The incompletion that could have helped the New England Patriots put away Super Bowl XLVI — and kept Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele, from infamously bashing the quarterback’s wide receivers — “wasn’t a drop,” former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said.

O’Brien, now the Penn State head coach, told reporters at the Big New England Coaching Clinic that the notorious pass not handled by receiver Wes Welker was no gimme.

“That would have been a tremendous catch, and he should never think twice about that,” O’Brien said. “And it had nothing to do with us losing the game. There were many, many plays before that, where we could have made better coaching decisions, and better plays. That’s just one play of many.”

Evidence from the game supports O’Brien’s notion that the play wasn’t a simple drop, but the idea that “it had nothing to do with us losing the game” is less realistic.

While there were many plays that contributed to the New York Giants’ 21-17 win over the Patriots, the missed opportunity by New England with 4:06 certainly had much to do with the Giants getting a chance to put together their game-winning drive.

New England led 17-15 at the time and faced a second-and-11 from the Giants’ 44. Welker was open downfield and would have put the Patriots in the red zone if he came down with the catch, which would have allowed New England, at the very least, to eat up more of the clock.

Replays have shown, though, the pass was a touch high.

A distraught Welker did not look at the play that way after the game.

“That’s a play I make a thousand times,” Welker said then. “I just didn’t make it.”

The play likely helped spark an infamous post-game scene with Brady’s wife, Gisele, caught on camera responding to hecklers as she made her way through Lucas Oil Stadium.

“My husband cannot (expletive) throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time,” she said on a video captured by gossip site theinsider.com. “I can’t believe they dropped the ball so many times.”

O’Brien focused on the overall accomplishments for Welker, who has made four straight Pro Bowls, and led the NFL with 122 receptions last season.

“I would tell (New England fans) they should be very grateful … to have a player like Wes Welker as a Patriot,” O’Brien said this weekend of Welker, who is expected to get the team’s franchise tag by Monday’s deadline. “He is what Boston is all about, in my opinion. He’s a hard-working guy, he’s a tough guy, he’s an honest guy; nothing was ever given to him.”

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Tom Martinez, the longtime personal coach to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, has died. He was 67.

Brady said in a statement posted on his Facebook page Wednesday that he is “deeply saddened by the passing of my coach, mentor and friend.”

“Coach Martinez’s invaluable assistance and support will never be forgotten and will always have a lasting impact on my life,” Brady said in the statement. “The time we spent together remain some of my fondest memories. His legacy of commitment, toughness and determination will live on forever.”

Tom Martinez worked with Brady when he was a teenager growing up in San Mateo, where Martinez coached at College of San Mateo. Their relationship continued during Brady’s NFL career.

?Brady told reporters before this year’s Super Bowl that Martinez taught him how to throw a football, and he was “forever indebted” to him. The quarterback said Martinez had been seeking a kidney for some time.

“A lot of people are looking for kidneys or some different type of transplants, but he’s very deserving,” Brady said then. “He’s a great man.”

The Patriots posted to Twitter late Tuesday, “Our sincere condolences go out to the Martinez family & all those he mentored throughout his incredible career.”

Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman also tweeted, “RIP coach Tom Martinez. He was such a great mentor to many in the bay area. His legacy will always live on.”

Martinez’s wife, Olivia, on Wednesday told The Associated Press that he died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack while receiving dialysis. She said that her husband leaves behind three adult children and their spouses and also six grandchildren — with a seventh soon on the way — as well as an indelible impact on hundreds of young athletes from across the country.

“Tom had a very, very unique way of communicating with his athletes that resulted in a bond that was very special,” she said. “First and foremost, he was a teacher, then a coach. His approach made the complex easy to understand. He truly was a master teacher in that respect.”

Olivia Martinez added that her husband reveled in helping young people while they were still defining who they were and in playing a small role in their maturation.

“He loved looking at them complete tasks that they hadn’t been able to do before,” she said. “They motivated him, and frankly, I’m convinced that kept him alive much longer than expected.

“I feel such a sense of loss, not only for our entire family, but for the kids who he coached and mentored and their families as well.”

Doctors told Martinez last spring that he had months or less to live due to a combination of kidney and heart problems, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported. His prognosis was, at least temporarily, debunked when specialists discovered that it was his pacemaker that was killing him. The pacemaker was turned off in June and he had been fighting to get stronger while awaiting the kidney transplant.

Martinez was hired at College of San Mateo to coach football and teach physical education but added softball and women’s basketball to his coaching load.

His teams won 32 championships. He had 400 career wins in football, a state record 565 wins in basketball and 800 wins in softball over 32 years, the Daily Journal reported.

“He really was the representation of Bulldog athletics,” said College of San Mateo athletic director Gary Dilley. “It’s great (Martinez) made such a great contribution to Tom Brady, but really the mark he made was in the hearts he trained and coached at CSM.”

A memorial service for Martinez is scheduled for 2 p.m. PST Friday at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Brady is one of eight Patriots and Patrick Willis one of eight 49ers to make the Pro Bowl, the most on each roster.

Defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay (14-1), led by starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and Baltimore (11-4), led by veteran linebacker Ray Lewis, have seven apiece for the Jan. 29 game in Honolulu, the NFL announced Tuesday.

Brady is one of seven starters from New England (12-3). The others are receiver Wes Welker, tight end Rob Gronkowski, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, defensive end Andre Carter, and guards Brian Waters and Logan Mankins all are starters for the AFC from the Patriots. Special teamer Matthew Slater is the other New England representative.

Linebacker Willis, DE Justin Smith, cornerback Carlos Rogers and tackle Joe Staley will start for the NFC from the 49ers (12-3), who had only Smith and Willis make the Pro Bowl last year.

Green Bay’s Rodgers is the starting NFC quarterback, backed by record-setting Drew Brees of New Orleans (12-3).

“It does have special significance, because when I was voted in in 2009, I was the third guy and I was very thankful to be voted in, and got the opportunity to start because of some injuries and guys not going,” Rodgers said. “It’s great to be voted in as a starter, that means a lot to me and it’s a special honor.”

Four of the NFL’s biggest headline makers this season did not get voted in by players, coaches and fans: Lions DT Ndamukong Suh, Steelers LB James Harrison, Panthers rookie QB Cam Newton, and Denver QB Tim Tebow.

Tebow, who supplanted Kyle Orton after the Broncos stumbled to a 1-4 start, is a second alternate.

Suh might have lost support after drawing a two-game suspension for stomping an opponent, and Harrison’s one-game suspension for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Browns QB Colt McCoy might have reduced his support.

Fifteen first-time Pro Bowlers made the NFC squad, including Rogers, Staley and safety Dashon Goldson of the 49ers. Thirteen AFC players were first-time selections, including Gronkowski, Carter and Slater of New England. Carter is on injured reserve (left quadriceps) and won’t play.

“If you look around the NFC, you see a ton of amazing and talented players at tight end,” said the Saints’ Jimmy Graham, the starter at the position and a first-time Pro Bowler. “And to be thought of in that company by my peers, the head coaches and the fans who follow the NFL is something I take seriously.”

Fourteen teams from each conference were represented, with St. Louis (2-13) and Washington (5-10) drawing blanks in the NFC, Buffalo (6-9) and Tennessee (8-7) shut out in the AFC.

Pittsburgh (11-4), New Orleans and Chicago (7-8) each had five representatives.

Three rookies were chosen: Denver linebacker Von Miller, Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green, and Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson, selected as a kick return specialist. He has tied an NFL record with four punt runbacks for TDs this season.

“As I’ve said before, A.J. is the best first-round draft pick that I’ve ever been around,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “He has shown the other players in this league, and the fans, that he deserved this honor. I have not seen a receiver better than he is at getting to the ball.”

All the kickers are from Bay Area teams.

NFC special teamers included two 49ers: record-setting placekicker David Akers, and punter Andy Lee; Peterson; and Corey Graham of Chicago.

For the AFC, the Raiders’ Sebastian Janikowski is the placekicker, Shane Lechler the punter. The kick return specialist is Pittsburgh WR Antonio Brown, and the special-teams player is Slater.

NFC starters will be Rodgers, Eagles RB LeSean McCoy, Packers FB John Kuhn, Graham, Panthers C Ryan Kalil, Saints guards Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks, Eagles tackle Jason Peters and Staley, Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald and Lions WR Calvin Johnson on offense.

On defense, it will be Vikings DE Jared Allen and Eagles DE Jason Babin, Cowboys DT Jay Ratliff and Smith, Packers OLB Clay Matthews and Cowboys OLB DeMarcus Ware, ILB Willis, Packers CB Charles Woodson and Rogers, Seahawks safety Earl Thomas and Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson.

AFC starters will be Brady, Ravens RB Ray Rice and FB Vonta Leach, Gronkowski, Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey, Mankins and Waters at guard, Browns tackles Joe Thomas and Dolphins tackle Jake Long, Welker and Steelers WR Mike Wallace.

On defense, it will be Broncos DE Elvis Dumervil replacing Carter, Colts DE Dwight Freeney, Wilfork and Ravens DT Haloti Ngata, Miller and Ravens OLB Terrell Suggs, Lewis, Jets CB Darrelle Revis and Broncos CB Champ Bailey, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Ravens safety Ed Reed.

Players who make the Super Bowl will be replaced on the Pro Bowl rosters.

(Reuters) – Green Bay Packers‘ Aaron Rodgers and New England Patriots‘ Tom Brady were named on Tuesday as the starting quarterbacks for the National Football League (NFL) Pro Bowl.

Rodgers and Brady will square off in Hawaii on January 29 in the NFL‘s All-Star showcase but only if they are not in Indianapolis the following weekend playing in the Super Bowl.

The NFC quarterbacking line-up includes three Super Bowl most valuable players, led by Rodgers, who has guided the reigning Super Bowl champions to a 14-1 record this season.

Rodgers will be backed up by Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, who claimed the NFL’s single-season passing record on Monday and will be making his sixth All-Star appearance.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning earns his second Pro Bowl selection to match father Archie but will have some work to do to match brother Peyton who has been named to 11 All-Star teams.

Brady will start for the AFC (American Football Conference) for the second consecutive season and will be backed up San Diego Chargers’ Philip Rivers and Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger.

The Patriots led the AFC with eight Pro Bowl selections while the San Francisco 49ers were tops in the NFC (National Football Conference), also with eight and one better than the Super Bowl champion Packers with seven.

FAVORITE TARGETS

Brady will be joined in Hawaii by two of his favorite targets, Wes Welker, who leads the league in receptions and yards, and Rob Gronkowski, who has already set an NFL record for most touchdowns in a season by a tight-end with 15.

The AFC roster has 13 first-time All-Stars, including Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green, who becomes the first rookie wide receiver to be selected to the Pro Bowl since Anquan Boldin in 2003.

The other starting receivers will be Pittsburgh’s Mike Wallace and Miami Dolphins’ Brandon Marshall.

The AFC backfield will feature first-time starter Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens, backed up by Arian Foster of the Houston Texans and Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

LeSean McCoy, who leads the NFL with 20 touchdowns, will be the NFC’s starting running back and will be joined by San Francisco’s Frank Gore and the Chicago Bears’ injured Matt Forte.

Starting wide receivers will include Arizona Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald, Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson, Green Bay’s Greg Jennings and Carolina’s Steve Smith.

Saints’ Jimmy Graham, who leads NFL tight ends with 91 receptions, earned his first Pro Bowl appearance ahead of Atlanta Falcons’ Tony Gonzalez, who celebrates his 12th All-Star selection, the most all-time for a tight-end.

The NFL combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its All-Star selections with the consensus vote of each group counting one-third towards the total.

(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)

After a weekend in which every relevant result broke the
New England Patriots
‘ way, their path to the No. 1 seed in the AFC couldn’t be clearer.

It remains murky, however, whether their struggling defense can improve enough to make a playoff run – especially without
their biggest pass-rushing presence.

The Patriots must move on without standout defensive end
Andre Carter
as they try to move closer to securing home-field advantage throughout the postseason Saturday by defeating the
Miami Dolphins
.

Home victories the next two weeks over 5-9 foes Miami and Buffalo would ensure New England (11-3) won’t play anywhere but
Foxborough until either the Super Bowl or next season.

Of course, the Patriots also had the conference’s top seed last postseason, only to be upset by the rival
New York Jets
in the divisional round – the second straight year they’ve dropped their playoff opener at home.

Despite its stellar record, Bill Belichick’s team hardly seems like a safe bet to return to the Super Bowl for the first time
since its bid for a perfect season was spoiled there four years ago.

The
Tom Brady
-led offense is typically potent, having averaged 35.8 points during the club’s six-game winning streak. New England’s defense,
though, has allowed more yards than any other team’s, and the season-ending quadriceps injury Carter suffered last week in
Denver certainly won’t help.

“That’s tough. Andre puts so much in with his leadership alone,” defensive tackle
Vince Wilfork
said. “He hasn’t really won a lot in his career, but now he’s winning, he’s happy here, he’s having fun, he’s playing well.
To see him go down, it’s a blow.”

Playing primarily at end in a newly installed 4-3 scheme, Carter provided the Patriots with a team-high 10 sacks. Without
him, it’s possible the club could return to more of the 3-4 arrangement it has used in past years.

“We used them both at different times for different reasons,” Belichick said. “In the end, it comes back to the players -
beating blocks, making tackles, hitting the quarterback, covering the receivers.”

New England didn’t do much of any of that while allowing 167 yards on the ground in the first quarter Sunday, falling behind
16-7 early in the second. But the offense responded with 27 straight points and the defense tightened to cool down
Tim Tebow
and the Broncos in a 41-23 drubbing.

Not only did the win clinch the club’s ninth AFC East title in 11 years, but the three other teams that had been tied at 10-3
atop the conference – Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston – lost.

“I don’t think we’ve got enough time to smile,” cornerback
Devin McCourty
said. “We see that happen, but I think it really (emphasizes) how important it is for us to keep playing well and to be ready
to go on Saturday.”

Saturday’s game seems straightforward enough for the Patriots, who’ve outscored the Dolphins 117-45 in winning all three meetings
over the last two seasons.

Miami has looked like a vastly improved team lately, however, winning five of seven since an 0-7 start. The revival wasn’t
good enough to save Tony Sparano’s job, but the Dolphins won their first game under interim coach Todd Bowles, overcoming
wintry weather for a 30-23 victory at Buffalo last week.

While
Matt Moore
has thrown 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions in the last seven games,
Reggie Bush
‘s renaissance has powered Miami lately, with the former USC star finally fulfilling the lofty expectations placed on him
when he was drafted No. 2 overall by New Orleans in 2006.

With one 100-yard rushing game in five seasons with the Saints, Bush has four for the Dolphins this season – including each
of the last three contests. He posted career highs of 203 yards and 25 carries against the Bills, ripping off a 76-yard touchdown
run in the fourth quarter to all but seal the game.

“I understand the questions,” Bush said. “I was hurt a few years and I wasn’t getting a lot of touches and yards. Rightfully
so, people should be questioning whether I can do it or not. But I know given the opportunity, I can show that I can be a
good back.”

The Patriots limited Bush to 38 yards on 11 carries in the season opener while Brady stole the show, passing for a team-record
517 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-24 victory Sept. 12.

“Embarrassing,” Miami safety
Yeremiah Bell
said. “That can’t happen.”

Wes Welker
had eight catches for 160 yards in that game, including a 99-yard touchdown. The NFL leader with 104 receptions for a career-high
1,380 yards, Welker has averaged 105.4 receiving yards in eight meetings with the Dolphins, who traded him to New England
in 2007.

The Patriots’ passing attack proved last week that opponents must pick their poison. With Welker and star tight end
Rob Gronkowski
combining for just eight catches and 94 yards, tight end
Aaron Hernandez
stepped up with nine catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.

“You never know who is going to be heavily involved,” Gronkowski said.

AP PHOTO
Patriots wide receiver Tiquan Underwood speaks to reporters at the team’s facility in Foxboro Wednesday.

FOXBORO — The wins keep coming for the New England Patriots. Yet each one seems to spark doubts about whether they’re as good as their 11-3 record suggests.

There is concern, from former Patriots Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison to some of their current players to nervous fans who have watched opponents shred their defense.

How can a team that’s on track to allow the second-most yards in NFL history have a six-game winning streak and the best record in the AFC? Is it superior coaching, a star quarterback, or just a remarkable run of good fortune?

“Maybe one or two games we can say, ‘Man, that was a pretty good game,’ ” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “The rest of them you can just pinpoint a lot of mistakes. But we were lucky enough to come out with a victory.”

Last Sunday, the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 41-23 but allowed 252 yards rushing, 167 in the first quarter alone. One week earlier, they beat the Washington Redskins, 34-27, a victory secured only by Jerod Mayo’s interception at the Patriots 5-yard line with 20 seconds left.

And the week before, they watched a 31-3 lead shrink in the last 11 minutes before they held on to beat the then-winless Indianapolis Colts 31-24.

The Patriots figure to win their remaining regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, both currently 5-9. If they do, they’ll have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

But then what? The Patriots lost their opening

playoff game in each of the last two years, games in which their best antidote to poor defense, Tom Brady, struggled.

“This Patriot team is a proven regular-season team, but they have a lot to prove in the playoffs, where they have failed miserably the last two years,” Bruschi, a linebacker on the Patriots’ three Super Bowl championship teams, said Monday during an online chat on ESPNBoston.com. “All teams that make the playoffs should be feared by the Patriots, because what I fear the most for the Patriots is them playing the way they’ve played the last two years in the postseason. So it’s not about who they play, it’s about them showing up.”

Right now, it’s about ignoring the critics and just working to get better.

“I don’t really care what everyone else says,” linebacker Rob Ninkovich said. “I’m just trying to focus on each week and playing good football. We have a good record, yes, but we have to continue to play hard until the season (ends) and when the playoffs start we need to continue to improve. So I really don’t listen to anything out there, just shut it all out.”

To be fair, the starting defense has been battered by injuries. Safety Patrick Chung and linebacker Brandon Spikes missed the last six games. Cornerback Devin McCourty sat out two. Safety James Ihedigbo has missed parts of several games. And now Andre Carter, New England’s best pass rusher with a team-high 10 sacks, is out for the season after hurting his left quadriceps against the Broncos.

While they’ve allowed the most yards in the NFL, only 13 teams have given up fewer points. They’ve let teams score from inside the 20-yard line just 80 percent of the time, seventh in the league. They lead the AFC with a plus-12 turnover differential. And of their three losses, one came on a last-play field goal, another on a touchdown with 15 seconds left and a third by eight points.

“Our team has played well enough to win 11 games, so that’s good,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We still feel like our best football is in front of us and we keep working hard to try to perform at that level.”

But so far the Patriots have allowed 76 plays of at least 20 yards, more than five per game and 20 more than the single-season franchise high. Overall, they’ve given up an average of 414.4 yards. At that rate, they’d finish with 6,630 total yards, second in NFL history to the Baltimore Colts, who gave up 6,793 yards in 1981 when they went 2-14.

Because of injury or inconsistency, the Patriots have used 16 players in the secondary, including wide receivers Matthew Slater and Julian Edelman. On Wednesday they added a new one, signing seven-year veteran safety Vincent Fuller, who already had been cut this season by Tennessee and Detroit.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries, but (Belichick’s) moved guys around and they’re filling in and getting the job done,” said Redskins receiver Jabar Gaffney, a member of the Patriots team that went 18-0 in the 2007 season before losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. “It may not look as pretty, but they still find a way to win.”

It looked downright ugly to Harrison, a hard-hitting safety on the Patriots’ last two championship teams in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

“They should be concerned because that secondary is probably the worst secondary I’ve seen in the last decade,” Harrison, an analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” said after the Redskins completed passes of 51 and 49 yards against it two weeks ago. “It’s been proven the last two years in the playoffs. If Brady’s off just a little bit, they’re vulnerable to lose.”

But the Patriots try to block out the doubters. No one has to tell them what their weaknesses are.

“You listen to other people if you want to, but (we) know what’s going on inside,” said running back Kevin Faulk, a Patriot since 1999. “There’s always room for improvement and if you are to reach what you want to reach, you always want to improve your team, no matter what it is, in every aspect of it.”

——

AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington, D.C., and freelancer Matthew Carroll in Foxborough contributed to this story.

FOXBORO, Mass. – The wins keep coming for the New England Patriots. Yet each one seems to spark doubts about whether they’re as good as their 11-3 record suggests.

There is concern, from former Patriots Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison to some of their current players to nervous fans who have watched opponents shred their defense.

How can a team that’s on track to allow the second-most yards in NFL history have a six-game winning streak and the best record in the AFC? Is it superior coaching, a star quarterback, or just a remarkable run of good fortune?

“Maybe one or two games we can say, ‘Man, that was a pretty good game,’” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “The rest of them you can just pinpoint a lot of mistakes. But we were lucky enough to come out with a victory.”

Last Sunday, the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 41-23 but allowed 252 yards rushing, 167 in the first quarter alone. One week earlier, they beat the Washington Redskins, 34-27, a victory secured only by Jerod Mayo’s interception at the Patriots 5-yard line with 20 seconds left.

And the week before that, they watched a 31-3 lead shrink in the last 11 minutes before they held on to beat the then-winless Indianapolis Colts 31-24.

The Patriots figure to win their remaining regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, both currently 5-9. If they do, they’ll have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

But then what? The Patriots lost their opening playoff game in each of the last two years, games in which their best antidote to poor defense, Tom Brady, struggled.

“This Patriot team is a proven regular-season team, but they have a lot to prove in the playoffs, where they have failed miserably the last two years,” Bruschi, a linebacker on the Patriots’ three Super Bowl championship teams, said Monday during an online chat on ESPNBoston.com. “All teams that make the playoffs should be feared by the Patriots, because what I fear the most for the Patriots is them playing the way they’ve played the last two years in the post-season. So it’s not about who they play, it’s about them showing up.”

Right now, it’s about ignoring the critics and just working to get better.

“I don’t really care what everyone else says,” linebacker Rob Ninkovich said. “I’m just trying to focus on each week and playing good football. We have a good record, yes, but we have to continue to play hard until the season (ends) and when the playoffs start we need to continue to improve. So I really don’t listen to anything out there, just shut it all out.”

To be fair, the starting defense has been battered by injuries. Safety Patrick Chung and linebacker Brandon Spikes missed the last six games. Cornerback Devin McCourty sat out two. Safety James Ihedigbo has missed parts of several games. And now Andre Carter, New England’s best pass rusher with a team-high 10 sacks, is out for the season after hurting his left quadriceps against the Broncos.

While they’ve allowed the most yards in the NFL, only 13 teams have given up fewer points. They’ve let teams score from inside the 20-yard line just 80 per cent of the time, seventh in the league. They lead the AFC with a plus-12 turnover differential. And of their three losses, one came on a last-play field goal, another on a touchdown with 15 seconds left and a third by eight points.

“Our team has played well enough to win 11 games, so that’s good,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We still feel like our best football is in front of us and we keep working hard to try to perform at that level.”

But so far the Patriots have allowed 76 plays of at least 20 yards, more than five per game and 20 more than the single-season franchise high. Overall, they’ve given up an average of 414.4 yards. At that rate, they’d finish with 6,630 total yards, second in NFL history to the Baltimore Colts, who gave up 6,793 yards in 1981 when they went 2-14.

Because of injury or inconsistency, the Patriots have used 16 players in the secondary, including wide receivers Matthew Slater and Julian Edelman. On Wednesday they added a new one, signing seven-year veteran safety Vincent Fuller, who already had been cut this season by Tennessee and Detroit.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries, but (Belichick’s) moved guys around and they’re filling in and getting the job done,” said Redskins receiver Jabar Gaffney, a member of the Patriots team that went 18-0 in the 2007 season before losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. “It may not look as pretty, but they still find a way to win.”

It looked downright ugly to Harrison, a hard-hitting safety on the Patriots’ last two championship teams in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

“They should be concerned because that secondary is probably the worst secondary I’ve seen in the last decade,” Harrison, an analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” said after the Redskins completed passes of 51 and 49 yards against it two weeks ago. “It’s been proven the last two years in the playoffs. If Brady’s off just a little bit, they’re vulnerable to lose.”

But the Patriots try to block out the doubters. No one has to tell them what their weaknesses are.

“You listen to other people if you want to, but (we) know what’s going on inside,” said running back Kevin Faulk, a Patriot since 1999. “There’s always room for improvement and if you are to reach what you want to reach, you always want to improve your team, no matter what it is, in every aspect of it.”

___

AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington, D.C., and freelancer Matthew Carroll in Foxborough contributed to this story.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The wins keep coming for the New England Patriots. Yet each one seems to spark doubts about whether they’re as good as their 11-3 record suggests.

There is concern, from former Patriots Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison to some of their current players to nervous fans who have watched opponents shred their defense.

How can a team that’s on track to allow the second-most yards in NFL history have a six-game winning streak and the best record in the AFC? Is it superior coaching, a star quarterback, or just a remarkable run of good fortune?

“Maybe one or two games we can say, `Man, that was a pretty good game,’ ” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “The rest of them you can just pinpoint a lot of mistakes. But we were lucky enough to come out with a victory.”

Last Sunday, the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 41-23 but allowed 252 yards rushing, 167 in the first quarter alone. One week earlier, they beat the Washington Redskins, 34-27, a victory secured only by Jerod Mayo’s interception at the Patriots 5-yard line with 20 seconds left.

And the week before that, they watched a 31-3 lead shrink in the last 11 minutes before they held on to beat the then-winless Indianapolis Colts 31-24.

The Patriots figure to win their remaining regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, both currently 5-9. If they do, they’ll have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

But then what? The Patriots lost their opening playoff game in each of the last two years, games in which their best antidote to poor defense, Tom Brady, struggled.

“This Patriot team is a proven regular-season team, but they have a lot to prove in the playoffs, where they have failed miserably the last two years,” Bruschi, a linebacker on the Patriots’ three Super Bowl championship teams, said Monday during an online chat on ESPNBoston.com. “All teams that make the playoffs should be feared by the Patriots, because what I fear the most for the Patriots is them playing the way they’ve played the last two years in the postseason. So it’s not about who they play, it’s about them showing up.”

Right now, it’s about ignoring the critics and just working to get better.

“I don’t really care what everyone else says,” linebacker Rob Ninkovich said. “I’m just trying to focus on each week and playing good football. We have a good record, yes, but we have to continue to play hard until the season (ends) and when the playoffs start we need to continue to improve. So I really don’t listen to anything out there, just shut it all out.”

To be fair, the starting defense has been battered by injuries. Safety Patrick Chung and linebacker Brandon Spikes missed the last six games. Cornerback Devin McCourty sat out two. Safety James Ihedigbo has missed parts of several games. And now Andre Carter, New England’s best pass rusher with a team-high 10 sacks, is out for the season after hurting his left quadriceps against the Broncos.

While they’ve allowed the most yards in the NFL, only 13 teams have given up fewer points. They’ve let teams score from inside the 20-yard line just 80 percent of the time, seventh in the league. They lead the AFC with a plus-12 turnover differential. And of their three losses, one came on a last-play field goal, another on a touchdown with 15 seconds left and a third by eight points.

“Our team has played well enough to win 11 games, so that’s good,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We still feel like our best football is in front of us and we keep working hard to try to perform at that level.”

But so far the Patriots have allowed 76 plays of at least 20 yards, more than five per game and 20 more than the single-season franchise high. Overall, they’ve given up an average of 414.4 yards. At that rate, they’d finish with 6,630 total yards, second in NFL history to the Baltimore Colts, who gave up 6,793 yards in 1981 when they went 2-14.

Because of injury or inconsistency, the Patriots have used 16 players in the secondary, including wide receivers Matthew Slater and Julian Edelman. On Wednesday they added a new one, signing seven-year veteran safety Vincent Fuller, who already had been cut this season by Tennessee and Detroit.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries, but (Belichick’s) moved guys around and they’re filling in and getting the job done,” said Redskins receiver Jabar Gaffney, a member of the Patriots team that went 18-0 in the 2007 season before losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. “It may not look as pretty, but they still find a way to win.”

It looked downright ugly to Harrison, a hard-hitting safety on the Patriots’ last two championship teams in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

“They should be concerned because that secondary is probably the worst secondary I’ve seen in the last decade,” Harrison, an analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” said after the Redskins completed passes of 51 and 49 yards against it two weeks ago. “It’s been proven the last two years in the playoffs. If Brady’s off just a little bit, they’re vulnerable to lose.”

But the Patriots try to block out the doubters. No one has to tell them what their weaknesses are.

“You listen to other people if you want to, but (we) know what’s going on inside,” said running back Kevin Faulk, a Patriot since 1999. “There’s always room for improvement and if you are to reach what you want to reach, you always want to improve your team, no matter what it is, in every aspect of it.”

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Patriots outside linebacker Rob Ninkovich (50) sacks Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) on fourth down in the 4th quarter. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom)

DENVER (AP) – Not this time, Tim Tebow.

Not with Tom Brady on hand.

Brady threw for two touchdowns, ran for another and the New England Patriots shut down Tebow’s late-game heroics and clinched a playoff berth with a 41-23 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

“It was a really good day for us,” Brady said. “Very emotional game. It was really rocking early. We showed some mental toughness.”

The Patriots (11-3) won their sixth straight game and another AFC East title by bouncing back from an early 17-6 deficit and an awful first quarter in which they were outgained on the ground 167 yards to 4.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws under pressure from Broncos outside linebacker D.J. Williams. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom)

This time, there was no last-minute magic from Tebow, who had guided the Broncos (8-6) to four straight fourth-quarter comebacks and six straight wins.

Instead of another slow start followed by a fantastic finish, the Broncos started fast and then fizzled.

They scored on their first three possessions and then were done in by a trio of turnovers in the final 81/2 minutes of the second quarter.

“We did have things going pretty well early, scored on the first three possessions and felt like we were moving the ball good and then we put it on the ground,” Tebow said. “That’s something you can’t do against a great team and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

“Besides that, we were right there with them.”

Champ Bailey had said the Broncos needed a big game against a big QB to prove to themselves and others that they were not just a curiosity but a contender.

They didn’t get it on this day.

“We showed today that we’re not ready to go to the playoffs and make a push,” Bailey said. “We’ve got to get better and we only have two or three weeks to do it. If we don’t, then we’ll be sitting home.”

For a sixth straight season.

With their first loss since Oct. 30, the AFC West-leading Broncos face a tougher path to the playoffs, with a trip to Buffalo next week followed by a season finale against Kansas City, which ended Green Bay’s 19-game winning streak Sunday behind Kyle Orton, the player Tebow replaced in Denver.

“I definitely feel like we’re all right,” said Tebow, now 7-2 as Denver’s starter.

He threw for 194 yards and ran for 93 yards and two scores but was sacked four times, including a 28-yard loss in the fourth quarter.

“I thought he improved,” coach John Fox said. “He’ll continue to improve. This was a setback, no doubt about that. But sometimes setbacks are setups for bigger things to come.”

After all, the last time Tebow lost, to Detroit on Oct. 30, he was put on notice that his starting job was a week-to-week proposition, and Tebow won his next six starts.

The one thing Tebow and the Broncos haven’t been able to do is keep up with the league’s elite passers. Denver has faced four QBs currently ranked in the top-10 in yards passing – Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers (twice) and Brady. They’re 1-4 in those games.

Asked if Tebow & Co. can keep up with the league’s top passers if they make it into the playoffs, Fox said: “I can’t predict that. He’s gotten better every week. Six or seven weeks ago, people said he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. He does that. I think he can do that. I don’t think that was why we lost the game tonight.”

Brady was.

“He’s still the best out there, in my opinion,” Bailey said. “And you make mistakes against a guy like that, he’s going to make you pay. That’s pretty much what happened all day.”

Safety Brian Dawkins missed the game with a neck injury and the Broncos missed him as they had to rely on rookies Quinton Carter and Raheem Moore.

“You can’t expect to get the same results when you lose a guy like that,” Bailey said. “But, at the same time, guys have to step up as professionals. You can’t play like that and expect to get wins.”

Brady was 23 of 34, including his first scoring toss to Chad Ochocinco. His TD run was his first of the year.

Brady made up for another bad day by the Patriots’ defense to beat the Broncos for the second time in eight career starts – the only team with a winning record against the three-time Super Bowl champion.

The Broncos’ 167 yards rushing in the first quarter – 11 more than their league-leading per-game average – represented the biggest output in any quarter of the Belichick era in New England.

But they would manage just 85 more.

After the Patriots fell behind 16-7, they went to the no-huddle and Brady threw a 1-yard TD strike to Aaron Hernandez, who set career highs with nine catches for 129 yards.

The Broncos’ ball-control offense stumbled after that.

Lance Ball, who earlier scored his first TD in the NFL on a beautiful 32-yard scamper, fumbled at his own 19 and linebacker Rob Ninkovich recovered, leading to Stephen Gostkowski’s 21-yard field goal put the Patriots up for good at 17-16.

Then, defensive end Mark Anderson, subbing for Andre Carter, who seriously injured his left knee earlier in the game, forced and recovered a fumble by Tebow at the Broncos 40. Six plays later, Brady took it in himself from a yard out to make it 24-16.

Brady celebrated his eighth career TD with a masterful spike.

“I don’t get in the end zone very often,” Brady said. “Maybe once a season. So, when I do I get pretty excited.”

The Broncos’ bumbling ways – which included a bad snap on an extra point attempt – continued when punt returner Quan Cosby tried to field a punt on the run and muffed it with three seconds left.

Dane Fletcher recovered for New England and Gostkowski trotted out for a 34-yard field goal to make it 27-16 at halftime.

Tebow’s 2-yard keeper with 8:41 left pulled the Broncos to 34-23 and had the crowd thinking comeback again, but Brady led the Patriots on another 80-yard scoring drive, this one culminating in BenJarvus Green-Ellis’ 1-yard TD run.

“The more we fight, the better this team gets,” defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. “We knew they were going to come out fighting. They were going to come out fast and explosive. Our main goal was to weather the storm.”

Notes: The Patriots qualified for the playoffs for the 13th time since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994. … The Broncos haven’t won seven straight since 1998. … New England hadn’t won in Denver since 2003. … Brady’s last TD run was Nov. 14, 2010, at Pittsburgh.

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After a weekend in which every relevant result broke the New England
Patriots’ way, their path to the No. 1 seed in the AFC couldn’t be clearer.

It remains murky, however, whether their struggling defense can improve
enough to make a playoff run – especially without their biggest pass-rushing
presence.

The Patriots must move on without standout defensive end Andre Carter as
they try to move closer to securing home-field advantage throughout the
postseason Saturday by defeating the Miami Dolphins.

Home victories the next two weeks over 5-9 foes Miami and Buffalo would
ensure New England (11-3) won’t play anywhere but Foxborough until either the
Super Bowl or next season.

Of course, the Patriots also had the conference’s top seed last postseason,
only to be upset by the rival New York Jets in the divisional round – the second
straight year they’ve dropped their playoff opener at home.

Despite its stellar record, Bill Belichick’s team hardly seems like a safe
bet to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since its bid for a perfect
season was spoiled there four years ago.

The Tom Brady-led offense is typically potent, having averaged 35.8 points
during the club’s six-game winning streak. New England’s defense, though, has
allowed more yards than any other team’s, and the season-ending quadriceps
injury Carter suffered last week in Denver certainly won’t help.

“That’s tough. Andre puts so much in with his leadership alone,” defensive
tackle Vince Wilfork said. “He hasn’t really won a lot in his career, but now
he’s winning, he’s happy here, he’s having fun, he’s playing well. To see him go
down, it’s a blow.”

Playing primarily at end in a newly installed 4-3 scheme, Carter provided
the Patriots with a team-high 10 sacks. Without him, it’s possible the club
could return to more of the 3-4 arrangement it has used in past years.

“We used them both at different times for different reasons,” Belichick
said. “In the end, it comes back to the players – beating blocks, making
tackles, hitting the quarterback, covering the receivers.”

New England didn’t do much of any of that while allowing 167 yards on the
ground in the first quarter Sunday, falling behind 16-7 early in the second. But
the offense responded with 27 straight points and the defense tightened to cool
down Tim Tebow and the Broncos in a 41-23 drubbing.

Not only did the win clinch the club’s ninth AFC East title in 11 years, but
the three other teams that had been tied at 10-3 atop the conference -
Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston – lost.

“I don’t think we’ve got enough time to smile,” cornerback Devin McCourty
said. “We see that happen, but I think it really (emphasizes) how important it
is for us to keep playing well and to be ready to go on Saturday.”

Saturday’s game seems straightforward enough for the Patriots, who’ve
outscored the Dolphins 117-45 in winning all three meetings over the last two
seasons.

Miami has looked like a vastly improved team lately, however, winning five
of seven since an 0-7 start. The revival wasn’t good enough to save Tony
Sparano’s job, but the Dolphins won their first game under interim coach Todd
Bowles, overcoming wintry weather for a 30-23 victory at Buffalo last week.

While Matt Moore has thrown 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions in the
last seven games, Reggie Bush’s renaissance has powered Miami lately, with the
former USC star finally fulfilling the lofty expectations placed on him when he
was drafted No. 2 overall by New Orleans in 2006.

With one 100-yard rushing game in five seasons with the Saints, Bush has
four for the Dolphins this season – including each of the last three contests.
He posted career highs of 203 yards and 25 carries against the Bills, ripping
off a 76-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to all but seal the game.

“I understand the questions,” Bush said. “I was hurt a few years and I
wasn’t getting a lot of touches and yards. Rightfully so, people should be
questioning whether I can do it or not. But I know given the opportunity, I can
show that I can be a good back.”

The Patriots limited Bush to 38 yards on 11 carries in the season opener
while Brady stole the show, passing for a team-record 517 yards and four
touchdowns in a 38-24 victory Sept. 12.

“Embarrassing,” Miami safety Yeremiah Bell said. “That can’t happen.”

Wes Welker had eight catches for 160 yards in that game, including a 99-yard
touchdown. The NFL leader with 104 receptions for a career-high 1,380 yards,
Welker has averaged 105.4 receiving yards in eight meetings with the Dolphins,
who traded him to New England in 2007.

The Patriots’ passing attack proved last week that opponents must pick their
poison. With Welker and star tight end Rob Gronkowski combining for just eight
catches and 94 yards, tight end Aaron Hernandez stepped up with nine catches for
129 yards and a touchdown.

“You never know who is going to be heavily involved,” Gronkowski said.

Both the New England Patriots and Boston Bruins are playing very, very well right now. Tom Brady and the Patriots are 11-3 and sitting atop the AFC and AFC East with only two games to go in the regular season. Meanwhile, Zdeno Chara and the Bruins have won five in a row and are also sitting atop their conference (the Eastern Conference).

So which team is the best in the city?

Only in Boston can we take two successful teams and pit them against each other for supremacy. Why? Well, because it’s Boston, where we only breed winners. Anything less than a championship is not acceptable. Right now, both the Patriots and Bruins are looking like they have a shot at bringing home yet another title.

Let your voices be heard and vote in our poll! Tell us who is better – the three-time Super Bowl champs or the six-time Stanley Cup Champs! 

For more New England Patriots and Boston Bruins coverage, visit our Pats and B’s team pages and blogs, Pats Pulpitand Stanley Cup Of Chowder.

The collective tenure of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady has completely overhauled much of New England Patriots history.

But there’s one long-standing aspect of the franchise’s past that Belichick and Brady have done little to change.

Like those that have come before them, they haven’t been able to consistently beat the Denver Broncos.

In his 12th year at the helm of the Patriots, Belichick is just 3-6 against Denver — his worst winning percentage against an AFC squad. Brady, meanwhile, is an unseemly 1-6 facing the Broncos, including the postseason. Brady against everyone else, by the way? 134-34.

In this regard, they’re far from unique in Patriots history. Bill Parcells? Two losses to Denver by an average of 30 points. Raymond Berry? Winless in five tries. Drew Bledsoe? Two wins in six games.

In fact, New England is 4-17 in its last 21 meetings with the Broncos, dating to Nov. 4, 1984.

On one level, it would seem to make sense. Despite some down years of late, the Broncos have been one of the best franchises in the conference since, well, John Elway arrived in 1982. Denver was really New England’s dynastic forerunner in the AFC, having back-to-back championships in the late 1990s behind Elway and Terrell Davis, ending the NFC’s decades-long dominance of the Lombardi Trophy.

But at the same time, this past decade hasn’t been Denver’s best, and it’s stunning that any team — let alone one that has dabbled in mediocrity of late — can boast this kind of sustained success against this Patriots administration. After all, it isn’t like the Broncos have been piling up 12-win seasons and Super Bowl appearances, like the Colts and Steelers, respectively, in the AFC. Yet New England handles those two teams much better than Denver.

Denver has made the playoffs four times while Belichick has been the head coach in New England, but the last trip was in 2005. One more victory this season would give the Broncos their first winning campaign since 2006, or back when Vince Young was the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year.

So what gives?

“We just haven’t played very well. We’ve had some very close games against them; we just haven’t pulled it out,” said Brady last week. They’re a good team. They’ve had a good team for a long time — when [Mike] Shanahan was there, and I think we’ve played a bunch of very tight games with them. Hopefully we can start working our way to getting even.”

It’s tempting to pin much of the blame on the difficulty of playing in Denver, what with the trip out west and the thinner air. The Patriots did fly out on Friday, a day earlier than usual, to have an extra day to acclimate to the weather.

“Maybe it’s the mile-high air. Maybe there’s something to that,” said Brady.

But that excuse doesn’t hold much water, not when the Dolphins, Bills and Jets have all won a mile-high since 2009. And not when the Broncos haven’t had a winning season at home since 2007.

“Both teams will be breathing the same air,” Belichick said. “Best thing we can do is play well. We’ve gone out there and played well and won. We’ve gone out there and not played well and haven’t won.”

Denver is the site of Brady’s first playoff loss ever, and Belichick’s first with the Patriots — a game sealed by perhaps the most memorable interception of Brady’s career, when Champ Bailey picked him off in the end zone and returned it to the New England one.

Of course, that was six years ago, and the Patriots don’t suffer the past like a Faulkner character. Asked about his 1-5 regular-season record against the Broncos, Brady didn’t put too much stock in it.

“1-5? Man, that’s pretty bad. Hopefully we get to 2-5 this week,” the quarterback said. “Losing [stinks]; you hate losing, but there’s nothing I can do about those games in the past now. So I’ll just try to win this one. That will make me feel pretty good.”

One of the stranger aspects of Denver’s dominion over the Patriots is its consistency despite the turnover of personnel for the Broncos. Their success against Belichick and Brady has come with different coaches and different quarterbacks. Denver has beaten New England under Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels — both eventually fired — and with Brian Griese, Jake Plummer and Kyle Orton under center — all eventually traded or released.

This is a decidedly different Broncos regime, with John Fox in his first season as head coach and Tim Tebow making his first career start against New England. Both bring strong track records — Fox’s just in a larger sample than Tebow’s so far.

“I think it’s been obviously always a tough week to prepare for John’s teams,” said Belichick, who is 3-1 against Fox in his career, including a win in Super Bowl XXXVIII. “They do a good job with their different schemes, give you some different looks, really keep you honest, and we’ve certainly seen that in all three phases this week. There’s a lot to get ready for.”

But the Patriots hope that the changes in personnel for the Broncos lead to a change in their head-to-head history.

“It doesn’t really matter about what happened in other years,” said Belichick. “This is a new team and it’s a new coach out there. They do things differently than they’ve done them in the past, so it doesn’t really matter. They’re good right now. They’re playing well.

“Damn right, they’re a tough team to face. I don’t really think the ’87 team has anything to do with this game, in all honesty. I think it has no bearing on it whatsoever.” PATRIOTS AT BRONCOS TIME : 4:15 p.m. Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. ON TV : CBS (Channel 12 in Providence, Channel 4 in Boston). Jim Nantz play-by-play, Phil Simms color. ON RADIO : WBZ-FM (98.5), WPRO (630 AM), WEAN (99.7 FM), WSAR (1480 AM), WBSM (1420 AM). WEATHER : Sunny, 49 degrees. ALL-TIME SERIES : Denver leads, 27-16, including postseason. The Patriots are 8-18 in Denver. NOTEWORTHY : Tim Tebow is the 11th different quarterback to start for the Broncos since John Elway retired in 1999. Elway was 10-0 against New England in his career; the Broncos are 5-4 against the Pats since Elway retired.

tbritton@providencejournal.com

When the Indianapolis Colts take on the New England Patriots, the rest of the NFL world usually grinds to a halt so that everyone can watch the drama unfold. When it became clear last month, though, that the Colts were going nowhere this season, the league pulled the teams’ December 4 tilt from its original prime time slot and moved it to an afternoon block, where it would be easier to hide. This was just one more indignity for Colts fans in a year when nothing has gone right for our team, but I could certainly understand why the NFL made the move, and I expected nothing better than a blowout at the hands of the Patriots. In the end, new starting quarterback Dan Orlovksy made life a bit interesting for Tom Brady(notes) and company, but the final tally of 31-24 doesn’t really reflect how lopsided the scoring was.

The first half was unexpectedly close, as the Colts held the Pats to just three points until there were under three minutes left. Brady went to work then and led the Patriots on two scoring drives, aided by an Indianapolis three-and-out that quickly got the ball back in New England’s hands after the first touchdown. Not surprisingly, New England was able to shut down the Colts while Orlovsky acclimated to his starting role, and the score was 17-3 by halftime.

The Patriots pushed their advantage to 31-3 by the end of the third quarter, and the Colts were essentially done at that point, although they did kick in a little bit of extra effort late in the fourth. After Donald Brown(notes) ran in a five-yard touchdown about six minutes into the final period, the teams traded punts for the rest of the game until just before the two-minute warning. At that point, Orlovksy found Pierre Garcon(notes) for a 33-yard TD pass and then got the ball back 30 seconds later. The duo hooked up again for an 11-yard score, and then a failed on-side kick ended the what could have been a very dramatic finish.

After settling into the offense, Orlovsky actually turned in a very good game and was able to take advantage of the Patriots’ suspect secondary. For the game, he completed 30 of 37 passes for 353 yards and recorded two touchdowns to go along with one interception. If Orlovsky can put together that kind of performance against one of the Colts’ remaining opponents who aren’t as solid on offense as the Pats are, Indianapolis may yet pick up a win this season.

I’m not exactly counting on it, but it sure would be nice. And it might, finally, make Curtis Painter(notes) expendable.

Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a Colts fans since the team arrived in Indianapolis on a snowy morning in 1984. The Blue and White eventually replaced the Chicago Bears as his #1 team, and Super Bowl XLI was a dream come true.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

FOXBORO (CBS) – Former New England Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri will be in the house Sunday with the Colts.  Obviously, his season is not going as well he wanted to but the Super Bowl hero still keeps a positive head.  He is also positive about his time here in Foxboro.

“Listen, the 10 great years in New England will be a very big part in my life forever, until the day I die. I have three beautiful [Super Bowl] rings and a lot of great memories. Even though my loyalty is to my team now, I will always have a special place in my heart for the New England Patriots and that franchise, [Owner] Mr. [Robert] Kraft and his family. That goes without saying. 10 years down the road, when I’m retired, I’ll be looking forward to the [Super Bowl] reunions.”

Read: Levan Reid’s Patriots Blog

Vinatieri has three rings win the Patriots and a fourth with the Colts.  He was took off for Indy and the Pats added Stephen Gostkowski.  Vinatieri says he doesn’t talk to Gostkowski much but he realizes his worth.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better kicker to come in and do what he’s done,” Vinatieri said. “He has a big leg and he’s a very solid guy, especially last year when he went through the injury and bounced back. I have all the respect in the world for him.”

Read: Pats-Colts Predictions

Tune in to the Patriots-Colts game Sunday on 98.5 The Sports Hub and WBZ-TV at 1 pm. Pregame coverage begins on 98.5 at 10 am and on WBZ at 11:30 am with Patriots Gameday. Stay tuned after the game for all the reaction and analysis on the postgame show, and on Patriots Fifth Quarter on WBZ-TV.