FOXBOROUGH — Prior to the season, oddsmakers set the Over/Under on New England’s win total at 8.5 and Buffalo was a seemingly universal pick to win the AFC East.
Heading into their Week 14 bye, Mike Vrabel’s team sits 11-2, in sole possession of not just the division lead but the No. 1 seed in the entire AFC. They’ll have a chance to clinch the AFC East win a Week 15 over Buffalo.
In the locker room on Tuesday, a pair of Patriots defenders admitted they’d seen the preseason prognostications and got a little added motivation from them.
“I could lie to you and say we don’t, but I think everyone has an ear and they hear,” edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson said. “Doubt definitely pushes people to a higher level than they actually thought they were capable of. So from the start to where we’re at now, we all continue to believe in who we are and what we’re capable of as a team.”
Linebacker Christian Elliss also acknowledged getting a little more juice from the fact that nobody outside the building believed the team was a real contender.
“I think when you have a chip on your shoulder, it always pushes you,” Elliss said. “It motivates you. It makes you want to be better to prove those people wrong. But for us, I don’t think we look at our record and get satisfied. We are always onto the next game. We always want to be one week better, one day better.”
As the Patriots head into their bye week, Vrabel’s message to his team was similar. They’ve put themselves in a great position, but there’s plenty of work ahead.
“That we’re not done. We’re not satisfied. I think champions are never satisfied,” Vrabel said. “I think you can appreciate where you are, but at the same time, never be satisfied or complacent. The fine line between rest and recovery, and just being sedentary. So, there’s a fine line (in) what we have to do to be able to come back in here, understand that just because you have a bye, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed some victory the next week in this league.
“Teams are 16-12 coming off a bye this year, so obviously the bye doesn’t guarantee anything other than we should get some guys back that we didn’t have last night, and we’ll see where that goes throughout the week. Give them some time to reconnect with people that they care about, and then also be ready to focus on football and us finishing this thing.”
