Tim Benz: NFL isn’t trying to pinch Steelers. It’s just too dumb to realize that’s what’s happening.
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The litany of complaints from Steelers fans over the years is extensive. Ben Roethlisberger’s 2010 suspension without being charged with a crime. James Harrison’s suspension and constant fines. The Jesse James play. And what exactly happened to those Spygate tapes anyway?
I know. I know. “The NFL is out to get the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Yes, that belief exists.
Been on Twitter at all this week? You’ll see.
It appears a large chunk of social media is of the belief that the league is intentionally trying to screw the Steelers based on its never-ending attempts to push back the franchise’s game with the Baltimore Ravens.
The NFL wants to make this a competitive game SOOOOOO BAD and will screw over the Steelers at any cost to get the Ravens at full strength to do so…. brutal
— Handsome Jerr™ (@GerardSpiga) November 27, 2020
Considering all the other teams that didn't get their schedules altered, and the one common opponent for the 2 who did, do you still believe the Steelers aren't being targeted?
— Rob (@WildernessRob) December 1, 2020
Exactly.. the protocols have gotten stricter and evolved as everyone learned more about the virus. But no matter what the ravens had the worst outbreak in all of sports that they assumed responsibility for. Goodell loves the ravens and hates steelers. No discipline hhaha
— FantasyFBgreek (@fantasyfbgreek) November 30, 2020
Why do I feel like the @NFL is trying it’s best to not let the @steelers go undefeated ??? They let the Broncos play with a practice squad receiver as starting qb. Now I’m not saying their biased, no, I am. Can we get some real clarity on why there seems to be favoritism?
— Dustin Palmer (@Dustin_S_Palmer) November 30, 2020
Roger Goodell hates Pittsburgh. It’s been obvious over the years, but this is ridiculous. #pathetic #nfl #HereWeGo #Steelers
— Sean McDonald (@LastBakedPotato) November 26, 2020
The contest was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night. Then Sunday afternoon. Then eventually Tuesday night. And now it is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Why Wednesday afternoon? Because the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting is Wednesday night on NBC.
Have you seen that tree this year? It’s tattered. It makes the Charlie Brown Christmas tree look like the one in Clark Griswold’s house during “Christmas Vacation.”
This is the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree this year? Guess that it makes sense for 2020. pic.twitter.com/QeiJpikY9G
— Kevin Sparrow (@KevinSparrow8) November 28, 2020
The mayor of New York City doesn’t even want you to visit the thing this holiday season. But they are televising the light up in primetime. That’s what is bumping Steelers-Ravens to a Wednesday afternoon?!
Yeesh! Obviously, there is an NFL conspiracy against the Steelers. The league clearly has a vast plot to undermine one of its most consistently excellent, tradition-rich, profitable and globally popular organizations.
Obviously, it is in the best interest of Commissioner Roger Goodell to derail the team’s success in a pandemic season, while the club is potentially en route to becoming his league’s first unbeaten team since 1972.
What national viewing curiosity could there possibly be in a story like that, am I right?
Is my sarcasm oozing through yet? Sometimes I’m not sure if I lay it on thick enough.
It does amuse me how this franchise — which has been so frequently blessed over the last 50 years — simultaneously has a fan base that consistently plays the role of an aggrieved, abused party. For a league that so often targets the Steelers, it must be doing a lousy job. Ya know, given the six Vince Lombardi Trophies and 17 straight years of .500 or better football and whatnot.
No, the NFL isn’t intentionally messing with the Steelers’ unbeaten season via its handling of the Ravens’ coronavirus outbreak. The league is just too dumb to realize that’s what is happening.
Sure, the NFL has helped the Ravens through their covid-19 crisis by delaying the game as long as possible. If running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram test negative Tuesday and Wednesday, they should be able to return from the covid-19 inactive list by kickoff.
Meanwhile, Steelers starters Stephon Tuitt and James Conner are now on the list when they wouldn’t have been had the game been played as scheduled on Thanksgiving. And Baltimore may get some players back they otherwise wouldn’t have against the Dallas Cowboys, too, had that game been played this Thursday night as originally scheduled.
That’s a farce.
The Ravens apparently shut down their own facility on Friday. The Baltimore players were reportedly threatening not to play Tuesday because they didn’t have at least one day of practice. All this after it became known that their strength and conditioning coach, Steve Saunders, didn’t always wear his tracking device or a mask. It’s also been written that he failed to report symptoms of illness.
Yet the league is tying itself in knots to accommodate the Ravens as much as possible. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos had to play a game without a rostered NFL quarterback on Sunday, and the league never batted an eyelash.
As for the Steelers, they still should beat Baltimore given all of their other player absences, including quarterback Lamar Jackson. But now the team has to work on a short week before getting Washington on Monday night. Then that leads to another short week before visiting Buffalo Sunday night.
And that’s where all this schedule finagling may back up and pinch the Steelers. If not priming the pump for an upset from a more-rested Washington team, then potentially for an exhausted trip to play on the road against another AFC division leader.
I’m not saying concessions should be made for the Steelers because they are unbeaten. I’m just wondering why so many are being made for the Ravens. As opposed to the Broncos or San Francisco 49ers or Las Vegas Raiders in recent weeks.
And to the degree that the likes of Dallas and Washington are also being impacted.
Right now, it just looks like the Ravens got lazy in their protocols but worked the system to offset the consequences as much as possible. At the expense of other franchises. And the league itself. And its television partners.
The easy response is to say, “The league is doing whatever it can to contain the spread! It’s for player safety.” OK. Well, then it should’ve created a buffer week after Week 13 when all of the naturally scheduled byes expired, as I suggested back in October. Or implemented a “Week 18.”
Or if player safety was really the concern, they should’ve created a bubble situation. Or never started play in September at all.
Now that play has started, though, it’s time to soldier through until the league is forced to install those other measures. If you can field a team, you play.
Like Pitt did against Virginia Tech, beating the Hokies (47-14) with 16 players absent because of covid-19 protocol. Or Virginia Tech did when it played down 23 guys a few weeks before that.
Goodell needs to clearly outline the parameters for what constitutes a gameday-eligible team, an uncontained spread, the need for rescheduling a game and forfeit-necessary guidelines.
Otherwise, this unending slew of kick-the-can-down-the-road rescheduling is going to fatigue fans and create a backlog of games — and positive cases — that may result in a playoff delay anyway.
That’s if Goodell is still the commissioner. At least this week, anyway, it looks like Ravens coach John Harbaugh is more in charge than anyone at the league office.