Patriots and Chiefs still in line to play Monday following negative COVID tests
By Alex Barth, 985TheSportsHub.com
The Patriots have now gone two straight days without returning a positive COVID-19 test.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the tests taken by the team Sunday morning all came back negative. That’s now the third round of testing the Patriots have passed, after two on Saturday.
These tests likely don’t include Cam Newton, who tested positive on Friday night and has since been placed on the NFL’s COVID reserve list. The team has since ruled out a false-positive for Newton.
According to ESPN’s Dianna Russini, the Patriots players were told at a team meeting the current plan is for them to play the Chiefs Monday at 7:00 p.m. If given the all clear, the Patriots would fly to Kansas City the day of the game.
Before that can happen, New England still needs to pass likely two rounds of COVID tests (Sunday night, Monday morning). The league is also still waiting on Kansas City’s Sunday morning results, as they had a player test positive Friday as well. Of course, they don’t have the added logistical nightmare of travel, but the Chiefs’ side bears watching as well.
MORE: When can Cam Newton return to the Patriots?
This is an aggressive plan for the NFL to get one of the most anticipated games of the year played. The Tennessee Titans are in the midst of their own outbreak, which started with a positive test last Friday night but didn’t see any additional positives until Monday. Applying that timeline to the Patriots, it’s possible a player who is already infected may not test positive until the team is already en-route to Kansas City.
The league has discussed pushing the game to Tuesday to buy more time, but due to a Thursday night game in two weeks, that would leave the Chiefs playing three games in 10 days. No other contingency plans have been made public, such as moving bye weeks or adding an extra week at the end of the season.
This is still an ongoing story, be sure to check back in with 985TheSportsHub.com throughout the day for updates.