Sunday’s Patriots-Broncos game moved to Monday

The Week 5 matchup between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos has been moved from Sunday to Monday, according to multiple reports. Kickoff is currently expected to be at 5 p.m. EST.

The Patriots were originally supposed to kick-off on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. EST. As New England has now seen three players land on the Reserve/Covid-19 list, including stars Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore, the game has been pushed back one night.

New England has not practiced this week, as their facility has been closed both Wednesday and Thursday due to Gilmore’s positive test. The Patriots saw no new positive tests results on Thursday, but will again not practice on Friday and hold virtual meetings.

With the extra day, the chances for Stephon Gilmore and Cam Newton to suit up increase. As both players are reportedly asymptomatic, they can return within 10 days of their initial positive test or with two negative PCR tests separated by 24 hours, the latter being the only way for them to play this week.

“There’s nothing more important than the health of the team,” Bill Belichick said on Thursday. “I mean, without a healthy team, you don’t have a team. So, that priority number one, I would say not only for our team, but also for their families and people that are close to them. So, that’s always our number one concern and we’ll try to do everything we can to make that the best that we can make it. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s not going to change.

“So, whatever we have to do to do that, than that’ll be what we do. We’ve always approached it that way. This is different, but it’s really based on the same criteria.”

Following the Week 5 Monday night matchup against the Broncos, the Patriots will welcome a bye week as they look to get completely healthy.