FOXBORO – Since Thanksgiving, Tom Brady had been a billionaire driving around in a ’02 Corolla with no heat, no AC, a broken antennae and roll-up windows. His real ride? In the shop.
The indignity of it. Reduced to the football equivalent of driving 40 mph in the slow lane and swearing at the windshield. Taking knees before halftime, kicking off in overtime, chucking, ducking and walking off the field on the short end of the score four times in six games.
Saturday, Brady got his ride back. Drove tight little circles around the no-slouch defense of the Kansas City Chiefs. Climbed out of the car and had the nerve to say, “You know what, I think it still pulls a little bit to the right. Let’s take another look at it.”
Standing at the podium wearing his game pants and an inside-out Patriots hoodie with the sleeves sawed off, Brady mildly went to the whip, saying, “Thought we did a better job today than what we've been doing, but I think we can still do a lot better. I thought we had a good plan. I thought we worked hard, studied this team, watched a lot of film, so I think the preparation was good. We had a good week of practice. I think we had plenty of plays out there that we left on the field, things that we can definitely do better, and I think we can be sharper next week. So that's what we're going to try to be. We're going to need it. Whoever we play, they're going to be a great team.”
Minutes later, back in the Patriots locker room, Brady split his attention between getting his gear off and entertaining his two young sons as they crawled on his chair and ambled around in his stuff. His on-field, barely sane, perfection-driven persona had already been packed away. Right then, he was just a dad.
But the message Brady delivered after this game – “Still not good enough to get where we want to be” – still hung in that locker room. And it’s why Brady will play next Sunday in his 10th Conference Championship in the 14 years he’s been the Patriots’ starting quarterback for the majority of the season. It was cute when, after one of his day-after Super Bowl MVP press conferences he said his favorite championship was “the next one.” It’s not cute anymore. It’s unprecedented. It’s unreal. It’s not fair.
On Saturday, with Julian Edelman back, Danny Amendola with a hop in his step and Rob Gronkowski looking exactly like the best tight end of his generation, Brady riddled a Chiefs defense that allowed an average of 11 points per game in an 11-game winning streak.
New England Patriots
“You’re playing the reigning Super Bowl champs,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid with a whiff of “what do you expect” in his voice. “They got healthy and had everybody out there and when you get to this level that’s the way you need to roll.”
Tamba Hali, one of the Chiefs’ premier pass rushers, was asked for answers.
“The ball coming out quick was the biggest challenge. We had a game plan to hit some of these guys and in the second half when we did that they slowed down and we held the ball a little bit, but that was the biggest challenge. The rush wasn’t getting there and the ball was coming out. … Those guys could block, but I believe in our guys that we can rush. When the ball is coming out in one or two seconds there’s not much you can do.”
The sense of relief and gratitude on this evening was left for Belichick to articulate. And he was eloquent in doing so.
“This week of practice was probably one of our best weeks ever in terms of focus and concentration, everybody being alert and on top of it,” Belichick began. “It’s a real credit to the players. I think that’s number one. Those guys, we demand a lot out of them. This is a hard place to play. It’s from the first day of spring OTAs all the way through training camp all the way through meetings. We’re over 100 practices now this year. That doesn’t count the walkthroughs and the meetings and everything else. Those are just the actual practice practices. You know it’s definitely a grind, but they come in here, like this group, and I’ve said this the last couple of years, too, these guys come in here every day, their pencils are sharpened, they’re sitting right there in those seats, they’re ready to go, they’re attentive, they want to learn, they want to know how to get better, they want to compete and they just do that on a daily basis. That’s been week after week and year after year.”
During a lengthy press conference, Belichick name-dropped no fewer than 22 players. And would have gotten to more if pressed.
“The credit goes to them,” he said. “It’s a tough league. It’s tough to go out and play good every week, especially when you’ve got a target. Everybody is trying to knock us off, as they should be, and we’ve just got to stand up and compete every week. The players do a great job here, they really do. I’m really fortunate to have that group. And the assistant coaches, you can’t say enough great things. I thought Josh [McDaniels] and the offensive staff did a tremendous job this week game planning and play calling. Josh was magnificent. I thought he really had everything dialed in. Pretty much everything he called it came out the way we thought it would. As we were breaking the huddle, we could already see we had what we wanted and Tom and the offense executed it perfectly. The staff did a really good job, as they usually do. Look, these guys work hard here. The coaches work hard, the players work hard, and it’s very gratifying to see those kinds of results pay off for all the hard work. It’s what we do, it’s what we’re here for is to win.”
“What we’re here for is to win.” Those seven words sum up the 16-year Belichick-Brady reign.
There is no confusion about the aim. It’s not “Try to win and have a good time doing it.” Or, “Try to win but don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.”
It’s cutthroat competitiveness and it’s the bane of the NFL that the New England Patriots have been so good for so long with no end in sight and no apparent way of stopping them. Not on the field. Not in court. They win because they will do whatever they believe is necessary. No half-measures.
That mentality is what spurred Amendola to absolutely demolish a Chief who was looking to down a punt in the first half. A shove may have sufficed. But Amendola played it hard and drew a flag for roughness that wasn’t necessary.
Meanwhile, with their season on the line, the Chiefs attempted an onside kick with 1:18 remaining and pursued it with tepid aggressiveness before giving up the chase.
Steven Jackson’s been in Foxboro for about 15 minutes. Asked after the game what it was like being a part of the Patriots in the playoffs, Jackson said, “This was a quick reminder that there are levels to an NFL season and playoff speed is completely different than regular season speed. To see guys compete and to see guys put everything on the line each and every snap, it felt good to be a part of this. I missed it and I’m glad I’m a part of it now. You can tell the intensity around here stepped up, guys came back from injuries, but the preparation and practice all week, everything went up this week to another level.”
And next week, in their fifth AFC Championship appearance in a row, it will be going to another level again. What they are there for is to win. Good enough isn’t good enough.