The Patriots have won two of the last three Super Bowls to push their total to five during the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era and leave them with few boxes unchecked on the list of team accomplishments.
The most obvious of those boxes would be an undefeated season, something the patriots almost pulled off in 2007 by winning 18 straight games before losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. After an offseason spent adding veteran pieces to the mix, the Patriots are favored in Vegas to win the Super Bowl again this year and are early favorites in every regular season game, leading some to wonder if this is the year the team will go 19-0.
Wide receiver Julian Edelman has no interest in such discussions.
“You can’t worry about what other people say, honestly,” Edelman said, via Adam Kurkjian of the Boston Herald. “I mean, there’s no script to this thing. There’s no camera. This isn’t Hollywood. This is real life. When you go out and play in the National Football League, it’s one of those things where it’s even stupid to think about that. It’s never been done. You don’t really want to talk about it. My focus is more on trying to get ready for the season, trying to learn your teammates, form your identity. [The 19-0 talk is] stupid. That’s it.”
Having to answer questions about whether or not your team can go undefeated is a pretty nice problem to have, especially when it’s a team like the Patriots that’s proven quite adept at brushing past the kinds of things that might be called distractions for other teams.