Ravens-Steelers was the 18th NFL game this season to be rescheduled due to safety concernsGETTY IMAGES
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has "claimed his life's mission is 'to protect the shield,' meaning the NFL's logo," but in '20, his "means of protection include browbeating and sheer bullheadedness," according to Mark Bradley of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Sometimes Goodell's way of protecting his shield is "to beat it within an inch of its eye." The Broncos last Sunday "were made to play the least competitive game in NFL annals because they ran out of quarterbacks, a development that prompted the NFL to shed nary a tear." It "was a farce, but to the NFL, a farce beats a cancellation or a forfeit." The same applied to Ravens-Steelers yesterday afternoon, which was supposed to be played on Thanksgiving but got postponed three times. Bradley: "Better to push a game into the middle of next week, literally, than to have no game" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 12/3). In Ft. Lauderdale, Dave Hyde writes this past week "has been a good lesson for everyone in sports that playing games in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic is exactly what you'd fear from playing games in the middle of a pandemic." Football "always was going to be tough with the high numbers of people involved in a team and no bubble." It has "lived up to expectations" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 12/3).
PLAYING WITH FIRE: In Pittsburgh, Gene Collier notes Ravens-Steelers was the 18th NFL game to be rescheduled this season and there will be "at least 18 more" unless Goodell decides to "throw in the towel in the next few weeks." If fans thought yesterday's game was "shaggy, what do you figure this league is going to look like at Christmas?" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 12/3). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Andrew Beaton writes the NFL over the years "has become famous for its meticulous concern over competitive fairness." But the Saints-Broncos blowout "was just one indication of how the pandemic crushed that notion." That game "was followed by a stretch in which Baltimore and Pittsburgh players continued to test positive, and the Ravens had difficulty even staging a simple practice with their skeleton crew of healthy personnel" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/3). SI.com's Albert Breer wrote, "This is the bargain everyone made over the summer, with the decision to move forward." Breer: "Maybe we should've expected some sort of circumstance like this to arise all along" (SI.com, 12/2).
MORE ACCOUNTABILITY NEEDED: In N.Y., Pat Leonard writes if the NFL "wants compliance" with its COVID safety protocols, it "can start by disciplining Tom Brady, the face of the league, for routinely flaunting the league's post-game mask rule on the occasions he does grace an opposing quarterback with a handshake." If NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills "wants to blast compliance as the problem, the NFL can't let Brady or anyone play by their own rules." Leonard: "If Brady can get away with it, why should anyone else abide?" (N.Y. POST, 12/3).
