December has been Patriots’ time to shine

Belichick, Brady have helped team go 64-13 during final month

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — December has been a special time for the New England Patriots during the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era.

Since the pair arrived in 2000, the Patriots are 64-13 during the final month of the regular season. Brady has been the starter for all but six of those victories — four during his rookie season in 2000 and two in 2008 when he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opener.

Still, the 41-year-old quarterback’s 58 December wins are the most in NFL history. His .843 winning percentage is second-best among quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era. Roger Staubach (17-3, .850) is first.

Patriots special teams captain Matt Slater is one of the few players left on New England’s roster with enough tenure to appreciate that run and the emphasis Belichick puts on this portion of the season.

“As coach says, ‘ Football season starts after Thanksgiving,’ ” Slater said.

Just for good measure, Brady is 75-18 in regular-season games played on or after Thanksgiving.

Three of the Patriots’ final five games are at home, beginning with Sunday’s matchup with Minnesota.

But even after the Patriots (8-3) earned their latest post-Turkey Day win last week over the Jets, Slater said the message coming from Belichick and Brady is far from a state of being content.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best football yet,” Slater said. “I think it was a step in the right direction.”

That’s not good news for a Vikings team that is in position to make the playoffs, but is also a few losses away from peering in from the outside.

Minnesota (6-4-1) has lost four straight regular-season meetings with New England, though the teams haven’t met since 2014. The Vikings have won twice at New England, but their last victory was in 2000 in Belichick’s first year.

Here are some things to watch for in Sunday’s game:

Tough on Tom: Vikings coach Mike Zimmer’s defenses have had some success in minimizing Brady’s impact in some matchups against the five-time Super Bowl champion. Though Zimmer’s teams have lost three of four games against the Patriots, with the Vikings in 2014, as the defensive coordinator for Cincinnati in 2010 and as the defensive coordinator for Dallas in 2003, the Bengals beat New England 13-6 in 2013 with Zimmer in charge of the defense.

Getting the ground game going: The Vikings have the third-fewest rushing yards in the league this year, after finishing seventh last season. Though the success of their passing game and particular game situations have factored into them falling to 28th in the NFL in attempts after totaling the second-most rushes last year, they’ll need an uptick down the stretch and in the playoffs, if they make it, to keep winning.

Attacking the perimeter last week against the Packers was productive, with Dalvin Cook and Stefon Diggs each taking jet sweep plays for 9 and 12 yards. There’s another untapped source of rushing yardage that lies with quarterback Kirk Cousins, too.