Jan. 24, 2016. That’s the last time the New England Patriots lost a game away from Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots have been unbeatable in their opponents’ home buildings since losing to the Denver Broncos in the 2015 AFC Championship Game, going a perfect 8-0 on the road during the 2016 campaign and 4-0 in away games so far this season.
That 12-game road winning streak has featured two wins over the Broncos at Sports Authority Field — a stadium in which the Patriots have lost seven times since 2001 — including a 41-16 shellacking Sunday night.
“I think it’s just an attitude that we bring that we have as a team,” linebacker Kyle Van Noy said Monday in a conference call. “We just want to be road warriors, and it shows. We’re ready to play, and we’re focused, and it’s always fun to win in someone else’s home.”
All four of the Patriots’ losses over their past 28 games (including playoffs) have come at home, and all have come within the first four weeks of the season.
Sunday’s rout of the Broncos — New England’s fifth win in a row — kicked off a difficult stretch of five road games in six weeks, including a trip to Mexico City this weekend to take on the Oakland Raiders and a Week 15 visit to Pittsburgh to play a Steelers team that, thanks to a tiebreaker, currently sits in first place in the AFC.
“I really believe it’s (about) not making it bigger than it is,” safety Duron Harmon said Monday. “Having some type of mental toughness to be able to go in hostile environments and just be able to just focus on the job. And when you’re able to do that and not get into the crowd or not get into all the other stuff and just go out there and do your job and just play good football — play good complementary football — you’re allowed to win on the road.”
