Curran: Belichick loves team's predictability

INDIANAPOLIS - We've written a few times about Bill Belichick's high regard for the 2011 Patriots. It's not the most talented team he's had in New England but it does seem to be one of Bill Belichick's most diligent groups. In a Monday afternoon press conference, Belichick spoke specifically about the one attribute he likes most about this team which has gone 15-3 in 2011. "One of the good things about this team is its consistency," Belichick explained. "They come to work every day and they're ready to work."We've all worked in places where the intensity of our co-workers can sometimes be sporadic. Or our own intensity. And general morale is impacted. Not tocontinually bring up the 2009 Patriots as evidence, but the 2009 Patriots would be a good example of a team that wasn't necessarily locked-and-loaded for football every day it showed up. And it only takes a few players. "Not all the time every day does everybody (show the same attentiveness on other teams)," Belichick said. "This team, overall, as a team. They come to work, they're ready to work, they go to work. There's not a lot of, 'We gotta get things started, we gotta get things going. We're just going through the motions.' There hasn't been a lot of that."From the outside, it took some time to gain an appreciation for that quality with these Patriots because they had inconsistent performances. But inside, Belichick saw a consistency in the reaction from his team regarding its inconsistency. They moved on. "I respect their consistency, their mental toughness, their physical toughness and their ability to put things behind them and move ahead to the next challenge," Belichick said. "Daily, weekly or after a bad play and moving on to the next play. ... They get over it, they move on to the next thing, try to make the next thing better and don't get bogged down by something that didn't go well."Sterling Moore's game in the AFC Championship encapsulates that. Beaten for a touchdown by Torrey Smith in the third quarter, Moore had nowhere to hide late in the game when coveringLee Evans and Dennis Pitta on the Ravens' final two playsbefore their field goal. And, instead of being in the tank, he made the plays. No wonder Belichick likes this team.