“It’s all about winning,’’ said Brady. “You lose a few playoff games and it’s a bitter way to end a season. It sits on your mind for quite a while. Now we’ve got eight days to get ready for the biggest game of the year.’’
“What a great time to put it together,’’ added defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, one of the few holdovers from the golden years. “We’re just playing good football all around. We’re getting better every week. Hopefully, it won’t stop now.’’
It’s been popular to denigrate the Patriots because of the caliber of their opponents, and the dismal Broncos did nothing to dispute the notion that the Patriots are beneficiaries of the easiest schedule in NFL history. The Patriots are believed to be the first NFL team to advance to the conference championship without defeating a team with a regular-season record over .500.
But maybe it’s time to start thinking of the Patriots another way. Maybe New England’s team is the best team in the NFL. Maybe a 45-10 playoff victory is pretty darned impressive.
Last night’s slaughter was much worse than the final score indicated. It was 35-7 at halftime and 42-7 early in the third quarter. The entire second half was a glorified scrimmage. Just don’t get hurt.
Brady completed 26 of 34 passes for 363 yards and a playoff-record-tying six TD strikes. His counterpart, the much-hyped Tim Tebow, completed 9 of 26 passes for 136 yards, rushed for a paltry 13 yards, and was sacked five times. Representatives of Time Magazine, People, GQ, and The New Yorker had seats in the press box and none of them came to write about Rob Ninkovich, but the Tebow story line never materialized. It was vaporized by Belichick.
“I can’t say enough about our players,’’ said Belichick. “They were obviously ready to go today. We got contributions from everybody. It was a good solid team effort. We’ll enjoy this for a little while and then find out who we play in the AFC Championship game. It’s an honor to be in it.’’
