NFL postpones Seahawks-Rams to Tuesday. Runs counter to league directives on COVID-19
The NFL has postponed the Seahawks’ must-win game at the Los Angeles Rams from Sunday to Tuesday.
The game will now kickoff at 4 p.m. Pacific Time Tuesday in Inglewood, California.
The move is counter to the league’s directives to teams in July for how it will conduct the 2021 season in the wake of outbreaks of COVID-19.
Friday’s postponement comes after a week in which the Rams have put 25 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
The Seahawks have put two on the list: top wide receiver Tyler Lockett and season-rushing rusher Alex Collins.
“We are not going to let us affect us, at all...we’ll go play,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
“It’s going to be Tuesday, instead of Sunday.”
In July, the NFL sent to teams a memorandum dictating how it would handle a rash of positive COVID cases in a game week.
The 11th and 12 items of that memo state:
“Every club is obligated under the Constitution and Bylaws to have its team ready to play at the scheduled time and place. A failure to do so is deemed conduct detrimental. There is no right to postpone a game. Postponements will only occur if required by government authorities, medical experts, or at the Commissioner’s discretion.
“ In light of the substantial roster flexibility in place for the 2021 season, absent medical considerations or government directives, games will not be postponed or rescheduled simply to avoid roster issues caused by injury or illness affecting multiple players, even within a position group.”
The NFL also postponed the Las Vegas Raiders’ game at Cleveland scheduled for Saturday to Monday, and Washington’s game at Philadelphia from Sunday to Tuesday. The Browns have had more than 20 players added to the COVID list this week, including 11 starters, quarterback Baker Mayfield and his backup.
Moving the Seahawks’ game at the Rams to Sunday gives Los Angeles better opportunity to have many of its 25 COVID-listed players test negative twice and return to full duty by 24 hours before kickoff. That’s the league’s new COVID protocols it issued Thursday in this changing-by-the-hour situation.
It also sets up a situation where Seattle now plays at Los Angeles Tuesday night, will fly home into Wednesday morning, then have a home game against Chicago five days later, with Christmas in that five-day span.
Suboptimal, to say the least.
“Yes, that’s big concern,” Carroll said of his team’s game against the Bears on the backside of the rescheduled Rams game. “It’s a big burden on the players...it’s not what their bodies want to do.”
Carroll said he did not know what the NFL might do with that Chicago-Seattle game Dec. 26. He said the league and the players union are rescheduling these games for COVID reason, and teams are merely reacting to those decisions.
“We have made these schedule changes based on medical advice and after discussion with the NFLPA as we are seeing a new, highly transmissable form of the virus this week resulting in a substantial increase in cases across the league,” the NFL said in its statement.
“We continue to make decisions in consultation with medical experts to ensure the health and safety of the NFL community.”
As news began leaking of the changes Friday, Seahawks and Raiders players were not thrilled. That was judging by their reactions online.
They see the NFL accommodating the Browns and Rams following their COVID outbreaks, at the expense of Seattle and Las Vegas.
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 12:03 PM.
