The Washington at Philadelphia game scheduled for Sunday has been moved to Tuesday. The matchup is one of three games the NFL has moved because of COVID-19 outbreaks, officials announced Friday.
The Las Vegas at Cleveland game has moved from Saturday to Monday at 5 p.m. and the Seattle at the Los Angeles Rams game has shifted from Sunday to Tuesday at 7 p.m. That is when the Washington-Philadelphia game will also take place.
Three people with knowledge of the decisions told The Associated Press about the changes. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the league had not yet announced the new schedule.
Previously, the NFL did not plan to move any games because of coronavirus outbreaks. But recent developments with the omicron strain of COVID-19 has changed the league’s thinking.
The Browns, Rams and Washington Football Team are all experiencing major outbreaks of COVID-19. All three clubs have at least 20 players on their COVID-19 reserve lists.
The NFL made it clear that postponing games would not be something they'd like to do. The 2021 season marks the league's first with a 17 game regular season, so the league said it did not anticipate adding another week to the schedule to play postponed games.
But postponements, while not a "right" for clubs, can happen this season, and the league made the call to do so Friday.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) December 17, 2021
