Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Feeling Better? - Dr, Jessica Flynn Talks COVID-19 and the Patriots - 10/13/2020

Episode Date: October 13, 2020

Within the past ten days, the New England Patriots have added four players to COVID/IR, had two games postponed and shut down their facilities three times. However, is good news on the horizon? Joining host Mike D’Abate is Dr. Jessica Flynn of Boston Sports Journal. The pair discuss the Patriots ability to prevent a viral outbreak, the NFL’s revised COVID-19 protocols, and a brief injury update on New England running back Sony Michel. Lastly, Dr. Flynn provides her insight on whether Cam Newton or Stephon Gilmore (or both??) may play on Sunday vs, the Denver Broncos.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.MyBookieINVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE!BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.RomanGo to getroman.com/lockedon TODAY. If approved, you’ll get fifteen dollars off your first order of ED treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast, and it is time to play the game Tuesday right here on your daily home for news notes and analysis, infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Locked On Patriots is presented today by Visa. Help support your local businesses, whether they're your corner stores, your coffee spots,

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Official partner of the NFL. Patriots fans, today is Tuesday, October 13th, 2020. A very heartfelt welcome back to all of you faithful listeners of Locked On Patriots, and a special welcome to all of you new listeners out there. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And that phrase, your team every day, means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Good, bad, or indifferent, it's how we get better here on Locked on Patriots. And feel free to share that feedback anytime by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there doing some Tuesday traveling through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked on Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, team facilities may still be shut down in Foxborough, but there is good news on the horizon for your New England Patriots. As first reported by NFL Network's Tom Palacero this morning,

all of Monday's test results came back negative, just as Sunday's round of testing came back all negative yesterday morning. That means at the present time, the plan for the players to return on Wednesday to start the on-field preparation for the upcoming contest against Denver should be looking good, and that is definitely good news for all of Patriots Nation. And it's great news for the Patriots as well. Don't forget, this is a team that within the last week hasn't seen a whole lot of action on the field. The team facilities were closed for much of last week in the wake of Stephon Gilmore and

Bill Murray testing positive. They were able to hit the field on Friday for a brief walkthrough, but then Byron Cowart's positive test on Saturday forced another shutdown, and right now the Patriots look poised to be able to return to the practice fields tomorrow. We're all hoping for the best on this, and continue to keep a sharp eye on the daily medical reports that come out. We know that the Patriots continue to do so. They're taking a cautious approach, especially because of the virus's incubation period.

Again, if history has taught us anything, it's that negative testing can come back day after day and then positives can still pop up. both the Patriots and the Broncos remain cautiously optimistic that we will be able to finally get this week five slash week six contest played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough this Sunday, October 18th at 1 p.m. And of course, the question on everyone's mind is when the Patriots do take the field, if in fact they're still going to, folks, will either Cam Newton or Stephon Gilmore or both be joining them on the field? Well, logistically, folks, there's actually a pretty good chance of this happening for both players. According to the NFL's revised protocols, Newton is eligible to return after remaining asymptomatic and having spent 10-plus days on the NFL's COVID reserve list. As for Stephon Gilmore, you know he's chomping at the bit to get back on the field.

In fact, he recently took to social media to drop a little hint that he would be, quote, ready to be back in action. And as you can imagine, that set Patriots' social media speculation into overdrive. But Bill Belichick, when he spoke to the media this morning on Tuesday, wasn't quite as committal, Bill as always erring on the side of caution, saying, quote, I'm not exactly sure what the schedule is in terms of when those guys will do the things they need to do. Some of that has to be scheduled outside of the building and so forth.

So I'll leave that to the medical department. I don't know exactly what their schedule is. And just to clarify here, Bill is referring to both Stephon Gilmore and Cam Newton needing to be cleared by both team physicians and league physicians before getting the green light to start practicing and return to the field. So while we're technically not out of the woods just yet, definitely good news on the COVID-19 front for the first time in a couple of weeks for your New England Patriots. And once again, I for one am cautiously optimistic that not only will the New England Patriots

take the field on Sunday, but Cam Newton will likely be joining them, possibly even Stephon Gilmore. But by all means, don't take my word for it, folks. As I've said before, my initials may be MD, but I am as far from a trusted medical opinion as you can get. When we need solid, reliable wisdom and counsel when it comes to the world of sports medicine, we turn to our resident expert.

Dr. Jessica Flynn of Boston Sports Journal joins me here today, and we will talk about why the latest round of Patriots negative testing is more encouraging this week than it was last week. Dr. Flynn will also provide her insight on some of the revised protocols in the NFL and why these revisions may actually help the NFL prevent the spread of COVID, not just for the Patriots, but for all 32 NFL teams. And last but certainly not least, in fact, you could make the argument that this might be the most important question

that I could ask, I will find out Dr. Jessica Flynn's medical opinion on whether we should expect to see either Cam Newton or Stephon Gilmore or both back on the field on Sunday. All this plus an injury update to a key member of the New England Patriots roster. Jess is always a wealth of knowledge.

It's my honor to share the microphone with her today. And in just a moment, folks, she'll provide you with anything and everything you need when it comes to the health and welfare of your New England Patriots. But first, we all know that fall gives way to the holidays pretty quickly, and it's hard to believe that we are almost into the 2020 holiday season. That means that you all might be doing a bit more traveling, even in these restricted times. And having reliable transportation to get from point A to point B is essential. And the easiest, most affordable, and best way to keep your ride looking and running at its absolute best is to visit my friends at rockauto.com. And as the great Don says, I will give you my reasons. Rockauto.com is a family business serving auto parts customers online

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Why spend up to twice as much for the same parts? Go to rockauto.com right now and see all the parts available for your car or truck. Make sure to put Locked On in their How Did You Hear About Us box so they know we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. rockauto.com patriots fans with covid19 still very much a reality both across the country and of course on the roster of your new england patriots i am joined today by one of the nation's leading experts in the field of sports medicine she is a sports medicine physician at Leahy Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. In addition, she provides sports injury analysis for Boston Sports

Journal and sports injury commentary for NBC Sports Boston. It's always my honor to welcome Dr. Jessica Flynn back to Locked On Patriots. Dr. Flynn, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule and joining me today. Thanks so much for having me back. Anytime. The pleasure is always all mine. And I've said before, and I said it to open the pod today, my initials may be MD, but I'm about as low as a medical opinion as you'll want to take, folks. So that's why when we need expert opinions, we go to the expert.

And I'm definitely going to the best in the business today. And it's always my honor to talk with you jess and since our last conversation uh things have gotten a little interesting in foxborough i guess it's the best way to put it uh the patriots adding four players to covet ir they've had two games postponed they've shut down their facilities three times and just by a great number of fans across the country they've been charged with pretty much every crime against humanity and public opinion to quote one of my favorite movies the pats are getting the full treatment murder conspiracy conduct on becoming a u.s marine but even though i say that tongue-in-cheek folks the news that's come out of foxborough has been pretty good news

for the patriots believe it or not, under those circumstances. Negative tests continue to far outweigh the positive. In fact, today on Tuesday makes three straight days of negative testing. And you tweeted earlier this week that this is looking more like a cluster than a full blown outbreak. They're still not out of the woods, according to you yet, but getting less and less likely by the day. Jess, if you would be so kind, please walk our listeners through how this has been possible to really give a little bit more clarification on what you mean by a cluster as opposed to an outbreak. Of course. So from the beginning, the Patriots really have taken their mitigation protocols really seriously.

And the league has sort of alluded to that multiple times. And I think that is what really has helped them see the slower, what we call a cluster, meaning. You see a case here, go a few days, another case, go a few more days, see maybe one other case. That is much more like, you know, every outbreak is going to start with one case, right? So it's not unusual for the first positive to come up as a single positive. But then what happens from there is what's really important. In the general population, you probably, and you feel like we see these graphs every day where you see this exponential growth, like one turns into two, which turns into four,

which just exponentially very quickly rises in number of cases. In Tennessee, where there was a true outbreak, they went from one case on a Saturday morning to nine new cases on Tuesday morning. So that was a huge jump. And that was worrisome that that happened so early with the Patriots. Again, Cam Newton tested positive, reportedly had dinner with Stephon Gilmore, you know, on that Friday night, and then Stephon Gilmore tested positive four days later. It was a much slower progression. We're not seeing multiple positives on the same day. All these things are good. And that's really testament to the team shutting down the facility,

even though the league didn't pressure them to do that, and to the players, you know, really isolating themselves from each other or quarantining themselves from each other during this period. So I think it's really reassuring. And the further we get out, the further removed we get from direct contact with someone who is known positive, the better the chances that this really fizzles out. Great insight. And so many things that you said there, I wanted to expand upon a little bit, but you said it perfectly. The points that I just want to hammer home a little bit, but you said it perfectly.

The points that I just want to hammer home there, folks, is the Patriots doing their due diligence, following protocols according to what they need to do, and also the fact that they took it upon themselves to close facilities when they weren't mandated to do that by the league. That's something I wish that could be shouted a little further from the rooftops. We're hearing that a lot in New England. I think the beat reporters and those that cover the team on a regular basis have done a fairly good job of educating Patriots fans on that. But other areas in the country either don't hear it or really don't want to hear it, Jess. But that's a conversation for another day. We're talking about your medical expertise. And of course, I wouldn't be delving into the deeper situations here unless I asked you this question.

And that is surrounding the health of Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore. No disrespect intended to Bill Murray or Byron Cowart in the least, folks. But the question on everyone's mind is will either of these players or both be able to return to the field on Sunday?

Now, Jess, in your words earlier, you tweeted out that if both players have remained asymptomatic, Cam Newton or Stephon Gilmore can return to play if they've had two consecutive negative tests 24 hours apart or a minimum of 10 days. Now, the NFL has lifted that no testing requirement, and you noted that this is confusing people because the NFL recently removed that minimum five days requirement. Jess, this seems to be good news for those of us that want to see Cam and Stephon back on the field this week. A lot of optimism is beginning to grow, but in your opinion, should we expect to see that? I think both, I mean, I finally get to deliver some good news. It sounds like both

players have a chance to be able to play. So I think that's the best news. The one caveat, and Bill Belichick alluded to it this morning in his press availability, was that, you know, Cam Newton will be at 10 days. So regardless of what his testing shows, he should be cleared as long as he never developed any symptoms. The catch is that he does need an evaluation. He needs clearance by the team and league doctors, and he also needs cardiac clearance. And so because of this complication of myocarditis, which we've seen in other sports, the NFL is being really careful. And they're probably not just monitoring the athletes. They're probably also in some ways is an ultrasound of the heart,

and an evaluation by a cardiologist prior to being able to be cleared to return. So I think what Bill was saying was that some things are happening outside of the facility and, you know, things have to be scheduled. Even though he's Cam Newton, you know, if someone's coming in with a really bad heart problem, they're going to bump Cam Newton. So, you know, he may be waiting for those test results and the same with Stephon Gilmore. So I think that's where we're at with both of them. Great insight again. And thank you so much for clarifying what a positive test means

and how a positive test could end up having a player back on the field with the NFL protocols. And I think you put this eloquently earlier in some of the work that you've done since Cam has tested positive. And since we've been hearing some of this news, you had mentioned that if both players remain asymptomatic, that the data seems to show that more severe infections can lead to prolonged shedding of the transmittable virus. So I think in a lot of ways, that's a good piece of education to bring to our listeners as well. because the first question is, well, if they keep testing positive, how can they let them back on the field? Well, it's because of protocol and the isolation period, the virus load that they may be carrying might not be as transmittable as originally thought. So there are a lot of ways to do that. The second point, and I can't say or thank you enough for making this point, is the effect that a respiratory virus such as this can have on an athlete's heart, can really have on anyone's heart.

That's really a big concern. That's why we see so many at-risk population being not only encouraged, but really demanded in a lot of cases to isolate, to social distance, to take extra protocol, extra opportunities to stay healthy because you never really know how these things are going to affect. And for an athlete, obviously their heartbeat is their heartbeat. It's their livelihood as for any human being. But with an athlete, because of the stress and strain that they put on their bodies, it's so, so important to be able to stress that. So, Jess, I really thank you for your insight on this. And folks, this type of information can only be relayed by an expert. You're certainly the best of the best in that department, my friend. And I thank you very much for enlightening our listeners on that and giving us some good news when it comes

to Cam and Stefan. I know you endeared yourself to a lot of my listeners there. But folks, there is still more to come. And in just a moment, Dr. Jessica Flynn will provide her insight on how the NFL is looking to further contain COVID. And we might even ask her a significant question on a significant injury to a keypads player. This and more when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, I've always thought that breaks in the action are the perfect time to evaluate how far you've come and adjust your game plan accordingly to get where you need to go. Achieve your goal. Break through your wall, if you will. But sometimes you need a little bit of extra energy to help get there. If I'm being honest, it happens to me more often than not.

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Ingredients like beta-alanine, honey, a kick of caffeine, vitamins B3, B6, and B12, along with collagen protein to help promote joint, soft tissue, hair, and skin health. Visit BuiltGo.com and use promo code LOCKED and you'll get 30% off your next order. Don't delay, do it today. That's B-U-I-L-T-G-O dot com and promo code L-O-C-K-E-D for 30% off at BiltGo.com. Let's go! Patriots fans, Dr. Jessica Flynn of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Massachusetts joins us today here on Locked On Patriots to provide her expert wisdom and counsel. And Jess, as we discussed in the previous segment, the Patriots have been following protocols. They seem to be weathering the storm pretty well. And you even gave us some pretty good news when it comes to Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore. Again, we're not going to hold your feet to the fire on that, but it's positive.

And we really need to stress good news in all of this situation. We just haven't had that much of it when it comes to COVID, and hearing that players are starting to weather the storm a little bit is definitely good news for our fan base and really all NFL fan bases. But the NFL is definitely hearing the noise, I would say. I was highly critical of the NFL's handling of the aftermath of the Chiefs-Patriots game here on Locked on Patriots. I was a little more candid than I usually am about my opinion on what happened. I know you tweeted out some words yourself of anger and a little

bit of disheartening. It's the way some of it was going. but the NFL recently issued a memorandum that updated some of their protocols, and you lauded them for some of the changes that they made, particularly the one on reverse transcription for the QPCR testing on game day. You identified this as a blind spot for teams and great news moving forward for the containment, or attempted containment, I should say, of COVID-19. Jess, again, I'm going to quote a few good men here. I don't know what that means, but it sounds pretty good. If you can just kind of walk our listeners through what essentially that protocol is and why this is a significant upgrade for the NFL and hoping to continue to stop or at least contain the spread of COVID as the season progresses. Of course, you know, I was so happy

last night when I saw the NFL's updated protocols. You know, Albert Breer actually asked me to write five things that the NFL could do starting Sunday to sort of change the course of this and to restore some faith with the players and improve their response. And, you know, I had two top things. One was respecting the incubation period of the virus. And the second one was to test on game day. So I'm just thrilled because if you look at the Titans' timing, the timing of the Titans' outbreak, if they had tested on game day, so previously the NFL was testing everyone with the gold standard nose swab, the reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR test, which is just a fancy word for that nose swab that they do. And they send to the lab, and that test takes about 12 hours to result.

And that's the best test out there, and they were doing it every day except game day. And I never really understood why they would do that. I mean, the only reason maybe not to do it on game day is that you might wake up the next morning and find out that you put someone on the field who was infected at the time, and that wouldn't be great. But in the case of the Titans, they had a positive on a Saturday, and then they went all day Saturday, all day Sunday, all day Monday, and they didn't get results until Tuesday morning that nine of their players were positive.

And so that lost 24 hours of time in testing, and ended up being three days where athletes were exposed unknowingly. So I think this was just a critical change. I'm so happy to see it, And I think, you know, it really could have changed the course of at least the Titans' early outbreak. I don't know, you know, about what happened once they were getting together, you know, outside of practice. But it definitely could have had an impact. Yeah. And, again, I really think that in a lot of ways that preventative type of measures being taken early on might have been able to.

But hindsight is always 20-20. And look, for anyone that's listened to me lately, again, I've given the league a lot of grief lately about the way they've handled things and about the way they've been able to help contain. This is definitely a positive step in the right direction and something that you identified and something that apparently is about to come to fruition. So great things happening there in terms of the testing, especially on game day. It allows teams to be able to identify a little bit quicker. And any type of help that the league can get in containing a virus of this type is always going to be good news, not just for the Patriots here, folks, but for all throughout the NFL. Because, again, all NFL teams,

all 32 of them are in this together. If one team is affected, there's a pretty good chance that a lot of other teams are going to be affected, and we've seen that with all of the mass reschedulings. Just the Patriots-Broncos being delayed set forth a chain reaction of reschedules and shuffling of bye weeks, and it's just been absolutely crazy. But Jess, my final question for you today is actually going to be a little bit of a break from COVID.

Every time we have you here on Locked On Patriots, we always talk a little bit of injury news for the Patriots. And this being their unofficial bye week now, or I guess their official bye week, it's kind of combined into one. The Patriots now have a few players on injured reserve, but one of the more high profile is running back Sonny Michel.

Since our last conversation, Sonny was added back to the injured reserve with a quad injury. And initial indications are that Sonny should be back this year. It doesn't appear to be a season-threatening injury, but when a running back especially has an injury to his quad, it probably will affect his play on the field at least short term, or at least we think. Jess, you have a top medical mind in this field, so in your opinion, when and if Sony does return to the field this year,

could this injury be something that hinders him throughout the season or at least a little bit? Or is this rest time that he's had enough to have him come back and not miss much of a beat? Well, you know, it's a really good question because the quad is super important for a running back. Basically, to be able to churn your legs and really carry defenders with you is really important. So any injury to the quad muscles, which are huge muscles that help you with that, could certainly impact your game. I think it was very smart for the Patriots to give him a break

and putting him on that now shortened IR, you know, the three-week IR, was a really good idea. His ability to come back will depend on how severe the injury was at first and then, you know, how much progress he's made during this rest period. And so I think we'll just have to wait and see. Of course, when he comes back, the nice thing for the Patriots is that they do have a pretty strong backfield. They have people who can plug in,

so he'll have the luxury of being able to come back a little bit more slowly. But I do think three weeks of rest is a great thing for a soft tissue injury like a quad. Great, great information. And again, because Sony

is such a polarizing figure in Patriots fans' war, and I still can't figure it out I'm always rooting for the kid and I still think there's there's a lot under the surface that he can provide to this team I know a lot of people are going to look at his return and either use it as an opportunity to attack him or to put him up on a pedestal and I think virtue has to lie in the middle there may be some hindrance and I'm glad that you indicated how um how you know pertinent uh you know a quad injury can be for a running back and how much that can affect what they do on the field if he does struggle a little bit at

first folks it might be just some of the injury rust and not simply just saying oh he's a first round bust and we have to get rid of him at all costs. So at least talking some of the fan base off the ledge, Jess, you always do that. And you always lend your wisdom and counsel the way only you can. And I say that sincerely. You know, the information that you provide is just second to none, and we're always, always honored to have you here on Locked On Patriots. Pats fans, the name of Dr. Jessica Flynn's podcast is Sideline with Doc Flynn. You got a snip of her amazing insight today,

but for some of the best comprehensive analysis from the world of both sports and medicine, catch it wherever you get your podcasts. Jess, for the betterment of our listeners, where may our fan base find you on Twitter and what great content may we look forward to in the coming days from the great pen and mind of Dr. Jessica Flynn.

Oh, thanks so much. So you can find me on Twitter at doc Flynn NFL. You can also, you know, look forward to, so my podcast and my podcast this week, I'm going to be joined by Chris Gasper.

So we'll get some insider information there. Yeah. and look for my articles in boston sports journal i'll keep you guys updated on all the league's uh movement when it comes to covid um and any injuries which hopefully we don't have any to talk about for the past absolutely we all live in hope and we all pray for the best when it comes to the health of our New England Patriots, as well as the rest of the 31 teams in the league as well. Because, again, no one wants to see anyone infected with this. And we're all in this together. And, Jess, again, your insight is second to none. Definitely check out her great work on the podcast, anything that she puts out for Boston Sports Journal.

Great content there as well. Jess, thanks again for joining me here today. Stay safe, stay well, have a great week, and enjoy the game coming up on Sunday, which, fingers crossed, looks like will finally be played at Gillette Stadium at 1 p.m. against the Denver Broncos. Thank you again, Jess. Take care and have a great week. Thanks so much for having me. And just like that, Patriots fans, we are at the cusp of the midway point of your work week.

And there is still plenty more to come here on the pod to help get all of you ready for Sunday's matchup with the Denver Broncos. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, make sure to download Locked on Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe or follow on Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher. Just make sure that you're staying locked into Locked on Patriots. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate.

A huge thank you to Dr. Jessica Flynn for taking time out of her busy schedule this week to join me here on Locked on Patriots, lending her invaluable sports medicine wisdom and counsel. But most of all, I thank each and every one of you so much for listening and for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Pats Nation, stay safe, stay well, continue to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.