Two years ago, Robert Kraft bought two Boeing 767 planes in order to send the Patriots to away games. Having a second plane laying around as a backup might have been seen as a bit excessive but it sure came in handy this weekend.
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Patriots sent the team on two planes to Houston for Sunday night’s game against the Texans. An illness has gone through the team over the past week and those sick players went to Houston on a separate plane to try and keep them away from the healthy players as much as possible.
With an illness sweeping the locker room this week, the Patriots did something uncommon in traveling to Houston: the team flew in two planes, one to accommodate those who were sick and keep others away from them. Nine players are questionable because of the sickness.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 1, 2019
In total, nine players are questionable including Kyle Van Noy, Dont’a Hightower, and Stephon Gilmore. At times, Bill Belichick’s definition of “questionable” can range from a paper cut to a broken leg so there’s a part of you that think this might be some elaborate mind game in a big primetime game against a potential playoff opponent. But considering the Patriots are going through the trouble (and cost) of sending their second plane to Houston, they might be serious.
It’s just one reason why the Patriots have been as successful as they are. They leave nothing to chance and take care of every detail. At some point, the sick and the healthy will have to be in the same room together so there may be more sick players in the coming week but as they usually say, they’ll take it one game at a time.
