The Patriots have the weekend off, a welcome respite this time of year. It gives players a chance to get healthy after 17 weeks of football. It also provides a few extra days to prepare for a would-be opponent, one that will be playing either Saturday or Sunday.
"The bye week is great, we earned it," New England safety James Ihedigbo said Thursday. "The first thing you want to do is rest up and do whatever extra stuff you need to do to get your body right and mentally focused. When we find out who we’re playing, study that much more and spend that extra time."
So for now, it's hurry up and wait, which is certainly preferable to preparing to play in 24-48 hours, hoping you win, and doing it all over again two more times and then have a chance to play for all the marbles in the Super Bowl.
Safety Patrick Chung had some advice for younger teammates who might be new to the NFL's postseason.
"Prepare for the game like it’s a regular game you’re trying to win," he said. "You can’t get too hyped about it because if you get too hyped you might get too antsy and then you never know what might happen, but if you have the same preparation that you do week-in-and-week-out and just take it as a game that we have to win just like every other week then that’s the best advice I can give them. Just relax and let the game come to you."
And even head coach Bill Belichick sounds like he won't be watching too intently at this weekend's AFC matchups.
"Well there’s a lot more for us on the coaches’ film," he said. "I don’t want to say there’s no value, but it’s a lot higher on the coaches’ film than TV scouting. ...You’re at the mercy of whatever they show you. If they show you something and you can learn something from it then great. We really have to get a lot of information off the coaches’ copy where you can see all 22 players and see exactly what the schemes and the relationships are. Sometimes you get a close-up shot and you can see a little more when it’s just two guys in the picture instead of 22. I mean, I’m not saying there isn’t any value to that because there is and we use that all the time because of the closeness of the shot and how much more detailed it can be relative to a technique or hand placement, little things like that. But as far as actually scouting the team, no."
As for possible opponents, all of whom will come to Foxboro as long as the Patriots win, here's the breakdown:
New England is the AFC's top seed. The No. 3 Texans face the No. 6 Bengals on Saturday, and the No. 4 Broncos play the No. 5 Steelers on Sunday. The Patriots could host the Broncos, Steelers or Bengals. If Houston wins, they'll travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens next week.
Of the three potential teams that could face the Patriots, only Pittsburgh and Denver played New England during the regular season. The Steelers won handily in Week 8, 25-17, and New England had little trouble disposing of Tim Tebow and the Broncos, 41-23, in Week 15.
In a perfect world, the Pats would host either Cincy or Denver, teams with young quarterbacks and defenses not near as potent as Pittsburgh's. Whoever ends up in Gillette Stadium next week, should New England win it would be their first playoff victory since 2007.
