Mark Daniels

Thursday

Oct 8, 2020 at 7:54 PM


The Patriots will be playing on Monday night for the second week in a row.


On Thursday night, the NFL announced that the Patriots-Denver Broncos game will be moved due to COVID-19. The originally scheduled Sunday afternoon game will now be played on Monday night at 5 p.m..


This marks the second week in a row that the Patriots game will have been pushed to a day later because of the coronavirus. Last weekend, the Pats’ Sunday evening game was delayed when Cam Newton [...]

The Patriots will be playing on Monday night for the second week in a row.


On Thursday night, the NFL announced that the Patriots-Denver Broncos game will be moved due to COVID-19. The originally scheduled Sunday afternoon game will now be played on Monday night at 5 p.m..


This marks the second week in a row that the Patriots game will have been pushed to a day later because of the coronavirus. Last weekend, the Pats’ Sunday evening game was delayed when Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19. The Patriots have had two more positive test results this week with cornerback Stephon Gilmore and practice squad defensive tackle Bill Murray.


The Patriots have shut down Gillette Stadium and haven’t practiced since last week. The team game-planned for the Broncos remotely Wednesday and Thursday. According to the NFL Network, the Pats will stay home and operate virtually Friday but their hope is to return to their facility Saturday for a practice. That would give the team one live practice session before Monday night’s game.


It’s not an ideal scenario but it’s better than what happened Monday when the Patriots flew to Kansas City and played that night.


If anything, this schedule change could help the Patriots. They’ll practice and play as long as no one else tests positive. Then, the team will enter its bye week.


On Thursday, Bill Belichick was asked about his thoughts regarding the NFL potentially moving this weekend’s game.


"There are a lot of factors and things are changing very quickly, or could change very quickly — sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t," Belichick said. "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."


mdaniels@providencejournal.com


On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ