The NFL tried to create the most balanced and competitively-relevant schedule for Sunday’s regular-season finale. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy with the outcome.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh, for instance, isn’t pleased that his team’s home game against the Bengals has been moved from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET.
“I don’t think the NFL did us any favors by moving it back,” Harbaugh said Tuesday, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. “But they don’t care about us. So we just have to care about ourselves. We have to take care of our own business. That goes for our team, for our fans and for our city. Let’s go win the football game.”
Harbaugh’s concern is that the later start time could result in more no-shows, a dynamic the team recently attributed to anthem protests.
“I don’t know what their considerations are at the league office, and why they do what they do,” Harbaugh said. “I really don’t care, other than the fact that I hope our fans are OK with it. I hope they’re into it. I hope people get there. The people who have plans, I hope they give their tickets to someone else so they get there. I want the place to be packed and loud.”
The league moved multiple games with potential playoff implications to 4:25 p.m. ET, so that all of the relevant if-this-team-wins-and-that-team-loses permutations would play out at the same time. Only seven games will be played at 1:00 p.m. ET; the other nine each will start at 4:25 p.m. ET.
For the Ravens, the competition among them, the Titans, the Chargers, and the Bills for the two AFC wild-card berths resulted in all four games being played at the same time.
Of course, the other games aren’t relevant to the Ravens unless and until they lose to the Bengals, since a win puts Baltimore in. Harbaugh likely thinks the chance of a win are greater at 1:00 p.m. ET, since that would also present a greater chance that the crowd will be large and loud.
It still could have been worse; the Ravens could have been tapped to play at 8:30 p.m. ET. But the league wisely decided to put no one in that spot, since none of the games presents a playoff play-in scenario independent of the outcomes from earlier games.
