, coaches or other

personnel — that would

limit exposures.”

Despite all the postpone-

ments that have happened

during the season as a result

of outbreaks on the Ravens

and Titans, the Broncos

were forced to play Sunday

against the Saints with prac-

tice-squad wide receiver

Kendall Hinton at quarter-

back because Jeff Driskell

tested positive and all other

quarterbacks were deemed

high-risk close contacts.

Goodell reiterated a previ-

ous stance that the NFL is

not going to cancel games

for competitive reasons,

only for safety and health

concerns. The assessment

was the virus was contained

within the Broncos.

[email protected]

NFL will play every day if it has to

By WILL GRAVES

PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin isn’t

one for excuses. Even as COVID-19

wreaked havoc with his team’s sched-

ule, pushing its matchup with Balti-

more from Thanksgiving night to mid-

dle of the afternoon in the middle of the

week in the middle of a pandemic, the

longtime Steelers coach refused to

reach for one.

So while the Steelers stayed perfect

with a disjointed 19-14 win over the un-

dermanned Ravens in the first NFL game

on a Wednesday in eight years, their play

was anything but. And Tomlin knows it.

“To be bluntly honest, I’m really dis-

appointed in our performance tonight,”

he said after Pittsburgh improved to

11-0. “We did enough to win tonight,

that’s all.”

Calling it “junior varsity”-level

play, Tomlin seethed in the after-

math, a testament to both how high

the bar is set and just how far the

Steelers came from clearing it.

Asked about an offense that managed

just one touchdown in four trips to the

red zone — missed opportunities that

allowed the Ravens (6-5) to hang

around until the final minutes — Tom-

lin didn’t offer analysis as much as rage.

“Us sucking,” he said, declining to get

into specifics.

There really was no need to.

The Steelers turned it over twice,

once on a fourth-down heave into the

end zone by Ben Roethlisberger, the

other a fumbled punt by Ray-Ray

McLoud that set up a 1-yard touchdown

plunge by Gus Edwards. They let Balti-

more backup quarterback Robert Grif-

fin III briefly turn back the clock to his

2012 Rookie of the Year season and

looked at times like a team in the mid-

dle of ho-hum midweek practice —

which, to be fair, Wednesdays typically

are — rather than a showdown with its

longtime rivals.

“Obviously we won, but it sure

doesn’t feel like it,” said Roethlisberger,

whose 1-yard strike to JuJu Smith-Schu-

ster early in the fourth quarter gave the

Steelers a 12-point lead they flirted with

squandering. “Just not good football.”

Running onto Heinz Field missing

more than a dozen players on the re-

serve/COVID-19 list, including reigning

NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and running

backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins,

Baltimore didn’t exactly roll over.

While Griffin completed just 7 of 12

passes for 33 yards and a first-quarter

pick-six by Joe Haden that gave the Steel-

ers an early lead, Griffin ran for a game-

high 68 yards before leaving in the fourth

quarter with a left hamstring injury. Trace

McSorley, one of 11 players promoted

from the practice squad, came on and

connected with Marquise Brown for a 70-

yard touchdown with 2:58 to go. But the

Steelers were able to drain the clock be-

hind a third-down grab by James Wash-

ington, eliminating the Ravens from re-

peating as AFC North champions.

“The way the game went, obviously

we wanted to win,” Griffin said. “We

felt like we had a chance to come in

here and win, shock the world and do

something special. I put it on myself. I

feel like if I didn’t pull my hamstring in

the second quarter we would have won.

It was really emotional trying to fight

through that. I feel like I let my guys

down.” — AP

PITT-Ch PERFECT: Joe Haden celebrates his pick-six with ex-Jet Avery

Williamson in the Steelers’ 19-14 win over the Ravens on Wednesday, helping

them stay perfect at 11-0. Getty Images

SteeleRS 19

RavenS 14

Summary

Page 38

NEED A LEG UP: Daniel

Jones is unlikely to play against

the Seahawks on Sunday after

injuring his hamstring

against the Bengals. AP

how you want to go about it
and I know we had a real
rousing game at that time in
that opportunity and our guys
played great football.’’

➤Four players for the Gi-
ants were limited partici-
pants in practice: LB David
Mayo (knee), WR Darius
Slayton (shoulder/foot),
WR Sterling Shepard (toe/
shoulder) and special

teamer Nate Ebner (knee).

Giants practice players of the

week were C Spencer Pulley,

WR Binjimen Victor and LB

Nick Lalos. As a show of ap-

preciation for their efforts,

these players wore jerseys

bearing the name and number

of Ring of Honor members.

Pulley wore Rosie Brown’s 79

jersey, Victor got Amani

Toomer’s 81 and Lalos wore

Brad Van Pelt’s 10 jersey.

even at 6-10