Here we go again.

Sure, Sunday at 1 p.m. beats Monday at 5 p.m. any day when it comes to a game in the National Football League.

Heck, that’s when the games were always meant to be played, if you follow the doctrine of former Patriots coach Bill Parcells.

But how much confidence do you have that the game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos actually will take place this Sunday at Gillette Stadium?

We all know the deal. Local teams on the high school level have rolled with it. But they don’t have to fly, etc.to go to their next game.

The news Sunday morning that the Patriots have had another positive test didn’t really suprise anyone, did it? Nor did it surprise anyone that the game with the Broncos had to be rescheduled a second time due to COVID and a third time overall.

There are schedules, reschedules, etc. You deserve a grand prize if you can keep track of how the NFL moved things around, something that involved about nine teams. The Patriots media relations department has been on red alert for awhile. As of right now, the New England players are off the next couple of days and return to practice on Wednesday.

The question has been asked, and tossed around whether the NFL or the NFLPA has the players’ best interests at heart. New England’s Jason McCourty basically came out Saturday and said that neither do in a video conference call.

“Between the players, the coaches, the administration, the staff, it is up to us to take care of one another, to make sure physically we are all set, make sure mentally because I think outside of here the people that don’t have to walk in our building — whether it is the league office, whether it is the NFLPA — they don’t care,” McCourty said. “We’re trying to get games played and we’re trying to get the season going.

“For them, it is not about our best interest, or our healthy and safety, it is about what can we make protocol-wise that sounds good, looks good and how can we go out there and play games.”

Ouch. Not many would disagree. The Patriots weren’t happy they had to fly to Kansas City and play that game. Likewise the Chiefs, who lost on Sunday to Las Vegas, probably weren’t happy when they found out Stephon Gilmore, tested positive.

Everyone is holding their collective breath. It just shows, again, the NFL should have taken a drastic measure back in July and said that to play the season, all the players need to be quarantined in their respective cities. Hotel. Bubble.

Yes, they have to sacrifice six months or so away from families. But it’s the time away from team facilities that everyone worries about the most. What you can control. And what you can’t. Just ask the area’s high school coaches.

The players probably wouldn’t have gone for it. Maybe the league, either, because of cost. But it’s clearly the way to go – just ask the NBA and NHL.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio has an interesting take. He’s not thrilled his players are grousing on social media.

“In a weird way, I’m kind of happy to see some of this stuff happen because you see who the whiners are … and who can’t handle adversity,” Fangio said on a videoconference call Sunday, as reported by the Associated Press. “And I’m going to try hard that the Denver Broncos don’t fall into any of those categories.”

Oh it’s going to be one interesting week in the NFL, isn’t it?

Let’s all just hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Hopefully we can enjoy Sundays at 1.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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