The New England Patriots are taking extra precautions as they travel to and from Missouri on Monday for their Week 4 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the club will fly two planes to Kansas City. One will carry roughly 20 people who have been in close contact with quarterback Cam Newton, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. The other will have the rest of the traveling party.
This Week 4 game between these two AFC clubs was originally set for Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET but needed to be rescheduled as not only did Newton test positive, but Chiefs practice squad quarterback Jordan Ta'amu -- who was reportedly in the role of Newton in practice this week for the first-team defense -- also tested positive. No other member of the Patriots or the Chiefs has tested positive for COVID-19. While not normal protocol, both teams will receive point-of-care and PCR tests on Monday morning to make sure no one is playing with the virus. That said, with no new cases to speak of, the road is paved for this game to be played.
The Patriots are one of the few teams to have the luxury of using two planes because club owner Robert Kraft owns them. Typically, one is used as a backup in the event that there are problems with the first. That said, this isn't the first time that New England has used both for road games, as they did so last year when there was a flu outbreak around the team.
This rescheduled game will now kick off at 7 p.m. ET on CBS with Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, and Tracy Wolfson on the call.
