The New York Giants might be spared from another potentially embarrassing result in primetime. They’re currently set to play on Monday Night Football, but that could be delayed until a future date because of wildfires, a familiar natural disaster for those in Northern California. While the Rams and Raiders are both expected to play their games on Sunday, the Monday Night Football matchup between the Giants and the 49ers may be postponed, or relocated elsewhere.
The reason is air quality, and the 49ers have already been forced to change practice times to deal with it. They practiced an hour earlier on Friday to avoid the conditions that would arrive later, and the Raiders didn’t run a full contact practice at all on the same day because of the air quality around their facility. The Rams, on the other hand, cancelled their scheduled Friday practice entirely.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to the media recently about the chances of the game being delayed. “I know it’s a possibility because I definitely understand what’s going on… I know how many people it’s affected in this building, so I can’t imagine around the state. As far as the game on Monday, I don’t know. We’re ready to play and I don’t plan on things changing.”
New York Giants fans aren’t exactly pushing for the team to be shown on national television at the moment. The Giants versus the 49ers likely sounded like a better game to pick for Monday Night Football at the beginning of the season, but the Giants have massively underachieved compared to preseason expectations and the 49ers have suffered from an early injury to their franchise quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Both teams are currently in last place in their respective divisions, but the 49ers are slightly better off with two wins compared to the Giants’ one. It still remains to be seen how both teams will fare during the rest of the season in the race for the number one overall pick in next year’s draft, which both the Giants and the 49ers are contenders for currently.