NFL Schedule Changes Due to COVID-19

[Hedge]

Below are the schedule changes, so far, due to players testing positive for COVID-19.

 

Week #4:

NE @ KC was moved from Sunday to Monday night.

Team responsible for the change: NE

KC won 26-10.

 

PIT @ TEN was moved from Week #4 to Week #7. Both teams had their bye week pushed to Week #4.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

Week #5:

BUF @ TEN was moved from Sunday to Tuesday night (7 PM Eastern). If TEN has anyone test positive within the next few days, the Bills will revert back to a Thursday night game at KC, however.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

DEN @ NE was moved from Sunday to Monday (11 AM Eastern, and yes, that does appear to be the correct time).

Team responsible for the change: NE

 

Week #6:

BUF @ KC was moved from Thursday to Sunday, assuming TEN no longer produces positive test results.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

Week #7:

PIT @ TEN was moved from Week #4 to Week #7.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

PIT @ BAL was moved from Week #7 to Week #8.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

BAL bye week was moved to Week #7 to accommodate PIT vs BAL in Week #8.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

Week #8:

PIT @ BAL was moved from Week #7 to Week #8.

Team responsible for the change: TEN

 

*******

As of 10/09/20 this is the number of ripples each team has caused:

TEN: 7

NE: 2

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by Hedge

[Hedge]

And possibly more changes coming:

 

 

[Hedge]

 

 

[B-Man]

Good grief.

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeYouToTasker 2.0]

Great thread.

[Hedge]

It's becoming quickly apparent that if a team or two has COVID related issues on the back half of the season that there will not be a way to address making up games, unless the regular season gets extended. These schedule changes are already being made out to Week #11. As we progress further into the season, the number of weeks that can be monkeyed with gets smaller. So, if the NFL is dead set on not lengthening the season, which they seem to be, the only option at that point will be to bring game forfeitures into play. Any team, however, that loses a game that was rescheduled earlier in the year due to the other team's COVID issues will effectively be penalized, should forfeitures later come into play. For example, if BUF lost to TEN, in a COVID delayed game (caused by TEN), but if BAL got a forfeiture against TEN, this will cause severe unfairness in playoff seeding.  IMO due to this, I think forfeitures cannot be used at all this season, unless it begins immediately and both PIT and BUF are awarded a win against TEN. KC was also affected, but they beat NE, so the current state at least doesn't adversely affect KC's record.

 

I also think the NFL needs to look at bye weeks right now. If two teams that are scheduled for the same bye week play each other later in the season, they should play during their current bye week. For example, SD and LV both have scheduled byes next week. They have two future games scheduled against each other. One of those game dates should be swapped with the bye week, so that will open up more possibilities for future rescheduling options.

[TakeYouToTasker 2.0]

Apparently Week 18 is on the table.  In fact, nothing is off the table as far as extending the season goes, apparently.

 

The NFL is holding those cards very tightly, however, trying to force the season forward until the point that they absolutely can’t anymore.

[Ann]

Rescheduling games, devastating injuries, firing coaches: Inside a chaotic Sunday in the NFL
 

</snip>

(from a Prominent NFL team official)
 

“This is going to get hard. People have to realize it’s very likely that not every team will play 16 games. Right now, we can be flexible to some degree with the schedule, but when we start running out of bye weeks to play with, that’s when we have to face the fact that a few teams might play 14 or 15 games. We all know that’s not ideal. But we’re playing football. Keep your mind on that.”
 

</snip>
 

(and)
 

I’m fascinated by one tributary of what’s happened with all the schedule changes. Kansas City at Buffalo was supposed to be the Thursday night game in Week 6. It was tentatively moved to Sunday after the Bills got scheduled to play Tuesday in Tennessee this week. Now it got moved to Monday night at 5 p.m. in Buffalo. Why is this interesting to me? Because it took the Thursday night game, and a very good one, off a prime-time window. Those games, roughly, are worth $60 million a game to the NFL. By moving the game to Monday at 5 p.m. and keeping it on FOX, it gave a great game to a bad time slot, but it avoided making FOX take a lesser game in the only part of the network inventory that is flexible: Saturday windows in Weeks 15 and 16.
 

</snip>

[Ann]