The Patriots don’t lose that often, but it’s easy to see they’re much better at home than on the road.
After yesterday’s 69-yard miracle touchdown in Miami, the Patriots are now below .500 (3-4) away from Gillette Stadium, and .500 is as good as they can get heading into next week’s game at Pittsburgh.
But despite the record and the jaw-dropping way it happened, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said he was confident they could bounce back.
“We’ve had a lot of tough losses over the years. We lost pretty important games,” Brady said during his weekly paid appearance on WEEI. “What’s the difference between losing by 14 down there, losing by 50, or losing by 1? They all count the same. Mental toughness is mental toughness. You realize that a lot of things had to go right for them to win, and they did. You know, give them credit. They made some important plays. . . .
“We still have a lot of football to play. There was a lot of positives from yesterday’s game that we have to kind of use going forward, that we will use going forward. Our whole season is ahead of us, so let’s make the most of it.”
As noted by Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, the importance of the game goes beyond the immediate challenges. Only one of the 52 Super Bowl champions finished the season under .500 on the road (2010 Packers, 3-5). They could have given themselves a better chance at a bye and home game in the playoffs with a win yesterday, but now have the same 9-4 record as the Texans, two games behind the conference-leading Chiefs (11-2). That made the way the Dolphins won a bit more painful.
Brady maintained the Patriots “had every opportunity to win that game.”
“So it’s not I don’t think we can win on the road,” he said. “We’ve won on the road, played well on the road. We just have to close the deal.”
Now they just have to prove it.