While Florio went on national television before the Pro Bowl, I visited with the handful of Patriots speaking to the media for the first time since arriving in Indianapolis.
I could go in a lot of directions here, but let’s start with the basics. What defines the Patriot Way?
“Just having mental toughness, everyone doing their job, and ignoring the noise,” linebacker Jerod Mayo said. “It’s hammered in our head every day. If everyone does their job, we’ll be successful.”
This Patriots team seems to have bought in more than previous years. There are no Adalius Thomas-like players. They dropped the one player that wasn’t buying in: Albert Haynesworth.
Mayo spoke about how much it meant to him to make his first Super Bowl as a leader of the defense. But he repeatedly stressed that his team needs to continue to ignore the noise this week more than ever. How do they do that?
“Don’t watch TV and don’t turn on the computer,” Mayo said.