The Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Houston Texans weren’t completed any favors by the NFL’s schedule-makers for the stretch run of the 2024 season.
All 4 have been in motion on Saturday.
All 4 will play on Wednesday.
All 4 are in the course 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’s not very best for retaining gamers wholesome.
With all of that mentioned, additionally it is value stating that each one 4 groups that performed on Saturday suffered vital accidents throughout Saturday’s video games.
The Houston Texans misplaced huge 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 go away that very same sport on account of a leg damage of his personal late within the fourth quarter, whereas offensive linemen Jawaan Taylor and Jack Cochrane have been additionally injured in that sport.
An already banged-up Steelers secondary had one other damage when beginning cornerback Joey Porter Jr. left Saturday’s sport in Baltimore with what head coach Mike Tomlin known as a knee damage after the sport.
Ravens working 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 on account of a concussion.
That doesn’t even take into consideration 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 honest to level out that accidents can — and can — occur all through the course of a season, and a few of them will likely be vital. 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 resolution by the NFL.
Sure, they’ll all get an prolonged time period off earlier than their subsequent video games in Week 18, however that doesn’t outweigh the injury that may be completed after consecutive quick weeks.
Perhaps a few of these accidents occur with regular durations of relaxation.
Perhaps they have been unavoidable.
However that doesn’t take away from the danger and bodily toll that that is going to tackle gamers, particularly as all 4 groups put together to move into the playoffs.
All of that is being completed 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. It will likely be a monetary win for the league. It’s comprehensible as to why they needed that.
If it was that essential to have two video games on Christmas when the vacation falls in the course of the week, the NFL ought to have completed the good and protected factor and given all 4 of those groups their bye week late within the season and given them ample time to relaxation, particularly late within the season when the video games tackle added significance.
