Kovacevic: Harbaugh, Ravens play the NFL, first with a violin, then like a fiddle

Sometimes the snake itself can roll snake eyes.

Again and again and again.

That's what John Harbaugh's been doing for a week straight, figuratively speaking, and he's somehow succeeded once, twice and now a third time in coercing the NFL into postponing the Steelers-Ravens game, presumably to Wednesday, 3:40 p.m., at Heinz Field.

Maybe.

If it suits him.

If his players don't suddenly summon a vocal fear of participating, but only after a final round of testing clears all active Baltimore players and coaches of coronavirus.

And oh, yeah, if Roger Goodell stumbles across his spine.

Here's the long-story-short version of the latest, complete with requisite told-you-so finger-wagging:

• Everything looked mostly awesome early today. The Steelers returned no new positive tests, had a walk-through on the South Side and did so without issue. In Owings Mills, Md., the Ravens were supposed to have a practice themselves, but they were sent home by the NFL, as league officials wanted to take extra precaution and wait one final round of test results, due to arrive at 4 p.m. It'd been made clear to all concerned that, if those tests were good, so was the Tuesday night kickoff.

• Beginning at around 2 p.m., ESPN's Adam Schefter and three Baltimore-area reporters began sharing accounts of how, even if the tests came back good, some of the Ravens might be uneasy about partaking in the game. No coincidence, their content appeared on Twitter in virtual harmony. All four reporters have acknowledged being in steady contact with Harbaugh through this whole thing and, before this, all four were chronicling Harbaugh's unauthorized closing of the Ravens' practice facility through Monday, a move brazenly, obviously aimed at applying a narrative of guilt on the NFL about playing Sunday. Shortly thereafter, the game was, bumped to Tuesday.

• At 4:17 p.m., ESPN's Dan Graziano tweeted this out:

Excellent news all around, right?

• Wait, wait, wait ... now all that buzz about Baltimore's players getting apprehensive about playing Tuesday began to grow, grow, grow. The reports crystallized. Now, it wasn't just that the players were intangibly worried. They were now going to meet later tonight to ruminate over the 'decisions' they have to make, per ESPN.

• Then, as if by magic, at 4:56 p.m., Schefter breaks the big news -- and gee, I can't begin to guess how he got it first -- with this tweet:

Woo! Way to go, Harbs! You did it!

No, really, man, one or two more stunts like this, and you'll realize the goal you've had all along, the same one I've been correctly calling out all along: Use every possible means to get this game pushed back to the mythical Week 18, thus automatically triggering, per the NFL Competition Committee's decree a month ago, an extra playoff berth in each conference.

And hey, kids, guess who'd be that eighth team?

You betcha, the same one that's in line to get steamrollered in the short term and turn a 6-4 record into see-ya well before Christmas!

The first postponement was forgivable. No, it was understandable. The Ravens had an ongoing outbreak. And even though they were entirely responsible for it -- and acknowledged as much by publicly announcing they'd punished the strength coach who'd been working without a mask  -- one strike is one strike.

The second postponement was a joke.

This one's outright scandalous.

And candidly, the scope of the stench attached to this is so colossal, I'm not even sure where to start in cutting it up.

Should it be with Harbaugh?

The league's most infantile public figure, the same one whose culture permitted the strength coach to flout protocol in the most central possible location inside Baltimore's facility, would roll a relative under a bus to take the game that Sunday. See that as a virtue as one will, but it's generally not the kind of behavior that's rewarded over time, even in sports.

Want to know how a snake operates?

Pay attention to the snake not just when it's hissing:

Ha!

That statement, put out three nights ago, was as much a head-scratcher as any other scene on this stage to date. He had no reason to issue it.

Unless ...

Unless he hoped to set the stage for whatever followed once the Ravens would eventually test positive and be forced to face the Steelers without Lamar Jackson, their top two running backs, their top wide receiver, three offensive linemen, three defensive linemen and more.

Should I focus on the Baltimore players instead?

There's meat on that bone, for sure.

The Washington Post learned that some of the Ravens' main players connected virtually with the NFL Players Association today to go over their 'options' within this setting. And by all accounts, they expressed concern not only about playing Tuesday but even about playing Wednesday should the tests come back clean again.

My counter to that: Where was all this concern before today? Why wait until the situation's finally as close to settled as it could be to share worry with anyone, much less union officials? Why was this not a thing over the weekend?

Oh, yeah, I know: Because that scheduled kickoff had already been pushed back! Right!

Try to absorb this: A bunch of NFL players got together to try to figure out how to not play an  NFL game, and they did so with not a hammer in sight. If they'd have refused to report for the Tuesday game, the league would've had zero choice but to assign a forfeit. And I'll reiterate: All of them tested negative! And also, all of them went out and practiced by nightfall Monday!

Anyone who thinks Harbaugh had nothing to do with this ... man, I'm not sure what to say. Events like this don't occur without the full knowledge -- if not the blessing, if not the orchestration -- of the head coach. They just don't. And if they don't see how he'd be able to capitalize on the cowardice in New York by calling a bluff that no one would stand up to him ...

On that note, maybe this should be more about Goodell, though, you know?

Seriously, where's this guy been, never mind his spine? Haven't seen him, haven't heard from him all through this wild week that saw the 49ers booted out of Santa Clara County, that saw the Broncos ordered to play an NFL game without a quarterback, that saw ...

Hang on, let's stop right there.

The Broncos were ordered to play an NFL game without a quarterback. This was a thing that happened. It was embarrassing, not only to a proud franchise but also to the league and the sport as a whole. The practice-squad kid they fed to the wolves completed one whole pass all afternoon.

Technically, that shouldn't matter. The league's black-and-white policy plainly states that competitive factors are not to be considered when weighing possible postponements. That's what was told to John Elway, Vic Fangio and everyone in Colorado and, if taken in isolation, that was fair. One quarterback caught the coronavirus, and the other three were around him, recklessly, without a mask.

What a price the Broncos paid. A 31-3 loss to the Saints. The most horrific offense anyone had seen in 30 years.

Even then, though, Fangio blamed his quarterbacks for breaking the rules, and the Denver Post reported that internal punishment for those players is on the way.

Meanwhile, in Baltimore, where team owner Steve Bisciotti has forever been best buds with Goodell, there's been nothing but whining and maneuvering, followed by more whining and more maneuvering. And you'd better believe it'll only continue for as long as they keep winning.

You know, like this:

Well, scratch my remark above about being without the top two running backs.

By evening's end, the initial traces of an actual NFL explanation began to form -- though one can grasp how hard it'd be coming up with a statement other than 'The Ravens were being really mean to us!' -- and this was the best anyone could do, speaking through the house organ that is NFL Network:

Wow.

I mean, just wow.

Find somewhere, anywhere in the NFL's labor agreement, the many adjustments to the agreement for coronavirus, or any related memos from Goodell's office that stipulates postponing games because they're worried players couldn't practice to 'train and avoid muscle strains.'

Good luck. Doesn't exist.

I'm done with this.

See everyone at 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, Commissioner Harbaugh willing.