Ray Lewis: 99 percent of players would vote against Thursday games

Ray Lewis said he isn't alone in wanting to end Thursday night games.

The Ravens play at the Atlanta Falcons in the first Thursday game of the season, which comes four days after their win over Miami. According to the Ravens middle linebacker, the quick turnaround is taxing on players mentally (there are fewer days to prepare) and physically (there are fewer days to recover).

"You do it because it’s part of the business," Lewis said. "But I’m almost guaranteeing that 99 percent of us would vote against that."

The Ravens typically have a light workout and watch film on Monday before taking off Tuesday. This week, the team will practice Monday and Tuesday before getting on a flight Wednesday.

Lewis said losing that day for travel on an already short week puts the visiting team at a disadvantage. He also said Thursday games are "not fair at all" to the players.

"It goes back to the 18-game schedule," Lewis said. "You have to ask yourself a real question when you schedule games like this: Who does it help? Because it doesn’t help the players. That turnaround is just too quick. You go from playing a physical game on Sunday and you have less than four days before you have to physically get back up again. It takes a week for guys to really heal."

Lewis added, "I don’t know when they put it in but I’ve never liked it."

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(baltimoresun.com)