Patriots, Broncos Preparing To Play As Scheduled Amid COVID Uncertainty

Bill Belichick can’t predict whether the New England Patriots will be able to play this Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos at Gillette Stadium. That, the coach said, is a medical decision to be made by medical people.

But the Patriots, who have lost their starting quarterback and star cornerback to positive COVID-19 tests within the last six days, are preparing as if the game will be played as scheduled.

“We’re preparing today like a normal Thursday,” Belichick said Thursday morning on a conference call. “We’ll see what the schedule is or isn’t, but at this point, we’re preparing for a normal Thursday.”

Well, almost normal.

After Patriots corner Stephon Gilmore tested positive Tuesday, the Patriots canceled practice Wednesday and Thursday, replacing their on-field and in-person sessions with remote virtual meetings.

It remains unclear whether the team will be able to return to the practice field Friday. In a typical game week, the Patriots would practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, then hold a final walkthrough Saturday.

“We just do the best that we can with the opportunities that we have,” Belichick said. “So there’s some teaching off of diagrams and things like that. There’s looking at our opponent. There’s simulation, if you will, of how plays would be run — assignments and so forth — doing it in the format that we have available to us.

“Not ideal — this isn’t what we would normally do — but there is an opportunity to cover things and get things taught and explain them and have players ask questions and have coaches get together and put together a game plan based on the same format that we’re using. Again, it’s not what we would choose to do, because we have that option and we don’t do it this way. But this is what we can do, so we’re going to do the best we can with it.”

After months without a single positive test, the Patriots have placed three players on the reserve/COVID-19 list since Saturday: Gilmore, quarterback Cam Newton and practice squad defensive tackle Bill Murray.

Gilmore’s positive came one day after he traveled to Kansas City and played every defensive snap in a Monday night loss to the Chiefs — a game that had been pushed back a day after Newton tested positive.

The Patriots’ latest round of coronavirus testing, conducted Wednesday, yielded no new positives, according to multiple reports.

Belichick was asked whether he had any concerns about potentially reconvening the team for practice Friday and playing Sunday.

“That’s a great question,” Belichick said. “Those are all the questions that we’re asking. We’re relying on the doctors and the people in that field to take everything under advisement. I’d say that they have a big role in making those decisions. Really, these aren’t football decisions. These are medical decisions. So in terms of medical decisions, those fall to medical people. Football decisions fall to football people.

“So we’ll see how it goes. We’re where we are today. I don’t think we can really plan too far ahead. You start talking about Saturday, Sunday and a bunch of other days — there’s a lot that can or can’t happen in the meantime. As things change and there are positive or potentially negative developments, then we’ll look at those. I’d say the medical department has kept me abreast of everything. I’ve certainly learned a lot and tried to understand how this fits into what we’re trying to do as a football team and what the medical needs and concerns are, just trying to balance all that out.

“But it’s really not balance. It’s the health and safety of the team first, and then it’s football second. So (Wednesday and Thursday), we’re not in the building, and we’ll take it day by day.”

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said he’s not worried about traveling to Foxboro, Mass., following the Patriots’ series of positive tests.

“I feel fine,” Fangio said Wednesday in a video conference. “I go to the grocery store, too. I just have a lot of confidence in the NFL and the players union, they’re doing a good job working together on all of these issues. I’m sure everything will be safe for all involved, and I’m totally confident in it.”