AP STORY...The New England Patriot players trickled into their Heinz Field locker room late Sunday night in groups, some as small as pairs, others as large as 10. No matter the size of the group, they all came in yakking some variation of the same message. "Now we'll see who believes in us," one player said.
What the heck does that mean?
For some reason, the Patriots have convinced each other that nobody believes in them, that it's them against the world. Even after blowing out the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game 41-27, they spouted off about how no one thought they could beat the Steelers.
"It doesn't always seem we get the recognition," Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest said. "We have to go out and do the unthinkable. Like last week (against the Colts) and this week. You look at all the shows, and hear all the experts, and nobody gave us a chance."
The reality is a lot of people gave them a chance. Heck, Vegas made them a three-point favorite as visitors against a team that had won 15 consecutive games, a point duly noted to McGinest.
"Yeah, but they don't play the games," McGinest said.
There was no stopping this now. To a man, the entire roster seemed to believe it as well.
That attitude is something they will take with them to Jacksonville next week when they arrive for preparations for Super Bowl XXXIX at Alltel Stadium. The Philadelphia Eagles will arrive with a we're-happy-to-be-here approach, but the Patriots, who will be trying to win back-to-back Super Bowls, will come with something far more valuable.
A chip on their shoulders.
Credit coach Bill Belichick for it. Somewhere in his genius, he has convinced his players that, despite winning two Super Bowls in three years and being favored to win a third, nobody gives them their due.
Before Sunday's game, Belichick gathered his team around and gave them a few rallying words -- using that approach to motivate them.
"Look around the locker room," Belichick told his team. "This is all you've got. This and your families. They're the ones who believe in you. That's it."
To a man, the Patriots soaked it all in. Scurrying around the locker room after the game, most of the players were playing the nobody-believes-in-us card. While the word dynasty was getting tossed around, they were acting like a sixth seed that had never been to a Super Bowl, a team there thanks to two improbable upsets.
And there lies the secret of the New England Patriots.
Whatever their coach says, even something as ludicrous as saying they don't get the respect they deserve, is something they come to believe. Don't you get the idea that if Belichick told his team to play naked against the Steelers in the frigid conditions, nobody would have questioned it?
McGinest was asked if this slight is real or perceived, or something Belichick has created as a motivational tool.
"Belichick doesn't have to do that," McGinest said in an angry tone. "We see it in the newspapers. We see it all over the place. The kind of guys we have here, we take it personal."
McGinest said the Patriots noticed how cocky some of the Steelers were coming across on some television shows and in the papers leading up the game. The Patriots came into Pittsburgh a day early for weather reasons, and instead of griping about it, they not only dealt with it but somehow turned it into a motivational tool by claiming they were dissed, even if there is no real record of any of it.
Asked who did the dissing, McGinest replied, "There's no need to get into that."
Real or perceived? You decide.
Then again, does it really matter? These guys have given Belichick cult-leader status, hanging on his every word. Only instead of a robe, he does his preaching in a sweatshirt, a rumpled man who instills greatness in his players.
Even when a so-called bad boy like Corey Dillon joins the team, there's never an issue once he puts on that New England Patriots uniform.
"If Randy Moss went there he wouldn't be a problem," said one personnel director. "He'd buy into it too."
The Patriots are a touchdown favorite over the Eagles, but don't expect that to change the way they view themselves. Belichick won't let that happen. The players won't let that happen.
The Patriots have convinced each other that nobody believes in them. Forget the two Super Bowl rings they already have and forget the dynasty talk.
The New England Patriots are they underdogs, the team nobody thinks can.
Just ask them.
Whatever works, I guess. And there's no doubting it does.
Those poor little New England Patriots. If only there was somebody, somewhere, who thought they were any good.
"None of you guys believed in us," McGinest said.
Get ready for a fortnight of no-respect talk from the Patriots. Wonder how those real underdogs, the Eagles, feel about that?
It's all worth nothing anyway until they hit the field.
