The Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Houston Texans weren’t performed any favors by the NFL’s schedule-makers for the stretch run of the 2024 season.
All 4 had been in motion on Saturday.
All 4 will play on Wednesday.
All 4 are in the midst of a stretch the place they’re being requested to play three soccer video games in a 10-day stretch. That’s daunting, it’s grueling, and it isn’t splendid for retaining gamers wholesome.
With all of that stated, it is usually value declaring that every one 4 groups that performed on Saturday suffered important accidents throughout Saturday’s video games.
The Houston Texans misplaced vast receiver Tank Dell to a ugly leg damage whereas catching a landing within the fourth quarter towards the Chiefs.
Chiefs celebrity defensive deal with Chris Jones needed to depart that very same recreation as a result of a leg damage of his personal late within the fourth quarter, whereas offensive linemen Jawaan Taylor and Jack Cochrane had been additionally injured in that recreation.
An already banged-up Steelers secondary had one other damage when beginning cornerback Joey Porter Jr. left Saturday’s recreation in Baltimore with what head coach Mike Tomlin known as a knee damage after the sport.
Ravens operating again Justice Hill was additionally injured of their win over the Steelers. He suffered a head damage within the second quarter and was dominated out for the remainder of the sport as a result of a concussion.
That doesn’t even consider different accidents all of those groups are already coping with, together with Kansas Metropolis’s Patrick Mahomes, who was injured every week in the past in Cleveland, the primary of their three video games throughout this stretch.
It’s truthful to level out that accidents can — and can — occur all through the course of a season, and a few of them will probably be important. Soccer is a violent, collision sport. Accidents are part of that and are, from a big-picture standpoint, unavoidable.
That can also be why restoration occasions are essential for gamers and why asking them to play two consecutive quick weeks (going from Sunday to Saturday after which Saturday to Wednesday) on the finish of what’s already an extended season is a harmful and reckless determination by the NFL.
Sure, they may all get an prolonged time frame off earlier than their subsequent video games in Week 18, however that doesn’t outweigh the harm that may be performed after consecutive quick weeks.
Perhaps a few of these accidents occur with regular durations of relaxation.
Perhaps they had been unavoidable.
However that doesn’t take away from the chance and bodily toll that that is going to tackle gamers, particularly as all 4 groups put together to go into the playoffs.
All of that is being performed so the NFL can take over Christmas Day on TV with a double-header of video games. They are going to be nice matchups. Hundreds of thousands upon tens of millions of individuals will watch. Will probably be a monetary win for the league. It’s comprehensible as to why they wished that.
If it was that essential to have two video games on Christmas when the vacation falls in the midst of the week, the NFL ought to have performed the sensible and protected factor and given all 4 of those groups their bye week late within the season and given them satisfactory time to relaxation, particularly late within the season when the video games tackle added significance.