Hurricane Irma, recently classified as a Level 5 category storm, is fast approaching the state of Florida — leaving it predicted to hit Miami right as the Dolphins and Bucs game was scheduled to kick off. This put the NFL in quite a predicament as the game would not be safe to play during that time as most of South Florida is already being evacuated. Rather than moving the game to Tuesday or another day this week — similar to the Eagles-Vikings game in 2010 that was moved due to a blizzard, the lovely NFL decided the smartest outcome was to move this game to both teams’ Week 11 bye week.
For a league that preaches player safety, this is a ridiculous outcome. Rather than pushing the game back two days, the NFL is more concerned that they will not generate the same audience on a Tuesday night than a regular Sunday. The ripple effect for both of these teams is huge, as they go from having a coveted late-season bye week to an unheard of Week 1 bye. No doubt the players will struggle from having to compete 16 weeks in a row, with an added risk to even more players being prone to injury.
Players are starting to speak out as well with the NFL under scrutiny from their decision:
https://twitter.com/JOEL9ONE/status/905174766453174272
Not surprisingly, the NFL has dropped the ball once again. Fans of the Bucs and Dolphins who were looking forward to watching their team play this week will have to wait another week and will be forced to watch their teams gassed out by the end of the year.
Office Chatter 