FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots now look like a completely different team than they did just a month ago.
The Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII hopes seemed bleak after New England dropped back-to-back losses in Weeks 14 and 15 to the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively. But to say Tom Brady and Co. have bounced back would be an understatement.
After closing the regular season with convincing wins over division rivals, the Patriots steamrolled the Los Angeles Chargers in the divisional round and toughed out an impressive win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
The Patriots considerably have improved in all facets of the game since their last defeats. Speaking with the media Monday, special teams captain Matthew Slater offered his assessment of what’s been different for New England over its last four games.
“I think there were a number of small things that changed, but ultimately the biggest thing that’s changed is how we’ve executed under pressure,” Slater said. “We suffered those two losses and I don’t think our mentality changed at all. We still had belief, we still had faith in our process, we still had faith in one another. But understand that, hey, at some point this has to carry over to the game and we have to be able to execute under pressure. I think we’ve done a better job of that the last four times we’ve taken the football field. Understanding that we need to play with a sense of urgency and no more ‘my bads’ or ‘I’ll get it next time.’ We gotta start executing now and I think we’ve done that the last four games and we’ve had some good success.”
While the Patriots didn’t face many, if any, pressure-filled situations against the Chargers, they found themselves in a whole heap of them against the Chiefs. Sunday’s game wasn’t flawless for New England by any stretch, but it converted on high-leverage plays when it mattered most.
When it comes to the Super Bowl, nearly every possession will be tense. As such, the Patriots will need to continue building on their improved level of execution when they square off with the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 3.
