By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times
Due to a COVID-19 outbreak impacting the Rams, the Seattle Seahawks’ game in Los Angeles has been moved to 4 p.m. Tuesday, the NFL announced Friday.
The game had been set for Sunday at 1:25 p.m.
As of Friday, the Rams have placed 29 players on the COVID-19 reserve list during the past week, including stars such as defensive end Von Miller, receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
The game was one of three moved by the NFL on Friday due to the quick spread of COVID-19 throughout the league — more than 120 players had been placed on the reserve list as of Thursday.
In a statement, the league said “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.”
Moving the game will present a tough turnaround for Seattle for its game Dec. 26 at home against Chicago at 1:05 p.m. as it was confirmed that game will not be moved. That means the Seahawks will get back from Los Angeles early Wednesday morning and now have to work throughout Christmas week to prepare for the game against the Bears.
The Seahawks were said to not be happy that the game was moved, and now having a tight turnaround to the game against the Bears, in part because Seattle has had just three players placed on the COVID-19 reserve list all season. Two occurred this week when receiver Tyler Lockett and running back Alex Collins were placed on the list Thursday. Tight end Gerald Everett missed two games earlier in the season after testing positive.
The schedule changes also ran somewhat counter to protocols established by the league in July stating that every effort would be taken to not postpone games, and if teams couldn’t play, they would have to take a forfeit. But one of the requirements for a game to be forfeited was that it be caused by an outbreak of unvaccinated players.
“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,” the league stated in July. (Teams have 69 or 70 total players on their roster, including the practice squad, and can call up those players to replace those on the 53 who are on the COVID-19 reserve list. Teams need 44 to play, according to NFL rules).
But in a statement released Friday afternoon, the league cited the rise of the Omicron variant as a factor in moving the game (the Cleveland-Las Vegas game was moved from Saturday to Monday and Washington-Philadephia from Sunday to Tuesday).
“The emergence of the Omicron variant is precisely the kind of change that warrants a flexible response,” the memo stated.
A report from Yahoo.com stetted the NFL Players Association argued with the league that the situation qualified as “uncontrolled spread despite adherence to protocols”.
Also players from both teams would not have been paid in the event of a forfeit, and the Yahoo report stated “the goal of the union was to make sure all six teams’ players didn’t lose their game checks.”
That most players impacted had been vaccinated apparently helped lead to the decision, which was reported to be pushed by the league’s Players Association as a safety issue.
Rams coach Sean McVay said this year that the team had close to 100% vaccination rate and said early in the week that all the players initially impacted had been vaccinated.
Seattle had just two players on the reserve list — receiver Tyler Lockett and running back Alex Collins — who each went on it Thursday.
News of the move did not appear popular among some Seahawks on social media.
Snapper Tyler Ott quote tweeted “Ha!” to a tweet from former Seahawk K.J. Wright — now playing for the Raiders, whose game against Cleveland was moved to Monday — “We agreed that their wouldn’t be any postponed game this season right?!”
Safety Quandre Diggs responded to the same tweet stating “Lol you what this is all about!”
The game will remain televised on FOX.
Another reason the Seahawks are likely not happy with the move is that the Rams were coming off a Monday night game at Arizona, a contest Los Angeles won to improve to 9-4. Seattle played last Sunday in Houston and would have had an extra day of rest for the game. Now, not only will the Rams potentially get back many players on the list but the rest and preparation periods will be evened out.
The NFL on Thursday announced changes to their return-to-play protocols for vaccinated players that the league hopes will allow more players to come back more quickly (basically, that players can now get a negative test and a rapid negative test in the same day and then be cleared to return. Previously, players needed to test negative twice 24 hours apart).
Los Angeles beat the Seahawks in Seattle 26-17 on Oct. 7. Seattle is 5-8 after a 33-13 win over the Texans on Sunday to keep its slim playoff hopes alive.
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