PATS PLAYING WAITING GAME
Slowly revving up to meet Broncos on Sunday
Yet again, all the Patriots can do is test and wait.
Until their next game, until Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore can return, until they can feel safe proclaiming they’ve emerged from their COVID-19 cluster that has sacked the organization the past two weeks.
Defensive tackle Byron Cowart’s positive test immediately sent the team home last Sunday and the league again scrambling to reschedule the Pats’ home game against Denver. Since then, players have enjoyed three straight off days, while Bill Belichick finally met with reporters via video conference Tuesday. During the call, Belichick claimed he didn’t know what the next steps were for Newton and Gilmore to return or when they would take them.
“Some of that has to be scheduled outside of the building and so forth. So, I’ll leave that to the medical department,” Belichick said. “I don’t know exactly what (Newton and Gilmore’s) schedule is.”
Both remain on the team’s COVID-19 reserve list, along with Cowart and practice-squad defensive lineman Bill Murray. All other Patriots are tentatively expected to return to the facility Wednesday for workouts and should practice for the first time on Thursday.
Belichick also said the team is on track
to play this weekend, which was stating the obvious. No additional positive tests Tuesday required no change of plans — yet — for the Patriots.
As for the other positive tests, Newton can be cleared as soon as he receives permission from a team physician, provided he’s asymptomatic, as initial reports indicated and his father claimed over the weekend. If Newton’s shown symptoms, he must wait 72 hours from the time they disappear before being activated. The same will hold true for Gilmore come
Thursday, when 10 days will have passed since his positive test.
On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer, said league personnel who come in close contact with others who test positive and are considered “high-risk” must isolate for at least five days. The fiveday period likely represents the median incubation period for COVID-19, which the league ignored two weeks ago, when it told the Patriots to travel and play at Kansas City roughly 72 hours after Newton’s positive test. Less than a day later, Gilmore tested positive for the virus.
Later in the week, it was reported the league deemed multiple Patriots to be high-risk close contacts of Gilmore’s after it studied video footage and tracking data from devices players and coaches are wearing this season. Five days after Gilmore’s test, Cowart also tested positive. The
results of any contact tracing done after Cowart’s test are unknown.
“Testing, tracing and isolation, those are the three key components that we will continue to use because we know that they are successful,” Dr. Sills said. “And that’s what’s going to help us move forward.”
Asked if the new five-day rule indicated the league should not have instructed the Pats to travel and play at Kanas City, Sills said medical professionals are continuing to grapple with the realities of COVID-19’s transmission. He declared the NFL’s protocols are designed to mitigate risk, not eliminate it.
The league’s latest COVID-19 testing data shows 15 new positive tests last week from 7,820 personnel, who were subjected to almost 38,000 tests in total.
From a football standpoint, Cowart’s positive test has further dented the Pats’ depth at defensive tackle. Murray, who quietly was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list last week a day before Gilmore, would have been a can
didate for promotion to the active roster. Instead, he remains sidelined.
That leaves Nick Thurman to team with fellow defensive tackles Lawrence Guy and Adam Butler against a run-friendly Broncos offense. Thurman has already twice been promoted from the practice squad in Weeks 2 and 3, meaning if he’s elevated again, the Pats must sign him to the active roster. The team currently has one roster spot open.
“Nick’s a hardworking kid,” Belichick said Tuesday. “He’s played a number of different roles for us, he’s been active here a little bit this year and he’s had an opportunity to practice with our defense, not just the scout team. He’s, like all of our secondyear players, made significant improvement over the course of the offseason and started the year this year and we’ll see how it goes.
“I’m sure if he gets an opportunity, he’ll be ready to go.”
Like the rest of the Patriots, Thurman will simply have to hurry up and wait.