Robert Kraft, hero to New York.

Huh?

Yes, this COVID-19 crisis can make for strange bedfellows. Kraft, as was well publicized on Thursday, got over one million N95 masks for healthcare workers, etc. from China, flown in on the New England Patriots team plane.

The Patriots owner and his son, Patriots VP Jonathan Kraft, then took some 350,000 of those and sent them on their way to New York in a huge truck carrying a Patriots logo with a state police escort.

Kraft was hailed as a hero in Friday’s New York Post and his actions have greatly impressed everyone, including Patriots players.

“It’s awesome,” White said. “That’s huge at this point in time. You have doctors, nurses, all those people on the front lines taking care of sick people each and every day. It’s a crazy situation right now.”

And athletes in the NFL, owners, coaches, etc. need to step forward, White said.Patriots coach Bill Belichick sent out on social media a public service stay-at-home message on Wednesday.

“People that have the influence to help others, I think it’s an important time to help as many people as possible,” White said. “Especially those who are sick, there’s some people getting laid off, don’t know when a check is coming, or if they’re getting a check, or when their next meal is coming. It’s a difficult time.”

Here are some more NFL and Patriot related thoughts and news:

— It’s great that the league is continuing to have the draft as scheduled toward the end of this month and make player-roster news, because the sports world needs this. But was it really a good idea to come out and said it will play the season as scheduled and come out with a schedule around May 9, give or take a day? It may make the networks and sponsors happy, but the unpredictable nature of this pandemic certainly has anything scheduled in the next four months as a huge question mark. To play as scheduled would mean a usual training camp starting in late July, etc.

Add to that the fact the NFL’s chief medical officer, Dr. Alan Sills, said the league would need widespread testing before allowing practices and games to be held. Not good, but we all have to wait and see.

—- Those who need their NFL fix while this is going on will get a treat for 17 straight days beginning Monday as the NFL Red Zone will replay every Sunday from the 2019 NFL season in chronological order. It begins at 8 a.m. Monday, and will be aired at 8 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. each day until the final 17th day airing. Not a bad idea, as people right now can’t get enough football as they search high and low for whatever sports there is.

— White made a good point the other day, in that there would be a lot of extra work needed to get the offense in gear with a new quarterback, be it Jarrett Stidham or anyone else, since there likely won’t be OTAs.

“Maybe staying after practice a little bit more, doing stuff before practice, competing with each other,” he said. “Whatever it takes so you can have your best performances when you go out there.”

— Don’t assume just because the Patriots released Cody Kessler that they will select a quarterback in the middle rounds of the draft, or as some would suggest, try to move up in the first round to take a gamble on Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa.

They cut Kessler because they needed salara cap relief, even though he didn’t represent much, as they will need to be able to sign their draft picks. It would be a huge surprise to see them move up because they simply lack the picks to do it. Sure, make some trades, etc., but risk it on a health risk to begin with. Can’t see it.

Sure, they may draft a young QB if one is sitting there when they pick in later rounds, but more than likely we could see them eventually bringing Kessler back at some point.

—- The fact that the NFL added a playoff team in each conference is good news for the Patriots. It would seem that right now Buffalo may be the AFC East favorites based on a couple of its off-season moves (although it’s still the Bills and it’s still the highly innacurate Josh Allen at QB). But to have three Wild Card teams certainly enhances the Patriots chances at a playoff berth, under a normal situation.

And we certainly need normal.

Tom King may be reached at 594-1251,tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or@Telegraph _TomK.

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