New York, United States—New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans players returned to practice on Saturday (Sunday Philippine time) after their NFL training facilities reopened following no new Covid-19 positive results from tests given Friday.
The Patriots were clear for a third consecutive day and returned to the field without quarterback Cam Newton, cornerback Stephon Gilmore or practice squad lineman Bill Murray, whose positive tests led to the shutdown.
“We’re taking it day by day, hour by hour,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We’ve gone several days without being able to work together as a team.”
The Patriots (2-2) had their home game against Denver (1-3) postponed from Sunday to Monday as a result of the positive tests and inability to practice.
Belichick would not speculate upon the availability of Newton or Gilmore for Monday’s game.
The NFL also moved Tennessee’s home game against Buffalo, a matchup of unbeaten clubs, from Sunday to Tuesday after a major coronavirus outbreak on the Titans.
The Titans organization has had 23 positive Covid-19 tests returned since September 24, most of them among players, forcing postponement of a game against Pittsburgh to October 25 and the closing of team facilities since September 29.
“Obviously we’re going to be missing some guys, but that’s just the situation we’re in,” Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill said on Saturday.
“We didn’t choose this, but we’re living in the middle of a pandemic and this came up. We’re going to be down some guys, but it also raises a big opportunity for some guys that have been with us.”
Titans coach Mike Vrabel said players had remained engaged through Zoom meetings with coaches. He hoped to have some players back from the Covid-19 inactive list in time for the Buffalo game, but it wasn’t yet clear how many that would be.
“We’re not going to use any sort of excuse,” Vrabel said. “We’ll be ready. We’ll be focused.”