It seems hard to believe that a team playing in its eighth consecutive AFC Championship Game could ever be considered the underdogs, but that’s the card the New England Patriots have been dealt.
The No. 2-seed Patriots take on the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs with a ticket to Super Bowl LIII on the line Sunday as three-point betting underdogs. And right up to the final hours before kick off, Tom Brady has been embracing the dark horse role.
Appearing on Westwood One Radio’s pregame show with Jim Gray, Brady continued to double down on comments he made throughout the week.
“I have my moments. You’ve known me pretty well over the years,” Brady said, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “I definitely have a little chip, so to speak. That hasn’t gone away in many years. It’s still there.”
As was the case last week, Brady and the Pats have had most media pundits pick against them in the AFC title game, but that doesn’t seem to bother the 41-year-old even the slightest.
“It is the truth,” he said. “This team is the No. 1 seed. We’re the No. 2. Everyone makes their predictions and so forth and we’re definitely an underdog in this game. We’re playing against a great football team and they are playing well at home. Hopefully we can go take care of business.”
And Brady understands that outside of Patriot Nation, not many are going to be rooting for New England against Patrick Mahomes and Co.
“Like I said before, generally over the course of the season we have heard a lot of things,” Brady said. “We never lost faith. We never lost confidence. We just kept working hard. The fate of our team is decided by who plays for our team and not anyone else. We’ve stuck together. We’ve played as a team and that is why we’re playing in this game.”
A win against the Chiefs would send the Patriots to their 11th Super Bowl in franchise history, nine of which have been with Brady, who seeks a sixth ring.
