The Lead
In an interview with Peter King in his weekly Football Morning in America column on Monday, Head Coach Vic Fangio discussed why he's taking a postponed game and a rearranged schedule in stride.
His daughter, a nurse at a military hospital, previously contracted and recovered from COVID-19, he told King.
That scare and the understanding he gained from the experience informs his current perspective, as he and his team adapt to changes to the Broncos' schedule because of recent positive tests in New England.
"She's in the military and she came down with COVID because she's a nurse at a hospital," Fangio said. "She's high-risk. She was real fatigued for three, four days, lost her sense of taste and smell. I'm just thankful that she has fully recovered from that. So, you know, that's why I don't get worked up about this stuff."
Given the big picture, including the impact the pandemic has had around the country and around the world, moving a football game is just a blip on the radar.
"Plus, this virus has caused a lot of heartache and pain for our country in the amount of sicknesses, in the amount of deaths, what it's done to our economy, and what's it's done to people's livelihoods, people's businesses," Fangio told King. "If we have a game postponed and be inconvenienced that way, it's minuscule compared to the bigger issue."
King's story also details Fangio's day, including when he got the news, the decisions it forced him to make and much more on the fallout from a wild morning.
Below the Fold
Speaking strictly from a football perspective, the biggest result from the game being postponed a week is how it affects the quarterback situation for each team. Cam Newton, who missed the Patriots' Week 4 game after being placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, is much more likely to be available on Sunday. However, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Monday that medical clearance takes priority: "That will be part of any player's return to the team from that situation. We'll have to see how that goes."
Third-year WR Tim Patrick has had quite the start to his 2020 season. In four games, he's already matched his receptions total from 2019 (though he did miss eight games last year), and he appears poised to smash his previous career marks across the board as he fills in for Courtland Sutton, who is on injured reserve. As Wide Receivers Coach Zach Azzanni told The Athletic’s Nick Kosmider, "[T]he one thing he did do was work as hard as he could every time he was out here. … Anytime you have the mindset like that, good things can happen."
