FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots had their excuses.
The team practiced once in the last two weeks as the Pats did their best to contain a small coronavirus outbreak that saw eight players land on the COVID-19/Reserve list. This happened after the NFL postponed this Patriots-Broncos matchup for a week due to COVID-19. The little on-field preparation led to a Sunday afternoon game in Gillette Stadium that frankly looked sloppy.
Cam Newton returned after missing the team’s loss in Kansas City, but for most of the game, he looked like a quarterback that hadn’t played in three weeks.