Patriots Shortened Preseason Eliminates Revenge Game

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In light of COVID-19, the NFL will be shortening the preseason. As a result, Cam Newton and the New England Patriots won’t get a chance to face the quarterback’s old team. That would have been one of–if not the most-watched preseason NFL game of the season.

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Word on the Cancellation of the First 2 Weeks of NFL Preseason

According to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, the NFL made the decision to shorten its preseason to help control the spread of COVID-19. Here’s what Seifert said in his report:

In essence, the league canceled Weeks 1 and 4 of its original preseason schedule. It had previously canceled its Aug. 8 Hall of Fame game. Most players will still report to training camp on July 28, but the first preseason games won’t be played until Aug. 20-24. The second week of preseason games is scheduled for Aug. 27-31. Some re-shuffling of the original preseason schedule for Weeks 2 and 3 are underway, as each team will play one home game and one on the road.

Patriots’ New Preseason Outlook

There is an obvious impact to the entire NFL with this ruling, but from a pure football standpoint, there’s the aforementioned ramifications for the Patriots. Here’s a look at what their preseason schedule would be at this point.

  • New England at Philadelphia on Thursday, August 27
  • New England at New York on Thursday, September 3

At this point, people are so thirsty for NFL football, Newton and the Patriots could be playing a high school team and fans would be buzzing about it.

In addition to the second preseason game against the Panthers, the other exhibition game that comes off of the Patriots’ schedule was a home game against the Detroit Lions. That game might have had some interest as well considering the Lions have former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as a head coach, and several former New England players in Jamie Collins and Danny Shelton, who signed free-agent deals to head to Motown this offseason, and Duron Harmon who was acquired in a trade.

As it stands, the quarterback competition between Newton, Jarrett Stidham, and Brian Hoyer won’t get underway for another two months nearly. Perhaps that additional time will provide the entire team a little more time to get acclimated.

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