FOXBOROUGH - The streak is all anybody around here cares about, yet the local football team dares not speak its name.
Walking hand in hand with history, the 2007 New England Patriots improved to 13-0 with a 34-13 thrashing of the chest-thumping Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium yesterday. The Patriots became the fifth team in NFL history to start a season 13-0. Only one made it to 14-0 - the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who finished 17-0 in Super Bowl VII.
The Patriots don't talk about it. They don't even mention the sensational start in the official press notes. It's downright Kremlin-esque. The Patriots' crack PR staff will tell you the team's record in games played at 34 degrees or less and it will tell you that Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are the winningest coach-QB tandem since 1970 (fairly arcane factoids), but it will not mention the only thing anyone cares about anymore: the unbeaten season.
Champagne-toting Mercury Morris is going to be on television a lot in the next few weeks. The Patriots, who can find motivation in the most minimal slight, face the 3-10 New York Jets in Foxborough next week.
The Jets, of course, are the team that called out the Patriots as cheaters, which resulted in the loss of a first-round draft pick and considerable reputation.
The 0-13 Dolphins are next, and they should be the largest underdogs in history when they visit Gillette.
Finally, the Patriots will take on the playoff-bound Giants in the Meadowlands Dec. 29. There is a strong likelihood the Giants will have no incentive in that game other than to stay healthy for the playoffs.
In other words, the Patriots have effectively clinched a 16-0 record. Only an injury to you-know-who or an unexpected force of nature can deny them their place in NFL history.
But don't expect them to talk about it.
"It's hard not to pay attention to what's going on," said wide receiver Randy Moss, who spent most of yesterday embarrassing young fool Anthony Smith (remember Fred "The Hammer" Williamson?) and eating candy off the head of Ike Taylor. "But we won't look back and reflect 'til after the season. It's hard to look ahead because of the coach we have."
That would be Belichick, who wrapped himself in a Gore-Tex fluffer jacket yesterday (Costanza and Peterman would have been proud), then went to the postgame podium and flatlined, "That was a good win today for us."
His Hoodiness, of course, is an NFL historian on a par with the late Will McDonough. Belichick owns the most expansive football library this side of Canton, Ohio. When his childhood friends were playing tag and tug-of-war, Billy Belichick was studying the work of Amos Alonzo Stagg, Clark Shaughnessy, and Paul Brown. When his friends listened to George Harrison, Belichick hummed the play list of George Halas.
