ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — COVID-19 infections among the New England Patriots have caused the NFL to move their Sunday afternoon game against the visiting Broncos to Monday afternoon.
The game will air on Monday at 3:05 p.m. on Channel 20. 9NEWS will also stream it live on the app and on video streaming platforms like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. Due to NFL licensing restrictions, the live stream is only available for those in the Denver viewing area.
The game initially had been scheduled for 11 a.m. mountain time Sunday then was pushed back to 2:25 p.m. Sunday by CBS – in large part because of the nationwide attraction of Patriots quarterback Cam Newton.
But then Newton tested positive for the virus last weekend and did not play in the Patriots game at Kansas City that was pushed back from last Sunday to the next day. Patriots practice squad defensive lineman Bill Murray and, more recently, star cornerback Stephon Gilmore have also tested positive for the virus.
9NEWS was the first to report of the game's one-day delay. The reasoning for the early kickoff time is it won’t overlap with the regularly scheduled 6:15 p.m. Monday night game between the Chargers and Saints.
The Broncos were informed of the league’s decision Thursday. It was NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills who made the call to push the game back a day, a source told 9NEWS. Dr. Sills wanted further negative results from the Patriots before deciding it was safe for them to play.
Although Denver had hoped to keep the game to Sunday for a variety of reasons, team general manager John Elway and head coach Vic Fangio understand the need to be flexible during a pandemic with health the priority.
“I think everybody wants the game to be played on time, as scheduled,'' Fangio said in his Zoom media conference call Thursday, about 4 hours before the team was informed of the league's decision. "We certainly do. But we understand with COVID that there’s going to be some improvising and adjusting that has to go on by everybody in the league at some point, and this would be our turn to be that adjustor. If they change it, we’ll adjust and be ready to go.”
Among the reasons the Broncos had hoped to keep the game on Sunday: One, changing the game to Monday means the Broncos will now have a short week to prepare for their following week’s game, October 18, against the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots suffer no such setback as they are on bye next weekend.
Broncos defensive lineman Shelby Harris, who is playing as good as anyone on the team, tweeted: "Why are we getting punished when we did nothing wrong? ... Help it make sense."
And two, let’s face it, the extra day increases the chances of Newton playing against the Broncos. As everyone saw in the Patriots’ 26-10 loss at Kansas City, backup quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham are not in Newton’s class.
The Broncos at present are expected to start Brett Rypien at quarterback although the team’s usual No. 1 quarterback Drew Lock has resumed practicing this week -- and throwing well -- after missing the previous 2 ½ weeks with a strained rotator cuff.
Fangio has said he wants to see Lock practice as the week goes along before deciding on his starting quarterback.
