Seventeen weeks into the 2021 NFL season, the New England Patriots have yet to play a game they did not have a chance to win in the fourth quarter.
That's what head coach Bill Belichick appreciates most about this current Patriots squad -- its competitiveness.
"The team has a good work ethic, and they've been competitive," Belichick said Friday in a video conference as New England prepared to visit the Miami Dolphins in Week 18. "We've, unfortunately, started a lot of games slowly. Some, we've started well. Others, we've started slowly. We've fallen behind. For the most part, we've put ourselves to be competitive and have a chance to win at the end of the game.
"That's a good thing. The bad thing is to start as slowly as we have at times. But I'd say, from a competitive standpoint, we've answered the bell in every round."
Three of the Patriots' six losses to date came by a total of nine points: 17-16 against Miami in Week 1, 19-17 against Tampa Bay in Week 4 and 35-29 in overtime against Dallas in Week 6. The other three were decided by double digits, but New England got to within one score with less than 10 minutes remaining in each.
"It hasn't always been good," Belichick said, "but it's always been competitive. It's the same with coaching. We've had our moments where we've felt good about the coaching. There've been moments where it's hard to feel good about it, but through it all, keep persevering, keep grinding, and keep getting better."
Belichick said the Patriots, who clinched a playoff spot last week, have "improved a lot" since the start of the season, unsurprising given their wave of offseason additions. Those included a large group of impact veterans (Matthew Judon, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry, Jalen Mills, Kyle Van Noy, Davon Godchaux, Trent Brown, Nelson Agholor, Ted Karras) and a handful of standout rookies, most notably quarterback Mac Jones.
The Patriots started 1-3 and 2-4, then ripped off seven consecutive wins before stumbling in December. They currently own the AFC's top wild-card spot and No. 5 playoff seed and still are alive for the AFC East title.
"We're a much better team than we were at other points in the season," Belichick said. "Even though I thought we had a good training camp, we didn't perform very well in the early part of the season in any area. A lot of that's improved. I think we're in a competitive position. We'll see what happens here going forward. Hopefully, we can play our best football in the coming weeks."
