FOXBORO — The idea of Super Bowl LII as a rematch goes out the window once you ask the current Patriots where they were when New England last met the Eagles in a Super Bowl, 13 seasons ago.

The veterans on the Patriots were in college; Danny Amendola remembered he was "at my boy Phillip's house, watching Deion Branch ball out." Most weren't even in high school yet; Eric Lee was 10 years old.

It would be like if Drew Bledsoe, Bill Parcells and the Pats had run into [...]

Tim Britton

FOXBORO — The idea of Super Bowl LII as a rematch goes out the window once you ask the current Patriots where they were when New England last met the Eagles in a Super Bowl, 13 seasons ago.

It would be like if Drew Bledsoe, Bill Parcells and the Pats had run into the Bears in the mid-1990s.

There's only one reason this feels like a rematch at all.

That reason is Tom Brady.

Brady, along with head coach Bill Belichick, is the lone New England holdover from that 24-21 victory over Philadelphia in Jacksonville. And despite this being his eighth trip to the Super Bowl — two clear of anyone else in the game's history — Brady approaches it with the enthusiasm of a rookie.

"I feel like one of them. I mean, this is exciting for me, too," Brady said on Saturday. "I’ve never taken anything like this for granted, and I think we’re all very fortunate to be in this game. It’s a lot of hard work to get here. It’s exciting for us as players, coaches, for our families, for our friends, and what makes it great is when you go down there and you play great.

"Being a part of a couple of these losses, those are pretty tough to swallow, but I think you realize how much effort you have to put in to prepare. It’s a very unique environment, unique game, and you have to be at your best. But in order to do that, you have to prepare as well as you possibly can."

How remarkable is Brady's endurance? His only teammates from the 2004 championship team still active are ageless kicker Adam Vinatieri and tight end Ben Watson, who was a rookie on that squad.

Even wilder, no member of that 2004 Eagles team has played in the NFL in any of the last four seasons.

Brady and the Patriots have said the right things this week about how Super Bowl experience matters little; what one did in this game last year or three years ago or 13 years ago doesn't have too much bearing on how he'll play next Sunday in Minneapolis.

But it isn't hard to read between the lines, be they from Brady or elsewhere, that such experience can only be beneficial. There's a comfort with the unique lead-up to a Super Bowl, which includes an extra week of preparation against an uncommon opponent, and plenty of opportunity for distraction once each team arrives on-site this week.

"We obviously have to focus on what we do well, and I think after 18 games, it’s hard to reinvent your entire team in two weeks," he said. "They have their strengths; we have ours. It’s going to come down to who plays the best, and that starts with being the most prepared.

"More important than anything, to be working this week is pretty special for all of us and it’s a great environment we’re about to go into. We’re right at the finish line. It’s one game to play and there’s a finality to this game. We’ve got to hopefully play our best possible game. That’s what it’s going to take playing against a team that challenges us in all phases. They’ve been great on special teams, they have a great offense and they have a great defense. So, I don’t think anything less than our best is going to win the game, so hopefully it’s our best."

In terms of distractions, Brady shooed away the idea that he's created his own. The only really freshly relevant question he was asked on Saturday was about his decision to release the first few parts of his Tom vs. Time documentary in the run-up to the Super Bowl.

Brady deflected.

"We'll stick to football this week," he said, though perhaps he knows how many more times he's going to have to say that once in Minneapolis. That’s part of the experience, too.