Patriots look to overcome trying season
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft fought back tears as he struggled to explain the emotion invested in a season dedicated to the memory of his wife of 48 years, Myra, who died of cancer July 20.
“This season, for me personally, has never meant more,” said Kraft, who transformed the Patriots into perennial contenders after he purchased the team in 1994. “It’s actually helped me personally, having this team and having them perform the way they have.”
The AFC’S top-seeded Patriots take a 13-3 record, an eight-game winning streak and the Super Bowl dreams of their grief-stricken owner into Saturday night’s divisional playoff game here against erratic but dynamic quarterback Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.
New England has not tasted the ultimate postseason success since rattling off three NFL titles in four years from 2001 to 2004 at the start of quarterback Tom Brady’s illustrious career.
The Patriots came close in the 2007 season, but the New York Giants ruined their bid for 19-0 perfection by pulling a 17-14 upset in the final minute of Super Bowl XLII.
Bill Belichick, tied for third all time with a .714 playoff winning percentage (15-6) among coaches with at least 10 playoff games, has suffered key losses to his staff and the team’s front office.
In the most recent development, Bill O’brien accepted the head coaching position at Penn State after overseeing an attack that clicked off 32.1 points a game to trail only the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.
The Patriots enter this postseason with an unfamiliar urgency to right themselves. Consecutive playoff losses at Gillette Stadium followed an 11game home postseason winning streak and created a sense of vulnerability that once was non-existent.
“I definitely think about it,” linebacker Jerod Mayo said. “This is my fourth year, and I haven’t won a playoff game yet. That’s not the norm around here. We have to get it done.”
Eighth-year defensive lineman Vince Wilfork is confident New England can regain the swagger that led it to be widely proclaimed as team of the decade not long ago.
“The character of this team is amazing. We haven’t had a team like this in a while,” Wilfork said. “Hopefully we can finish this thing off where we want to be.”
Brady could not be more locked in, saying of past disappointments, “There’s nothing that’s happened in the past that can affect this season. We’re focused on what we’re trying to do now.”
New England is as inscrutable – and flawed – as a 13-3 top seed can be. For all of the Patriots’ success, they have yet to defeat an opponent with a winning record, leading Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy to describe them as “a little bit of a house of cards.”
They lost on the road to the Pittsburgh Steelers 25-17 on October 30 before the Giants ended their franchiserecord 20-game home regular-season winning streak 24-20 a week later.
As much as Belichick is celebrated for his defensive wizardry, that unit was gashed for 4,727 passing yards, second only to the record 4,796 Green Bay allowed this season. It ranks 31st in total defense (411.1 yards a game).
It also has been difficult for Belichick to keep top coaches from leaving for better opportunities.
Charlie Weis and Josh Mcdaniels are two prominent offensive coordinators who departed, although Mcdaniels is back as an offensive assistant after a failed stint as Denver Broncos head coach and a one-year stay with the St. Louis Rams as offensive coordinator.
Former defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel was hired as Kansas City Chiefs head coach after serving on an interim basis.
Then again, all of the “noise” – as Belichick likes to call news media criticism – will go away if New England handles Denver as easily as it did with a 41-23 road victory December 18 and goes on to win a conference that lacks an imposing team and earn a berth in Super Bowl XLVI as a fitting tribute to Myra.