“I remember in college,” said Patriots rookie wide receiver Julian Edelman, who starred at Kent State, “our coach always reminded us after a loss that you have to be like New England and bounce back and win out that next game. You never lose two in a row. That tells you something about this franchise. When you lose, you have to have a short memory, as we emphasized [last] week with Junior [Seau] saying that. We had a short memory, and we went out there [against the New York Jets] and we played a solid game.”
The Patriots have an ability to move past a defeat so exhausting and so paralyzing that it could neutralize a lesser team’s season, and it’s the reason why they’re 21-1 following a loss since 2003. Their focus and veteran leadership allowed them to overcome, perhaps, their most devastating regular-season defeat in the last decade.
On the heels of a puke-in-your-mouth, 35-34 loss to the Indianapolis Colts — in which, as it has been well-documented, the Patriots blew a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead — New England put a 31-14 pounding on the New York Jets. The outcome was so decisive that Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez said after he should have just yelled, “uncle.”
The Patriots could have said all week they were moving on from the Colts game and not really meant it, and they still could have squeaked past the Jets. But there is no way New England could have worn that facade and proceeded to treat their rivals like a helpless nephew.
“It says a lot,” Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather said on Sunday. “We don’t linger on things. We kind of let things go as we get going. We play each week as it comes. We let that [Colts] game go and got onto the Jets. Just like we’re feeling [we should] celebrate tonight, [we will] let this game go and get onto New Orleans.”
See, the Patriots understand it’s not only important to move on from a loss. More important — “more,” because the Patriots have won a league-high 124 games this decade — is their short memory after a victory. Too often, teams get fat and happy after a big victory and forget to show up the following week. Just look at the Cincinnati Bengals, who won a monumental game at Pittsburgh in Week 10 before collapsing against the Oakland Raiders in Week 11. The defending champion Steelers, meanwhile, couldn’t get past their home loss and then fell to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas said it best: If the Patriots didn’t move on from last week, one loss against the Colts would have turned into two losses.
“What last week?” Thomas said. “I mean, it’s always that way. Even after a win, we always think we have to move forward from this game. The only thing that was going to help us was coming in here and getting a win. This definitely makes it better. You couldn’t let last week beat us twice. We came here and were focused on the Jets.”
Certainly, the Patriots took a day or two to dwell on the tough loss, but the progression took a sharp turn during Wednesday morning’s team meeting. The defeat was addressed one last time, and then the Patriots moved past it for good and put the Jets on their radar.
“It was a heartbreaker, but you have to put it past you and you definitely have to move on to the next week,” said Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden, who had three interceptions against the Jets. “Everybody respects what Bill says, and everybody respects anything he does, so guys just rally behind him and move forward. When he says, ‘Move forward,’ that’s what we have to do, and that’s what we did.”
