Pats don’t expect easy time against Cats
HOUSTON – Everything that the New England Patriots have accomplished this season, they’ve had to earn the hard way. Now that the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, coach Bill Belichick claims his team’s most arduous undertaking awaits Sunday against the upstart Carolina Panthers.
“We know this will be our toughest game of the year,” Belichick said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Panthers and the way they’ve played. They’re a great football team, well-coached and strong in all three phases of the game.”
The Patriots (16-2) were installed as a 7-point favorite immediately after they pounded Indianapolis in the AFC Championship Game and the spread hasn’t changed over the last nine days. Carolina (14-5) might be a physical match for the Patriots under coach John Fox, but New England’s record against winning teams borders on the astonishing.
During the regular season, the Patriots went 7-0 against opponents that finished above .500. Only one other team in NFL history, the Minnesota Vikings of 1969, had a record as good as 7-0 against winning teams.
New England beat three 12-4 teams (Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Tennessee) and three 10-6 teams (Dallas, Denver and Miami twice). Then in the post-season they had to defeat the Titans and Colts all over again.
Since a 2-2 start that included losses to Buffalo (6-10) and Washington (5-11), the Patriots have reeled off 14 victories in a row. They were favored in 11 of those 14 games, but only in their rematch against the Bills on Dec. 27 in Buffalo were they favored by more points than this week.
“We really don’t care about that,” Belichick said. “We think we have a good team but we’ve got to prepare well in order to win. If we don’t play well, we won’t beat anybody.”
At the first whiff of overconfidence, Belichick need only remind his players what their mind-set was in this game two years ago. St. Louis rode into that Super Bowl favored by 14 but left with a 20-17 defeat at the hands of the inspired Patriots.
Last year, the Oakland Raiders were favored by 3 1/2 points only to be humiliated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 48-21.
“Two years ago, we were trying to prove something and we were a 13- or 14-point underdog,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. “But I think the goal is the same. They won their conference and so have we. They’re the toughest team we have played all year.”
Other Patriots players said much the same thing. Belichick’s message clearly has taken hold among the rank and file.
There was a time, of course, when the favorite had its way in the Super Bowl. Before the Patriots’ upset in February 2002, the favorite had won seven out of eight, with the exception being Denver’s upset of Green Bay after the 1997 season as an 11 1/2-point underdog.
Playing in the NFC South, Carolina’s schedule was much easier than New England’s. The Panthers met only four teams in the regular season that had winning records and finished 1-3, winning at Indianapolis but losing to Tennessee, Dallas and Philadelphia. In the post-season, the Panthers proved their worth by eliminating Dallas, St. Louis and Philadelphia.
“They’ve won six in a row,” Belichick said. “They won a couple playoff games on the road. I’ve seen the Carolina Panthers play just about every game this year. They have played very well, and have played very well lately. They scored touchdowns on defense, created turnovers, created a lot of positive field position. They are hard to move the ball against and hard to score against.”
Both teams are better on defense, heightening prospects for a low-scoring affair. In the last 28 Super Bowls, the fewest points scored were 36 in Super Bowl XXIII (San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16). The record for fewest points is 22 in Super Bowl IX (Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6).
If the game is low-scoring, so be it.
“These are two teams that have very strong wills,” Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson said. “It will be a war of wills. I think there’s some sex appeal there. I think people will appreciate this game.”
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