The New England Patriots took a unique approach in traveling to Houston amidst a widespread case of the flu throughout the locker room. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the team took two separate planes to Houston ahead of their clash with the Texans. One plane transported the ill players while the other contained the healthy athletes.

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

It’s a unique approach that we rarely see. Obviously, the Patriots want to keep their healthy players healthy by ensuring they come into limited contact with the ill players, especially when it comes to spending hours in a closed plane. For the ill players, not much can be done to improve their health. They just need to battle through it in hopes of being able to play.

Ryan Izzo is the only player who has been ruled out; he is dealing with an illness. Among the 17 Patriots questionable for today’s tilt, nine of them are dealing with an illness. Those players are Marcus Cannon, Patrick Chung, Jamie Collins, Jermaine Eluemunor, Stephon Gilmore, Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, Joejuan Williams, and Isaiah Wynn. Of them, only Van Noy was absent to finish the week of practices, while the rest were limited.

The other eight players listed as questionable are Ja’Whaun Bentley, Byron Cowart, Phillip Dorsett, Nate Ebner, Julian Edelman, Jason McCourty, Mohamed Sanu, and Matthew Slater. Of them, Dorsett, Edelman, Sanu, and Slater are expected to play while McCourty will not.

It will be interesting to see which of the ill players will yield any of the six remaining spots on the inactive list (or seven, if McCourty somehow manages to play). With nine players ill, some tough decisions will need to be made as the Patriots battle to hold on to the best record in the NFL.

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