FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- More than any sports franchise on American soil, the New England Patriots refuse to bask in the glories of their past. Bill Belichick won a record fifth Super Bowl title on a record comeback in February, and before he even boarded the plane heading home he was complaining he was five weeks behind the league-wide losers in preparing for 2017.
The Patriots live the stay-in-the-moment cliché every hour of every day. They don't spend any more time polishing past trophies than they do booking Super Bowl hotel reservations in the middle of October.