Following Cam Newton's positive COVID test last Friday night/Saturday morning, the NFL pushed back the Patriots' game in Kansas City from Sunday afternoon to Monday night.
According to reports, the Patriots took two planes to Kansas City, one for players/staffers who had come in close contact with Newton (around 20 people) and then another with the rest of the traveling party.
Many have questioned the NFL allowing the game to even happen just days after a positive test and even more so following Stephon Gilmore testing positive (he reportedly was on the close contact plane).
Speaking on a conference call Thursday, Bill Belichick was asked if he considered not bringing those players in close contact with Newton on the trip?
“We follow all the NFL protocols," he said.
There was also a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter that Newton and Gilmore had dinner together Friday night.
“Again, all the information and everything that involves testing and contact and everything else, all the information that we had we processed through again medical people on our end, medical people in the league and followed the protocols," Belichick said. "I feel like we did everything we can control. I think we did everything properly with the extra planes, the extra busses, the same-day travel, etc. There’s multiple things we could list there. In terms of individual-specific questions, I would say all those get thrown into the general medical field.”
As of now, the Patriots-Broncos game remains on schedule for Sunday.
