Cris Collinsworth 'understands' COVID-19 dangers, but says playing Steelers-Ravens game was right call
'I have yet to have anybody tell me that playing football outside is spreading the disease.'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}During Wednesday's NFL’s broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game, NBC color commentator Cris Collinsworth, a former wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, decided to play the role of a doctor with the coronavirus outbreak slamming the Ravens organization.
Play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico asked Collinsworth if it was the right call to squeeze the game in on Wednesday afternoon, despite being postponed three times: first from Thanksgiving to Sunday, then from Sunday to Tuesday, and eventually from Tuesday to Wednesday.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I’m the worst person to ask that question,” Collinsworth responded. “Because I always think they should go play. I always want to go outside and do the things… I understand the danger, but I have yet to have anybody tell me that playing football outside is spreading the disease."
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Collinsworth continued: “We were talking to [Baltimore Ravens head coach] John Harbaugh about this a little bit yesterday, and he really felt the soft-spot of the equation was inside the locker room. It’s not outside playing the games, or outside practicing, it’s when you have to come into the locker room, and it’s a fairly confined area. And that’s how the spread got started in Baltimore.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The game went on as scheduled -- albeit in the afternoon as opposed to primetime -- and it was the Steelers remaining undefeated (11-0) with a 19-14 victory over their long-time AFC North rivals. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for 266 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, to edge out the undermanned Ravens.
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The Ravens (6-5) lost their third straight while playing without more than a dozen players on the reserve/COVID-19 list, including reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and running backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Backup quarterback Robert Griffin III struggled in Jackson's place, turning it over twice in the first quarter and completing 7 of 12 passes before being replaced by Trace McSorley midway through the fourth quarter after injuring his left hamstring.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.