FOXBORO - It’s been 13 days and one decidedly debatable and highly debated ESPN story since the Patriots last played a football game.
The Patriots used the time to rest their battered bodies, prepare for their playoff opener and repeatedly explain how the allegedly increasingly fractured relationship between owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t a distraction at work.
“Not to us players. We do what we always do,” Brady said Thursday, two days after he shot down a report he had celebrated the trade of air/heir apparent Jimmy Garoppolo, a deal Kraft purportedly forced Belichick to make to appease a threatened Brady.
What the Patriots did over the past three months was to do what they always do, that being to win with unrelenting regularity.
They posted a 13-3 record - somehow overcoming all that disputed discord among the Big Three - to win at least a dozen games for the eighth straight year. They finished atop the AFC East for the ninth straight season and earned a first-round bye for the eighth consecutive season.
Now they’ll look to make a three-game, postseason march from New England to Minnesota, where Super Bowl LII will be contested Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
It begins at 8:15 p.m. Saturday when Patriots meet the upstart and underdog Tennessee Titans in an AFC divisional round game in what are expected to be chilly, but dry conditions at Gillette Stadium.
“Just the reason you play the game,” running back Dion Lewis said. “Growing up, everyone watched the playoff games and stuff, so it’s definitely going to be a great atmosphere.”
The game will mark the league-record 37th Belichick has coached in the playoffs, breaking a tie with Pro Football Hall of Famers Tom Landry and Don Shula.
It’ll be the 35th playoff game for Brady. The Titans’ 53-man roster has 81 games of playoff experience, 10 by ex-Pat Logan Ryan. But the theme here all week was: execution trumps experience.
The trouble for the Titans is the Patriots have generally done both during the Belichick-Brady era, making them nearly unbeatable.
“They’re very disciplined,” third-year Titans coach Mike Mularkey said. “They’re not going to beat themselves. They make minimal errors and they make the opponent do the damage to themselves.”
The thought was the top-seeded Patriots would be hosting Kansas City this weekend, giving them a chance to even the ledger after the Chiefs came in here and notched a 15-point victory in Week 1, putting a damper on the unveiling of the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl banner.
But the fifth-seeded Titans, who were making their first playoff appearance since 2008 - which happens to be the last time the Patriots didn’t make the playoffs - overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to claim their first postseason victory since 2003.
“Everybody counted us out, it was us versus everybody,” veteran and versatile tight end Delanie Walker said afterward. “Everybody in this room believed.”
The Titans are once again being counted out, having been made 13-1/2-point underdogs by Vegas. The reasons are many.
The Patriots lost two home games this season, but nonetheless Brady is 124-21 (.855) for his career in home starts, including 17-3 (.850) in the playoffs. The Titans are, after their KO in KC, 4-5 on the road, two of the wins coming against the dreadful duo of the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts.
The Patriots tied for the league lead with a plus-162 point differential. The Titans were 16th at minus-22 and joined the Buffalo Bills as the only teams to reach the playoffs after allowing more points than they scored.
The Patriots have won 11 of 13 games in the divisional round since 2002. The Titans haven’t won consecutive playoff games since 1999.
And the Patriots are urgent in pursuit of a record-tying sixth Lombardi Trophy, realizing the window on the 41-year-old Brady could slam shut at any moment. The Titans are ebullient, realizing they should be reclining on a Barcalounger this weekend watching games rather than playing them.
“It’s the NFL playoffs,” center David Andrews said. “It’s win or go home. There’s no tomorrow. There’s no, ‘Hey, next week.’ There’s no, ‘Oh, we’ll get it fixed.’ Either do this or you’re at home sitting on the couch.
“Everyone understands that. Everyone’s mature enough to really understand that, and I think that’s a good sign of this football team.”
After 13 days and an interminable discussion about divisiveness and distractions, it’s finally time for the Patriots to take the field.
- Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichGarvenTG.