Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The Baltimore Ravens visit the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night in the kickoff to the NFL’s late-season schedule of nine Thursday games.  And Ravens LB Ray Lewis isn’t happy about the odd timetable his team will encounter.

After a win against the Dolphins at home on Sunday, the Ravens entered two days of practices on Monday and Tuesday — days they normally use for film study or down time. Then a travel day on Wednesday — normally the first day of practice each week — will bring them to Atlanta.

“You do it because it’s part of the business,” Lewis said, via the Baltimore Sun. “But I’m almost guaranteeing that 99% of us would vote against that.”

The Thursday games — which include three games on Thanksgiving — fuel the NFL Network’s eight-game slate of televised games.

It may be good for the league’s business interests, but Lewis said the Thursday schedule was part of the NFL’s corporate efforts that are unfair to players.

“It goes back to the (proposed) 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.”

The good news for the Ravens and Falcons: they’ll both have 10 days off to rest for their next games on Nov. 21.

— Sean Leahy