Belichick points to Kansas City loss as seasons turning point
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Behind closed doors, the Patriots seemed upset, borderline pissed off, as the media swarmed like sharks in a pool of blood, waiting to devour the sinking ship.
They had been forcefully backed into a corner and had their manhood questioned by the world. Rather than folding their tents and succumbing to the media pressure, the Patriots took stock of their situation and fought back together, as one unit divided by none.
On Monday, Bill Belichick described the galvanization he saw in his team to WEEI during his weekly interview with the Dale and Holly Show.
"I thought that the halftime of the Kansas City game was a little bit of a turning point for us in the season. In that we were behind, and we certainly didn’t come back to make a game of it, but I thought that we really competed hard and I thought that was a good sign. We went down there and had a lot of good expectations and it was a Monday night game -- everybody was ready to go out there and play well against a really good team. We didn’t, we were down at the half. We were on the road, the place was rocking. I thought that we really tried to compete and play hard for all 60 minutes, even at the end when we had no chance to win. I thought that was a good sign from our team that we did that -- not that we played well, but we played hard.
"I think at that point we all realized that if we play well and combine that with our physical and mental toughness we could be OK and we certainly saw a good example of that the following game against Cincinnati. It was a short week, we didn’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We were onto Cincinnati in a hurry and had a lot of ground to make up. They were 3-0 coming in here and the guys really responded. They played a good football game."
From that moment on, it was clear that the team was on a mission. Rattling off seven straight wins, they seized control of the AFC, dominating opponents in all three phases of the game and taking no prisoners.
New England breezed through what looked like their toughest stretch of schedule, beating Cincinnati, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Detroit, and San Diego.
How special this team is still remains to be seen but one thing's for sure, the New England Patriots won't go down without a fight.
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