Raiders Game Switched From Sunday Night Football To Sunday 1 PM Start At Allegiant Stadium In Las Vegas
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It seems like the NFL might be getting a little nervous about the Las Vegas Raiders’ COVID-19 player issues and the league wants to make sure it has a game available for Sunday Night Football.
NFL said Sunday’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Las Vegas Raiders prime-time game has been moved to 4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT on FOX after being the high-profile Sunday Night Football game.
Meanwhile, the time of the Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals game was switched and will now be played at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC as the Sunday Night Game telecast.
The NFL said, “These decisions were made out of an abundance of caution to ensure that a game would be available for fans on Sunday Night Football . . . We expect the Buccaneers-Raiders game to be played on Sunday afternoon. Scheduling decisions are made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel and in consultation with medical experts.”
The Raiders have struggled with COVID-19, as offensive tackle Trent Brown and cornerback Damon Arnette were placed on the COVID-19 reserve list and defensive tackle Maurice Hurst was back on the roster Monday after spending 13 days on the COVID-19 reserve list.
On Friday, here’s coach Jon Gruden’s response to the COVID-19 impact:
And the other starting offensive linemen — Kolton Miller, Denzelle Good, Rodney Hudson and Gabe Jackson — were also sent home because of their lack of physical distance to Brown and then were placed on the COVID-19 list Thursday. They joined safety Johnathan Abram on the list. There’s a chance the four linemen can play Sunday if they do not show symptoms and test negative daily before the Sunday match-up with Tampa Bay and its quarterback, Tom Brady.
The Sports Business Daily posted: “There is video evidence that ‘revealed violations of intensive protocol measures during practices that included several players not wearing masks or face shields.’ ”
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Here are offensive coordinator Greg Olson’s respones to questions about the COVID-19 impact on the offensive linemen:
Gruden said earlier this week, “We had to send five our starting linemen home today because they had a tracer. I guess they were around Trent.”
Gruden explained, “We’re listening to the league and they’re advising us on what to do . . . Hopefully we’ll get some players back tomorrow or for Sunday.”
More than two weeks ago, the NFL fined Raiders players for violating coronavirus protocols. Raiders tight end Darren Waller, who held his foundation’s fund-raiser where players were seen without masks in Henderson last month, was fined $30,000. Nine other Raiders platers were there, too, and they were fined a total of $165,000. Players Derek Carr, Derek Carrier, Zay Jones, Nevin Lawson, Erik Magnuson, Foster Moreau, Nathan Peterman, Hunter Renfrow, Jason Witten were each fined $15,000 apiece.
