COVID-19 tests all negative again
Game on track to be played Monday
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots remain on track to host the Broncos Monday because the club did not return any new positive results from Thursday’s PCR testing, a league source confirmed Friday.
Airing on the side of caution, the club kept its Gillette Stadium facilities shut down for a third straight day Friday, however, the team is planning on returning to the practice field Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The team will undergo another round of COVID-19 tests.
The team would then be tested Sunday and Monday, following the same protocols it did for last Monday’s game against the Chiefs in Kansas City, Mo., which also was pushed back a day.
Three players, quarterback Cam Newton, cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and practice squad defensive tackle Bill Murray, remain on the COVID19 reserve list.
The testing results are crucial to whether the game will go on as planned, as according to an NFL Network report, several Patriots were identified as having close/ high-risk contact with Gilmore through the league’ s contact tracing.
The availability of those players for Monday’s game is unknown (Gilmore posted that he is asymptomatic, and Fox Sports reported Newton is as well), though if the team is able to practice Saturday it could provide some clarity on their statuses.
The Patriots hope toge tina light practice togo over some of the game plan install worked on remotely over the last three days. It’s not ideal but coach Bill Be li chick said Thursday the team would try to make the best of the situation.
“I think we knew at the beginning of the season that there were going to be challenges and there have been, and we’re committed to working through them and that’s what we’re doing,’’ he said.
The 2020 Patriots will become the fifth team since 1970 to play back-to-back Mondays, following the Raiders (1996), the Vikings (2010), the Jets (2014), and the Chiefs (2020).
New England is poised to be the first franchise with four Monday games in a season as the Patriots are scheduled to visit the Jets Nov. 9 and host the Bills Dec. 28.
Without practice, Patriots players have been unavailable to the media since after Monday night’s game, though Chase Winovich joined the “Zolak and Bertrand” show on 98.5 Thursday and indicated the team is staying focused despite the challenges.
“Every week in a new situation and new problems to kind of adapt to on the fly,” he said. “That’s just what it’s going to be the rest of the year, I think, and the team, at the end of the day, that can kind of adapt to those challenges and rise to those occasions — or people say fall into that level of preparation — is going to come out on top. I personally feel we have a very strong foundation and we have a great strategy for how to attack this thing and makethe most of it. I know the guys are working hard and getting out in their individual respective patches of grass if they have them, and trying to make sure they’re staying in shape for Denver.”
The Tennessee Titans, whose outbreak of COVID-19 cases reached 23 on Thursday, did not have any new positive tests, according to a league source.