Gilmore (l) and Newton (r) have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past weekGETTY IMAGES
All of the Patriots’ COVID-19 tests yesterday came back negative after having two players test positive in recent days, but the team “will keep their facilities shut down for a second straight day,” according to Volin & McBride of the BOSTON GLOBE. Patriots coach Bill Belichick indicated that “all meetings will be conducted remotely” ahead of Sunday’s game against the Broncos. Belichick: “We made a decision to close the facility for the health and safety of our team. That was priority No. 1.” Pats CB Stephon Gilmore’s positive test result came a day after the team’s game against the Chiefs on Monday, but Belichick would not directly answer if he “regrets playing Monday night.” He said, “There’s a lot of decisions and things that are out of our control. I am trying to focus on the things that we have control over" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/8). However, in Boston, Tom Curran noted there are "rumblings of displeasure ... coming from Foxboro in the wake of the team’s commute to Kansas City." With Gilmore testing positive following QB Cam Newton's positive over the weekend, a source said that it is "time for players and coaches to 'worry about our health and safety first and not leave it up to the league.'” Belichick "has been steadfast about the Patriots being proactive in trying to ward off the virus" (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 10/7).
REASONS TO BE UPSET? SI.com's Albert Breer indicated that the Patriots and Chiefs "both likely are upset with how the NFL has handled positive COVID-19 tests." Breer, during an appearance on NBC Sports Boston's "Early Edition," said, "For a time, the plan was to move the Patriots-Chiefs game to Tuesday night. The problem though was the Chiefs next week play on Thursday night. So when this whole plan was being formulated, the Chiefs came back to the league and said 'we're OK playing on Tuesday, but then you can't make us play the following Thursday.' The league did not want to move that Thursday night game against Buffalo. So instead, they decided to play the game Monday night." Breer continued, "That sort of inflexibility -- I can't say this for sure -- but I have a feeling that might be about television to where (the NFL wasn't) willing to move that. That's the stuff that if you're the Patriots, you look at that and say, 'that's unforgivable'" (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 10/7). Meanwhile, in Boston, Karen Guregian wrote the NFL needs to move Broncos-Patriots to a newly created Week 18, and it is “beyond gross negligence” if it is played as scheduled on Sunday. Guregian: “The players trust the league to do right by them. The league can put out stricter new protocols, and hold teams accountable. … If the NFL doesn’t act with more caution, and doesn’t act with the best interest of its players, as opposed to its own financial interests, the disaster will continue to multiply” (BOSTON HERALD, 10/7).
WHY DID THEY PLAY? USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes the NFL has, "until now, done an admirable job of mitigating the risk of a highly contagious disease." But it "doesn't take much to send it all off the rails," which makes the league's decision to go ahead with Patriots-Chiefs "all the more confounding." The Patriots put players who had close contact with Newton "on a separate plane for the trip to Kansas City." Armour: "Even if it was only done out of an abundance of caution, even if players wore Hazmat suits on the plane, if the NFL felt there was enough reason to effectively quarantine some players for the three-hour plane ride, it had no business putting them on the plane in the first place" (USA TODAY, 10/8). In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy writes the NFL "badly wanted the marquee matchup" of Patriots-Chiefs, and that is "why a bunch of people who’d been exposed to a guy who tested positive were herded into airplanes, buses, and a locker room at Arrowhead Stadium." Decisions were "made on hope and TV ratings instead of science." Shaughnessy: "Once the season started, it was inevitable there were going to be positive tests. Now it’s happening. But prepare for more high-risk decision-making by the powers in the league office. The NFL will move mountains to get the games played and advance to Super Bowl week in Tampa in February." But it is "going to be a monumental task for the NFL to complete its 16-game schedule and a playoff tournament in this environment." The league has "known this all along, but only now is the reality hitting home" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/8).
LEAGUE REVIEWING PROCEDURES: The NFL has started a review of the Patriots, with NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills saying the league hopes to “learn anything about potential vulnerabilities.” Sills, appearing yesterday on NFL Network, explained why the Pats traveled to K.C. on Monday, saying, “Anytime we have a positive test, the first thing we do is obviously go through a contact tracing protocol to look at how many close contacts there may be. That’s exactly what we did in this case. In reviewing that, we were given information that there were no what we call ‘high-risk contacts.’ There were some other close contacts who were identified. All of those close contacts were tested and screened per our protocol. We actually had four days of testing … and we also took the additional step of reviewing the video from inside the Patriots’ facility to look at the compliance with mask wearing and what we found there was the compliance was very high.” He added, “That gave us some comfort given the facts of no additional positive tests, given the apparent compliance of the team and given the way that the close contacts were labeled that we could move forward” (NFL Network, 10/7).
