Patriots: Huge issues loom after NFL postpones game vs Chiefs

After QB Cam Newton’s positive COVID, questions arise concerning not only the Patriots season, but the NFL campaign as a whole.

The first three weeks of football provided NFL fans with what could only be described as a “pro sports retreat.” As the MLB, NHL and NBA played through stunted playoffs, the NFL resumed their season as they would normally, sans a crowd in the stands (for the most part).

This week, though, it all started to go awry. With almost a dozen members of the Tennessee Titans organization contracting COVID-19, the league clumsily moved the Steelers-Titans matchup to Week 7, replacing the Steelers’ bye and making the schedule awkward for both teams.

Now, Cam Newton has tested positive for COVID-19, which will sideline him for the next two weeks. There was a very brief moment where Sunday’s Chiefs/Pats game was scheduled to continue as planned, but after some consideration and an additional positive test on the Chiefs, the NFL has decided to postpone the match.

Updates are rolling out minute by minute, but at this second, a Tuesday match is considered most likely,. This, of course, is contingent on the spread of COVID being contained and no further players being infected. In a scenario where the game is played then, difficult circumstances arise for the two teams.

For the Patriots, the best team in the league will be playing host with either Brian Hoyer or Jarrett Stidham at the helm of the New England offense. Whether Stidham will beat Hoyer out for the starting job is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for sure: the Pats will have a very difficult time traveling to Kansas City and beating them with a backup.

While the Chiefs will gladly play a Newton-less New England team, they have their own issues to worry about.  They would play three teams in the next nine days, in what could be a first in NFL history. The Patriots game would be 10/5, then come the Raiders on 10/11, followed by a tough road matchup against the Bills on 10/14.

The physical toll of three games in nine days is grueling enough, but the idea of coaching and preparing for those games in such a short timeframe is equally hard to picture.

In the event, however, that more players/staff test positive and the game cannot be played this week, the NFL has their hands full with the rest of the season’s scheduling. The Patriots’ bye is Week 6 and the Chiefs’ is Week 10, which provides no help with moving the game.

The Titans game was able to be rescheduled because the Steelers and Ravens shared their bye week, so the Steelers-Ravens midseason game was able to be shifted without affecting other teams. The Chiefs and Pats don’t share a similar luxury.

Now, if this ends up somehow being the last NFL game to be postponed due to COVID, then this would just be an inconvenient anomaly that would be fixed one way or another. However, a looming, black cloud now hangs over the rest of the season.

What if this keeps happening?

With a league as meticulously scheduled as the NFL, the next 13 weeks of games will become heavily altered with a few more postponed games, and certainly runs the risk of reaching Week 17 without every game being completed. Hindsight is 20/20 (ha! get it?), but many fans are lamenting the fact that the NFL didn’t include a universal bye week late in the season to adjust for this.

This isn’t even taking into consideration the fact that many teams could lose star players for extended periods of time. The general quarantine period for someone with COVID is two weeks, but there’s always the possibility that they could fall seriously ill with the virus, or it could stick in their system for longer. Luckily, the Patriots’ bye is three weeks from now, giving Newton extra cushion.

We can’t blame the NFL for the spread of the virus itself, especially considering the whole league went a full month without a positive test. However, this shows how cavalier the NFL was about their COVID preparation, and that no plan was in place for even one postponed game.

We’re crossing our fingers that this will be the last delayed situation of 2020, but with 13 more weeks of football to be played, there are great concerns about how Goodell and the league are going to pull this off.

Patriots-Chiefs postponed after Cam Newton’s positive COVID-19 test

The New England Patriots have ruled out Cam Newton for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs after he tested positive for COVID-19.