‘Why such an even keel on what is perceived to be a sinking ship? Perhaps it’s because the Patriots don’t see themselves as going down for the count. There seems to be the feeling — espoused by Bill Belichick and adopted by the players — that they have just gone through as tough a stretch of games as any team in the league has faced. They’ve played four of the best teams in the NFL and players on all four of those teams remarked that they played their best games of the year against New England.’