Linebacker Tedy Bruschi believes the Jaguars and Patriots have a great deal in common.
(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)
FOXBOROUGH - The Patriots have made a point of saying they're 0-0 in the playoffs, discounting their 16-0 regular season. But it is the regular-season pursuit of perfection and the pressure that came along with it that have primed them for tonight's AFC Divisional game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium.
New England may have had the benefit of a bye last week while Jacksonville sweated out a 31-29 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Patriots have been playing games with playoff-like intensity for a while. New England, which is 6-0 at home in the playoffs under coach Bill Belichick, has been every opponent's Super Bowl since its Nov. 25 meeting with the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Oh yeah, even Bill brought that up against the Giants," said cornerback Ellis Hobbs, who is questionable with a groin injury. "Before the game, [he said,] 'This is going to be a playoff-type atmosphere as far as the crowd goes, us going to the stadium, how you feel about the game, the intensity of the game, blow for blow. Guys, you're getting their best shot every time.' He was talking about the Eagles, the Ravens, Pittsburgh, the Giants. We've been doing this for a while now, even during the regular season."
The difference is that if the Patriots, who are 13 1/2-point favorites against the Jaguars, had been upset in any of those games, they would have dealt with the loss and prepared to play again. A loss now and the season is over and all those records the Patriots set and their perfect regular season will become a football footnote.
"Yeah, all the records are erased," said linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "It's the playoffs, and whoever wins gets to move on and whoever loses, their season is over."
If the Jaguars (12-5) win, they'll be passing around Pepto-Bismol in the Patriots' locker room because it will be a sickening feeling to see 16-0 go for naught.
"Obviously, if we lose, it's a failure, in my heart and my mind and everybody else's heart and mind in here," said Hobbs.
It's that feeling of failure that Don Shula and the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only NFL team to go through an entire season without a loss (17-0), and whose perfection the Patriots are trying to equal, were desperate to dodge.
"I made a statement when they went 16-0 and congratulated them on a perfect regular season. It's hard to do and they've done it, but their entire season rests on what happens the next few weeks," said Shula. "16-1, 17-1, 18-1 is no good if that loss is the one that keeps you out of the Super Bowl.
"For us, 14-0 was great [when that was the duration of the regular season], but our goal was to win the Super Bowl. We had been in there the year before and lost, and our entire goal was to get back to the Super Bowl and win it, and 14-0 just happened. I'm sure that's what happened to them right now."
Many feel the physical Jaguars, who feature the 1-2 punch of running backs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew and a rugged defense that finished 10th in the league in points allowed (19 per game), are a tough first playoff matchup for the Patriots.
Some of the same attributes that were hallmarks of the unheralded Patriots teams of the earlier part of this decade - intelligence, toughness, efficient play, and something to prove - are present in the Jaguars.
Bruschi sees similarities "in terms of maybe how they approach games - being physical, being aggressive, wanting to be the tougher team, the smarter team. That's what we pride ourselves on also. I've said that even last year, and it goes again this year. They do sort of remind me of us because of the way they approach the game."
One huge advantage the Patriots have is big-game experience. Until last week, the Jaguars hadn't won a playoff game since 2000.
The Patriots have 20 players who have advanced to a Super Bowl and a quarterback, Tom Brady, who is not only a two-time Super Bowl MVP but is 12-2 in the postseason. Jacksonville's David Garrard will be making only his second playoff start.
Brady's record is the same as the Patriots' playoff record under Belichick and the team's playoff record since 2001, the first of its Super Bowl title seasons.
"A lot of players in this locker room have played in a lot of big games," said Bruschi. "This is the biggest game of the season. We've had experience in big games, and I'm sure it will just correlate and play into this one."
Shula said that has been Belichick's greatest victory this season, convincing his team to forget about its accomplishments. He said the '72 Dolphins' 14-0 regular season actually helped at playoff time because they had forged their greatness under fire.
"It does," said Shula. "And that's where Belichick does a great job of getting his team ready for the next opponent. They're focused on the opponent, not what they've accomplished. The minute you start beating yourself on the chest, somebody comes along and pulls the upset."
Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.
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