Haven’t we seen this movie before? The one in which logic and reason and everything this side of deifying Bill Belichick says the New England Patriots are due to take a serious tumble?
Shouldn’t there be a point where the sequels – each missing stars from the previous chapter, a Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel one year and a Willie McGinest and Deion Branch the next – don’t equal the original?
Perhaps the Broncos thought they would put the finish on the Pats’ days as an NFL power, beating them twice in the 2005 season, including a playoff victory that dethroned the two-time defending champs. However, as the team munches its popcorn and breaks down the film before Sunday’s game at Gillette Stadium, it will discover that, indeed, New England still is center frame, very much in the picture.
“It comes through New England – it’s a reality,” Buffalo Bills defensive back Troy Vincent said. “Until someone knocks them off – comes in here, into this city, into this stadium, and beats them – that’s just how it is.”
When the Patriots opened the 2006 season versus the Bills in Foxborough, Mass., it marked the first time in three years that a championship banner wasn’t raised before the home folk. Further discombobulating the fans’ sensibilities, their beloveds fell behind 7-0 on the opening play of the year when quarterback Tom Brady fumbled and Buffalo recovered for a touchdown.
That New England rallied in the fourth quarter for a 19-17 victory speaks to its ability to find a way to win. At one point, such a triumph may have just as easily been attributed to the sorry state of the Bills, but given Buffalo’s road win Sunday at Miami – over a Dolphins team picked by many to oust the Patriots atop the AFC East – that doesn’t seem quite as plausible.
While the Bills were showing Miami just how far it has to go to become a serious contender, New England, facing a classic trap game – going against a supposedly inferior New York Jets team a week before its chance at revenge against Denver – won 24-17 at the Meadowlands.
No excuses
That the Patriots were cursing an effort that saw them nearly blow a 24-0 lead, rather than celebrating the win, also speaks to the mentality that still remains in their locker room, regardless of who’s putting on the uniform these days.
“We made mistakes and we all made them,” Belichick said Monday at his weekly news conference. “I made them. The coaches made them. The players make them. These are all things that we can improve and learn from and that’s what we’ll try to do. I think that every player that participated in the game and every coach that participated in that game looks back at their game and says, ‘These are the things that I could’ve done better. These are things that I need to work on.’
“I think we’re all saying that today. I’m glad we’re saying it at 2-0 and not 0-2.”
Unlike a Denver team that returned virtually intact from a year ago, it would seem that the Patriots at least have an excuse for their fitful start. In the offseason, New England jettisoned or decided not to retain familiar players McGinest, Chad Brown, Monty Beisel and Bethel Johnson. And, much to the certain consternation of Visa, Tom Ashworth, the biggest of Brady’s “metaphors,” was allowed to go to Seattle.
Throw in Branch, a preseason holdout, and you get enough turnover to fill a pastry chef’s wildest dream – and seemingly double the heartburn.
However, the Patriots don’t do excuses.
“You’re reminded of (change) every day – guys coming in and working out, trying to get on to the team, guys getting released, guys coming and going,” safety Rodney Harrison said. “You’re reminded every day that it’s a business. It’s going to happen to all of us eventually, but you just try to do the best you can while you’re here and not worry about it.
“It used to be a game, but big bucks are involved so it’s a true business – I have to handle it like it’s Rodney Harrison, Inc. and so do 53 other guys in this locker room.”
Fifty-three individual businesses merged into a single corporation with one line on the mission statement – doing whatever is necessary to win. Despite the departures through the years, that has been a constant with the Patriots, whether it’s linebacker Mike Vrabel catching touchdown passes or receiver Troy Brown intercepting them as a defensive back.
Help wanted
With Branch traded away to Seattle the day after the season opener, Belichick posted a want ad for a pass catcher. Enter Chad Jackson.
A rookie who was inactive for the Buffalo game, Jackson made his NFL debut against the Jets, making two receptions for 42 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown grab. Similarly, any player left idling against the Jets may find himself called upon to help corral the Broncos on Sunday.
“Personally, I think when you go to a game with 45 players, optimally you’d like to be able to use everybody,” Belichick said. “You’d like to be able to use all 45 guys and have them contribute and do things that they do well and you can almost always find somebody that does something a little bit better maybe than somebody else.
“Maybe if you had the perfect team you could do it, but I don’t know if you really want to take 45 players to the game and just play 36 of them. It just seems like you could get something out of those other players, hopefully. If we can, then that’s what we try to do. We’re not trying to get anybody their letter sweater. This isn’t like high school. But if we can use them and they can help us win, we’re going to put them in there.”
Staff writer Anthony Cottoncan be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
