Even with two weeks to prepare, the New England Patriots had just two practices ahead of their matchup against the Denver Broncos. A COVID-19 outbreak kept the Patriots out of their facility at Gillette Stadium.

New England was on the practice field once in Week 5 for a full practice, and when the game got postponed a full week due to an influx of Patriots players moving onto the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team was back on the field just once in Week 6 for a walkthrough. Quarterback Cam Newton was only able to attend the walkthrough after testing positive for COVID-19 in early October.