Neither the New England Patriots nor the Tennessee Titans have had the best week in terms of COVID-19 prevention, but both teams are on track to play in Week 5 after an encouraging step forward on Friday. A day after the NFL announced changes to this week's schedule to accommodate both sides closing their facilities in the wake of additional COVID cases, the Patriots and Titans had zero new positive tests as of Friday morning, per CBS Sports NFL insider Jason La Canfora, putting them on the path to reopening for practice by this weekend.
Teams are required to have at least two consecutive days of no new COVID cases in order to resume standard operations, so both teams have been working virtually in preparation for their Week 5 matchups. And Thursday's revelations -- including reports of the Titans violating COVID protocols to host unofficial in-person practices -- seemed to suggest one or both teams might be forced to miss their Week 5 games, with the Patriots set to host the Denver Broncos and the Titans set to host the Buffalo Bills.
Now, so long as additional positive tests don't surface on Saturday and beyond, the games will go on as scheduled -- er, rescheduled. The Titans will now take on the Bills on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, with the Bills' subsequent Thursday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs pushed to the following Sunday. The Patriots, meanwhile, will play the Broncos on Monday night at 5 p.m. ET, marking their second straight week of playing a delayed game on Monday.
The Chiefs, for what it's worth, also had zero new positive COVID tests as of Friday, so they are also on track to be ready for both their Week 5 showdown with the Las Vegas Raiders and their Week 6 game against Buffalo.
