PatsPropaganda

It’s easy to get caught up in the stats and minutiae that surround a football team during the four month regular season campaign. It’s certainly even easier for Patriots fans who’ve witnessed both epically good and epically bad things since September.

On the positive side you’ve got another historic season by Tom Brady, a breakout star in Rob Gronkowski and another AFC East championship.

On the negative side you’ve got a defense that is giving up a record amount of yards, a significant number of injuries both large and small, and a running game that has been invisible down the stretch.

When you take all the good and the bad, you’re left with a team that could very well take the number one conference seed in back to back years for the first time since the Bills of the early-90’s. That’s not a bad season by any metric.

But looking past the stats and numbers is necessary when measuring one of the most important elements of making a Super Bowl run. For every good or bad stat there’s a team that either didn’t leave up that standard when it was all on the line, or a team that overcame that one stat that was supposed to be their doom.

What I’m talking about is the character and personality of these 2011 Patriots. Every team will face adversity in the playoffs, but it’s not the stats that tell you if they’ll overcome, it’s how much heart and how much competitive fire those teams have.

You could look at the 2007 Giants and see they had the 21st ranked passing offense, but that didn’t matter when Eli, David Tyree and Plaxico went right down the field in the closing minutes of the Super Bowl. The same thing goes for the 2001 Patriots’ 22nd ranked passing offense. Or the 2006 Colts 32nd ranked rush defense.

Those teams all wanted it more than their opponents. They were all on the same page, pulling together when it mattered most. So what can New England fans says about their team this year outside of the stats and rankings?

The 2011 Patriots are a team with no quit in it. A team that has won multiple hostile road games. They’ve been competitive in every game they’ve played, and that’s something that no other team in the AFC can lay claim to. The Steelers and Ravens especially have had multiple games this year where they didn’t even show up.

Of course a consistent regular season won’t matter at all if the Pats bow out in the divisional round again. Division championships and homefield advantage are nice, but are little consolation to anything short of playing in the Super Bowl.

But the Patriots are patient. Adaptable. And as well prepared as any team in the NFL. We’ve almost always been able to say these three things about Bill Belichick’s Patriots teams. But what we haven’t always been able to say is that this team has heart and fight.

The 2011 Patriots are not a perfect team. They have their flaws and they have their strengths, but most importantly, they are a consistent team that never folds even when their backs are against the wall and they’re playing horribly. And their a team with an incredible will to win.

Every last player on the roster will fight to the final whistle of their season, no matter when or where it ends, and that might be the most necessary championship ingredient there is.