The old saying is the NFL stand for “Not For Long”.

This is certainly the case with the league and the coronavirus.

Things change weekly, daily, hourly, we’ve all seen that.

Will the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos finally play their twice cancelled game on Sunday? Who knows?

As Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on Thursday, one day before things had to be cancelled again on Friday after a positive test reportedly to backup center James Ferentz, “We learn things every day and we continue to try to take steps to put everybody’s safety at the very top of the list, and at the same time, try to accommodate the competitive aspects that we need to perform on the field.

“It’s definitely a balance there, but we’ve got to put first things first.”

Belichck has seen arguably his best two players, Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore, test positive. He’s seen his good friend Alabama coach Nick Saban test positive.

Everyone seems on edge. They don’t know what is ahead. Belichick even admitted this week it’s tough to take a long-term view of his team and it’s makeup. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons the Patriots didn’t jump at the chance to grab Le’Veon Bell when he became available, later to be scooped up by the hated Kansas City Chiefs.

“To me, we’re much more in a week-to-week or shorter term window – a two to three week window relative to getting players back and so forth – than what we would be in a normal situation.”

Ah, normal situation. We long for that.

Here’s this week’s picks:

PATRIOTS 30, BRONCOS 6

You can’t postpone the inevitable, and the fact is the Broncos stink. John Elway hasn’t been able to find a quarterback, his choice of coaches has been bad, and so is his team. With Newton back, if this game is played, it’s a slam dunk for New England.

STEELERS 30, BROWNS 27

Game of the weekend, we think. It’s fun to have the Browns back as a contender, for now. We’re giving the Steelers the edge here because they have the much better defense. And as they say, a good defense beats a good offense. They do say that, don’t they?

CHIEFS 27, BILLS 23

Toughest pick of the week. Still trying to figure out what happened to the KC defense when it allowed the Raiders to score 40 points. Josh Allen has made great strides s the Bills QB, but can he beat Mahomes. Both teams need the win, and this would have been even more hyped had they both gone into this special 5 p.m. Monday game unbeaten.

PACKERS 33, BUCS 30

Rodgers vs. Brady. Age before beauty? Well, it’s age with both quarterbacks, and the Packers already have one good road win in beating the Saints and are coming off a bye week. The Bucs haven’t played in 10 days. Tough call, but Green Bay looks like it has the better team, not necessarily the better QB.

NINERS 23, RAMS 17

A must win for SF, and all signs report to the benched Jimmy Garoppolo starting this Sunday Nighter that should be a good one. This is as close to a must win as it gets for the Niners, who are 2-3 and will have to bounce back just to be a Wild Card team.

LIONS 17, JAGUARS 16

Matt Patricia lives for another week, but these are just two bad teams, one trying to tank and the other trying to survive. Detroit’s given up 31.8 points a game, not good at all for the head coach who was hired for his so-called defensive prowess. But the Jags will help that average go down.

RAVENS 33, EAGLES 16

Philly just isn’t good, but it may be good enough to win the NFC East. But the Ravens are one of the best in a conference that is suddenly loaded with good teams. Let’s see if Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz finds a way to stop Lamar Jackson. Doubt it.

LAST WEEK: 5-1

SEASON RECORD: 23-11

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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