The NFL is hoping that it will only have to postpone, and not cancel, games when teams have COVID-19 outbreaks. But today’s postponement of this week’s Broncos-Patriots game raises the possibility that next week’s Broncos-Dolphins game will ultimately be canceled.
The NFL has not yet announced when Broncos-Patriots will be played, but multiple reports say it will move to next week, when the Patriots were scheduled to be on their bye and the Broncos were scheduled to play the Dolphins.
If that happens, what becomes of the Broncos-Dolphins game? Looking ahead at the schedule, it’s hard to find a good way to reschedule that game. Moving it to the Dolphins’ bye in Week 11 would then require moving the Broncos’ Week 11 game, which would knock over a lot of other dominoes in the NFL schedule.
It could simply be that Broncos-Dolphins will end up being canceled. The NFL would prefer not to cancel any games, but if it does have to, it would prefer to cancel games between teams that aren’t playoff contenders. The Patriots are expected to be in playoff contention, while the Broncos and Dolphins are not, and the NFL may ultimately decide that if a game has to be canceled, to make it a lesser game.