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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Broncos game with the New England Patriots will be pushed back a week due to positive Covid-19 tests in Foxboro.
Broncos-Patriots game is being moved to next Sunday, sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2020
Broncos were supposed to play Miami; that won’t happen. That game is being rescheduled.
This is the second time the game has been adjusted. Originally the NFL moved the game to Monday, October 11th at 3PM Mountain Standard time. When cases continued to crop up today, the NFL had to delay the game.
This isn’t an isolated incident in the NFL this year, but the Broncos won’t have a real bye week in 2020. While they will not have a game this week, normally a team gets extra days off during the free week. This helps every player who’s spent weeks taking NFL punishment to recover.
Injuries at an all time high and our bye week was burned up with practices. https://t.co/4Z11ZBTi2D
— Justin Simmons (@jsimms1119) October 11, 2020
One thing to keep an eye on going forward is how the NFL reschedules the Broncos game with the Miami Dolphins. Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk has already speculated the game could be cancelled because rescheduling it causes a huge domino effect.
A delay for the contest should help players like Drew Lock, K.J. Hamler, A.J. Bouye and Noah Fant. All have been on the injured report and did not look likely to play tomorrow. It could also help both Mike Purcell and Jeremiah Attaochu as both are dealing with injuries.
Playing the game a week from today also helps Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore. The Patriots quarterback missed last week against the Chiefs. If he still can’t play New England will start either Brian Hoyer or Jarrett Stidham.
Worth noting that the Patriots did request a larger space last week when they played the Chiefs in Arrowhead in order to maintain social distancing and abide by COVID-19 protocols. The NFL’s league office turned down their request.
UPDATE: It looks like the Broncos’ games with Miami and the Chargers will be rearranged.
Here’s the plan, per sources, which is tied to Tennessee being able to play:
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2020
Broncos-Patriots next Sunday.
Week 8 (what was supposed to be Denver bye): Chargers at Broncos.
Week 11 (scheduled Miami bye) Dolphins at Broncos.
We’ll have more news on this as we find it out.