“I can be touching facemasks with you and you’re yelling. I still can’t hear you,’’ Sharper said. “It gets pretty loud, and that’s one of the things that’s a home-field advantage for us. We definitely have to use that.’’
The Patriots understand the challenge of playing on the road, and they also know they must overcome it to pronounce themselves a championship-caliber team. The Patriots this season are undefeated at Gillette Stadium but winless in their three road games, against the Jets, Broncos, and Colts. While they were officially the road team in their victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they were playing in London, a neutral site that was hardly an adverse setting.
On Monday night, the Patriots will face not only the undefeated Saints, but also the deafening Superdome. Toppling the Saints would validate the Patriots as a team capable of handling games away from Gillette.
“You want to be able to play on the road,’’ center Dan Koppen said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t had as good a record as we’d like around here. We’re going to go down there and it’s going to be a hostile crowd. The fans are going to be into it. So that’s another thing that we’re going to have to deal with.’’
Defeating an elite team on the road could help the Patriots in the postseason. With the Colts running away with the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC, a trip to the Super Bowl, it seems, will mean a trip through Indianapolis.
“Say you do make it to the playoffs and you don’t get home-field advantage,’’ cornerback Leigh Bodden said. “Then that’s one thing you’re going to have to do, is win on the road. So it’s definitely important to win on the road and get that under your belt and try to play good away.
“Sometimes it’s hard because your fans aren’t behind you. At times you have an edge when your fans are not behind you. It’s hard to start off fast when you’re away because of the crowd. That’s one thing we need to do is start fast and finish fast.’’
With the emphasis on finish. The Patriots have led at halftime in every road game this season - 9-3 against the Jets in Week 2, 17-7 against the Broncos in Week 5, 24-14 against the Colts in Week 10.
