NFL reschedules Patriots game for Monday, Titans game for Tuesday

“These scheduling decisions were made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel and in consultation with medical experts,” the NFL said in its written announcement of the changes.

The schedule maneuvers are contingent on no further coronavirus-related complications for the Patriots and Titans, according to a person familiar with the league’s planning. If the Titans-Bills game is played Tuesday, the Bills’ Week 6 home game against the Kansas City Chiefs would be moved from next Thursday night to the following weekend, the NFL announced.

Not everyone was pleased. Broncos defensive end Shelby Harris wrote on Twitter: “Why are we getting punished when we did nothing wrong[?]” He pointed out that the Patriots have a bye week after Monday’s game while the Broncos will have shorter preparation time for their next game, and asked to “help it make sense.”

One additional Titans player tested positive for the coronavirus in the results returned Thursday morning, a person familiar with the situation confirmed, keeping the team’s facility closed indefinitely. The Titans have had 21 members of the organization — including 12 players — test positive since last week. Going back to Sept. 24, the Titans have had 23 members of the organization test positive.

The first outbreak on an NFL team is not abating, and the league was forced to deal with its most complicated scheduling crisis yet. The Titans already are scheduled to play in each of the regular season’s remaining 13 weeks. Their Week 4 game this past Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Nashville was rescheduled for Oct. 25 in Week 7 of the season, originally the Titans’ bye week.

If further positive tests prevent the Titans-Bills game from being played Tuesday, there would be no spot on the schedule for the NFL to conveniently place it. The league’s options at that point could include a forfeit by the Titans, a cancellation of the game or the addition of an 18th week to the regular season.

The NFL has had no game cancellations while operating during the pandemic. Two previous games had been postponed: the Titans-Steelers game and this past Sunday’s Patriots-Chiefs game, which was played Monday night in Kansas City, Mo., after positive tests for both teams late last week.

Prominent agent Drew Rosenhaus wrote on Twitter earlier Thursday that “the NFL should add two open weeks at the end of the regular season to get in postponed games. This would add bye weeks for teams with postponed games. Players will get paid for the bye. The season will end after 17 weeks for teams who played all 16 games [and] aren’t in the playoffs.”

Former NFL wide receiver Torrey Smith wrote earlier Thursday on Twitter: “The Titans should have to take a loss and play next week because of their irresponsible actions.”

The league and the NFL Players Association are investigating the origins of the Titans’ outbreak, and the team could face disciplinary measures by the NFL if it is found to have violated protocols. This includes a look into whether some Titans players held impermissible workouts last week after the team’s facility was closed, two people familiar with the investigation said Wednesday. According to multiple reports, Titans players worked out Sept. 30 at a private school in Nashville.

One issue could be when the Titans were told that players should not gather away from the team facility relative to when any workouts were held. Titans Coach Mike Vrabel has said he is confident the team complied with protocols. Any discipline imposed upon the Titans, if the improper workouts are corroborated or other violations are substantiated, is expected to be significant, according to a person familiar with the league’s thinking.

It’s not clear when the NFL will decide about potential penalties. The focus Thursday remained on dealing with the outbreak, one person familiar with the league’s deliberations said.

The Titans have had consecutive days with positive test results after two days without any. One of the two positive results Wednesday morning turned out to be inconclusive later in the day. But that inconclusive result became a confirmed positive in Thursday morning’s testing results.

The Titans placed wide receiver Corey Davis on their covid-19 reserve list Wednesday. That list is for players who test positive or are found through contact tracing to have been exposed to the virus.

The Patriots, Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders had no new positive results Thursday morning, according to a person familiar with the results. The Patriots worked remotely Thursday for a second straight day. Cornerback Stephon Gilmore confirmed via social media Wednesday that he tested positive, also saying he was asymptomatic. Quarterback Cam Newton tested positive last week, a person familiar with that result confirmed Saturday, and missed Monday night’s loss at Kansas City. The Patriots placed practice squad defensive lineman Bill Murray on their covid-19 reserve list Tuesday.

“Obviously I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said in a conference call with reporters earlier Thursday. “I have a lot of questions. We all have questions, and this is really more of a medical situation than a football situation. … We have a lot of questions on our end, but for right now, yesterday and today, we are closed and we are going to work virtually to prepare for Denver and just take it day by day.”

The Raiders are scheduled to play the Chiefs on Sunday in Kansas City. The Raiders had one player test positive in Wednesday morning’s results.