'That's a Big Concern': Two-Day Delay of Game With Rams Creates Scheduling, Player Safety Headache For Seahawks
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RENTON, WA — A week of nightmares has finally come to a head for the NFL: three Week 15 contests have been delayed due to a striking rise of COVID-19 cases league-wide, including the Seahawks' matchup with the Rams. Instead of its initial 1:25 p.m. time slot on Sunday, the game will now be played on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.
Los Angeles currently has 26 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list; among them are running back Darrell Henderson Jr., receiver Odell Beckham Jr., linebacker Von Miller and safety Jordan Fuller. Seattle, which had just one COVID positive prior to this week, is down running back Alex Collins and receiver Tyler Lockett. The NFL is hoping the two extra days will allow for some of these players to make it back in time for kickoff, especially on L.A.'s side of things.
While further delays are certainly not out of the question, for now the Seahawks are set to play their first-ever Tuesday game in franchise history. The Rams have taken part in such an affair once before, all the way back in 1941 when they defeated the Chicago Cardinals by a score of 10-6 as the Cleveland Rams.
With the extreme volume of cases on L.A.'s roster, postponing the game was an easy decision for the league. However, although these measures were taken for the sake of player health and safety, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll argues that could still be at great risk for other reasons if the NFL opts to take no further action.
“Yes, that’s a big concern," Carroll expressed to reporters on Friday. "Any time you play on Thursday, or this is like a Friday game, I think, it’s a big burden on the players, it’s a big burden on the recovery time and it’s not what their bodies want to do. They are trained to have a whole week to recover, and they don’t get it."
As of now, the Seahawks are still scheduled to play the Bears at Lumen Field next Sunday. If this remains to be the case, Seattle will have just four days to recover from its trip to Inglewood and prepare to face Chicago.
"If our game could be moved back to Monday, that could help us some," Carroll continued. "I don’t know, that would kind of get in the middle of next week as well. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m not a fan of that for the player’s sake.”
If the league were to fulfill Carroll's wish, the Seahawks would then have five days worth of rest and preparation between their next two games. Afterwards, they would return to a normal six-day timeframe ahead of their regular season finale in Arizona. But recent reports indicate such a move is unlikely to happen.
On top of navigating a pandemic, NFL teams like Seattle are trying to keep their players in as good a physical condition as possible to prevent other ailments from being sustained. So while this delay may solve one major issue, it also throws additional hurdles at teams attempting to survive the natural grind of a season's final stretch.
For the Seahawks, it's been proven that, yes, the uncharted waters they've treaded all year long can go deeper. Having been fortunate enough to avoid situations like this since the start of the pandemic, Carroll and crew must finally face the reality that has found its way into the lives of far too many.
“Yeah, I think this is just the way we are living now," Carroll said. "Everybody is finding themselves in-positioned in some regard and we have to deal with it. What I would say about it is that it is about your attitude, it’s way more about attitude than it is about what you actually have to do. If you can keep mentally clear like we have done a really good job for a long time here, and not be overwhelmed by it, you can function better, make more of it, and handle it better. This is just what’s going on and this isn’t the end of it, there is more to come. That’s unfortunate in that regard, but I do think we can get prepared for handling all of the changes and that’s what we are trying to do.”
