As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise throughout the country and hit major sports leagues hard, the NFL is responding by postponing three games.
With the Rams, Browns and Washington Football Team all well over 20 COVID-19 cases and with the Rams and Browns placing more players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday, the league has moved back all games involving those teams.
The following comes from the NFL:
“The Las Vegas Raiders-Cleveland Browns game scheduled for Saturday, December 18 has been moved to Monday, December 20 at 5 p.m. ET on NFL Network.
The Washington Football Team-Philadelphia Eagles game and Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams game scheduled for Sunday, December 19, have been moved to Tuesday, December 21. Washington-Philadelphia and Seattle-Los Angeles Rams will both kick off at 7 p.m. ET on FOX and also will be available on NFL Sunday Ticket.
We have made these schedule changes based on medical advice and after discussion with the NFLPA as we are seeing a new, highly transmissible form of the virus this week resulting in a substantial increase in cases across the league.
We continue to make decisions in consultation with medical experts to ensure the health and safety of the NFL community.”
The updated Week 15 schedule (all times ET):
| Saturday, December 18 | ||
| New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts | 8:15 PM | NFLN |
| Sunday, December 19 | ||
| Carolina Panthers at Buffalo Bills | 1:00 PM | FOX |
| Arizona Cardinals at Detroit Lions | 1:00 PM | FOX |
| Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars | 1:00 PM | CBS |
| New York Jets at Miami Dolphins | 1:00 PM | CBS |
| Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants | 1:00 PM | FOX |
| Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers | 1:00 PM | CBS |
| Cincinnati Bengals at Denver Broncos | 4:05 PM | CBS |
| Atlanta Falcons at San Francisco 49ers | 4:05 PM | CBS |
| Green Bay Packers at Baltimore Ravens | 4:25 PM | FOX |
| New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 8:20 PM | NBC |
| Monday, December 20 | ||
| Las Vegas Raiders at Cleveland Browns | 5:00 PM | NFLN |
| Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears | 8:15 PM | ESPN |
| Tuesday, December 21 | ||
| Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams | 7:00 PM | FOX |
| Washington Football Team at Philadelphia Eagles | 7:00 PM | FOX |
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also released the following memo explaining the decision to postpone the games.
Raiders owner Mark Davis is, of course, taking this opportunity to complain that the moves put the Raiders at a competitive disadvantage.
Perhaps the only positive part of this stunning spike in cases is that there will now be an NFL game every day from Saturday through Tuesday, followed by a 49ers game on Thursday night.