Brady & Co. brace for high-flying Falcons

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — How psyched are the Patriots to face the Falcons in Super Bowl LI?

Bill Belichick claimed with a straight face here after Sunday night’s 36-17 rout of the Steelers he didn’t even know Atlanta had beaten the Packers in the NFC Championship.

“We didn’t see the first game,” the New England boss mumbled not-so-believably in his postgame news conference. “We were focused on this game. If we didn’t win this game, that game wouldn’t have made any difference.”

While Tom Brady potentially getting Deflategate payback in the form of the Lombardi Trophy from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is the obvious storyline for the Patriots as they head to Houston, the more pertinent factor for his teammates is the Falcons’ turbocharged, No. 1-ranked scoring offense.

Fresh off limiting Steelers star wide receiver Antonio Brown to a quiet seven catches for 77 yards, top New England cornerback Malcolm Butler — the hero of the Patriots’ most recent Super Bowl victory — now has two weeks to get ready for an even bigger challenge in Falcons sensation Julio Jones.

With such a long break ahead, Butler preferred not to worry about Jones just yet as he celebrated the Patriots’ seventh trip to the Big Game of the Belichick era.

“Give me a day to enjoy this victory before I start thinking about that,” Butler said. “He’s a great player, obviously, but there’s still a lot of time to talk about him before [the Super Bowl].”

Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett pleaded ignorance about their next opponent.

“I don’t know much about them, although I’m a big fan of Julio Jones,” Bennett said.

Belichick might claim not to have known the Falcons won Sunday, but he knows Atlanta’s offense poses a formidable test for the NFL’s No. 1-ranked scoring defense.

“Obviously, they’re a great team, or they wouldn’t be playing in [the Super Bowl],” Belichick said. “They’ve had a great year.”