Ravens' COVID outbreak forces Steelers to lose second weekend off

For the third time this season, the Steelers will have another of their games moved because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

And for the second time, it will be a game against the Ravens that has been moved.

The NFL announced Wednesday that the Steelers' Thursday night game against the Ravens has been moved to Sunday following a rash of positive COVID-19 tests within Baltimore's organization. As of Wednesday morning, the Ravens had placed four players on the Reserve/COVID List and reportedly had six front office members, including one coach, test positive, as well.

The Ravens are reportedly set to announce another spate of players who would not have been eligible to play in this game because of contact tracing that put them in close proximity to players who have tested positive.

The Ravens already have running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram, nose tackle Brandon Williams and linebacker Pernell McPhee on the Reserve/COVID List. The latest additions to the list are defensive end Calais Campbell and offensive linemen Matt Skura and Pat Mekari. Skura was replaced by Mekhari at center last week, meaning he had extensive close contact with quarterback Lamar Jackson.

The Ravens announced on Wednesday evening that they had disciplined a staff member for conduct surrounding the cases. NFL.com's Tom Pelissero reported that the staff member was a strength and conditioning coach who was "not reporting symptoms and not consistently wearing a mask or tracking device, which may have contributed to the team's rash of COVID-19 cases."

The game will now be played at 1:15 p.m. Sunday on NBC.

But Dr. Alan Sills, the league's chief medical officer, said the he and his staff looked deeply into this situation and decided it was not prudent to have the Ravens play Thursday.

"We feel like we have a good handle on when transmission occurred and how it occurred," Sills said in an interview with NFL Network's Judy Battista. "We feel like we're just a couple of days away from being out of that window of vulnerability for a transmission event.

"Right now, as of tomorrow, we would not have confidence in moving forward. ... At present, we're targeting Sunday, absent any new information that would change the facts that we have right now."

The Steelers had their previous meeting with the Ravens moved from Week 7 to Week 8 because of an outbreak with the Titans. The Steelers had been scheduled to play the Titans in Week 4, but the team had more than 20 players and staff members test positive for the virus that week, leading to the game's postponement.

That forced the Steelers to take their bye in Week 4, instead of Week 8, as originally scheduled. The league then moved the Steelers-Titans game to Week 7 and shifted the game against the Ravens to Week 8.

The Steelers (10-0) had been planning to play Baltimore (6-4) on a short week. They did not practice on Monday and held a limited practice on Tuesday before holding a regular practice Wednesday, perhaps with the knowledge that something was amiss.

Now, with the game shifted to Sunday, the team will have Thanksgiving Day as their off day this week and a regular practice Friday. Players had expected to have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off after the Thursday night game. They would not have returned to practice until next Wednesday, essentially giving them a full week off.

Understandably, they were not happy with the move.

The Thanksgiving Day game was to be the first hosted by the Steelers in team history. They also were going to wear their Color Rush uniforms for the prime time game, which had been scheduled to be broadcast on NBC. The team has announced that it will still wear the alternate jerseys, which it needs league approval to wear.

In a similar situation just a couple of weeks ago, the NFL forced the Packers and 49ers to play on a Thursday night despite Green Bay having several players test positive earlier in the week. San Francisco also placed players on the Reserve/COVID List that week after contract tracing showed they had close contact with wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, who had been placed on the list earlier.

The Ravens will now be forced to play on a short week in Week 13. After playing the Steelers Sunday, they will host the Cowboys next Thursday. The Steelers host the Washington Football Team in Week 13.

This also was to be the Steelers' final game under Pennsylvania's fan attendance rules that allowed up to 12,000 fans into the stadium. The state issued a new rule last week that will limit sporting events to no more than 2,500 in attendance -- players, fans, media, stadium workers -- starting Friday.

The Steelers announced Wednesday afternoon the state will not permit them to have fans.

"Based on the new orders and advisories from the state of Pennsylvania that go into effect on Friday, unfortunately we will not be permitted to host fans in the seating bowl on Sunday," said Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten. "We are disappointed for those fans who had planned on attending Thursday night's game. Our Ticket Office will communicate soon with those fans who purchased tickets from us regarding credits and refunds."