When the Patriots had another positive COVID test on Sunday, it threw the likelihood for their Monday game against the Broncos into flux. Later Sunday morning, the NFL announced that the game, which had originally been postponed from Sunday of Week 5 in the first place due to previous positive tests, would be played next Sunday instead.
As a result, a Broncos team that had been practicing all week in preparation for the Patriots will have a “bye” of sorts thrown upon them in Week 5. Hardly ideal, but Broncos head coach Vic Fangio remarked on Sunday that this is where we are.
“Initially I knew it was a possibility,” Fangio said. “It’s just part of the COVID season here that we’re playing. There is going to be adjustments that have to be made. They’re going to happen late. They’re going to happen when you might not be prepared. I was prepared for this. We’re just going to roll with the punches and adjust. My initial message to the team all the way back in training camp was that this was going to be an improvise and adjust season, and we’re being called on to improvise and adjust. We’ll do that.”
As to the issue of fairness, Fangio said that it’s hard to mitigate competitive balance at a time when everything is up in the air — and that’s what he’s told his team.
“All of this stuff is going to seem unfair when you’re initially hit with it. We’ve prepared for a game and the game first got moved for one day but now it’s getting moved totally. So, yeah it’s going to seem unfair and you’re going to ask, ‘Why are we doing this?’ My message to them and to anybody is that we were inconvenienced by this—but it easily could have been turned around where we had the positive test and the Patriots were inconvenienced by it. I’m happy that the positive tests weren’t in our building but I’m under no illusion that at some point we might have a positive test or two and be the cause of a game getting moved down the road. We’re all in this together. The entire league is. We compete like hell on Sundays to beat each other but ultimately we’re all in on this thing together. It doesn’t matter who’s at fault or who has the positive tests, we all just have to deal with it.”
Fangio also said that his team was informed two says ago that the postponement was a possibility, which is why the Broncos hadn’t flown to New England yet.
“We came out on the good end of that equation in that we hadn’t boarded the plane yet. We dodged that bullet. I found out this morning roughly about 6:45 or 7 a.m., or somewhere around there. I got a call from the league and they told me what was going on.”
If there’s an upside for Fangio’s team, it’s that the delay may give them back quarterback Drew Lock, who’s been dealing with a shoulder injury. In Denver’s 37-28 Week 4 win over the Jets, backup Brett Rypien made some big downfield throws, but also threw three interceptions. New England’s defense will obviously provide a sterner test for whichever quarterback suits up next Sunday.
“I think he’s progressing well,” Fangio said of Lock. “I don’t think he would have played if we played tomorrow. Although, I think in some ways, he could have. The extra week will factor into that decision moving forward, but we’ll see. We didn’t give him many reps with the first-team offense this past week. We’ll see how he progresses in the next 72 hours and see how much better he gets and go from there. We’ll see.
“All the sports leagues have gone through these trials and tribulations during their seasons and all have crowned their champions or are about to. What makes it harder for us compared to baseball is we can’t go play doubleheaders and we can’t make a nine-inning game a seven-inning game, but we’ll get through it.”
At this point, Fangio’s attitude is the best possible attitude. It’s plain that the 2020 NFL season will be nothing approaching normal in any capacity.