Not all the New England Patriots will be playing today. Wes Welker and Deion Branch will not be seeing the field, nor will Aaron Hernandez or Tully Banta-Cain. No surprise, as the difference between 13 wins and 14 wins is all of pride and statistics.
For Bill Belichick, it means the chance to be the first coach in NFL history with four different 14-win regular seasons. Though it’s hard to imagine that the hoodie-wearing coach cares much.
For BenJarvus Green-Ellis, it means a shot at 1,000 yards just a few months after his name came up in many discussions as possibly one of the last men off the team.
For everyone, else, it’s got to be a game that’s mostly about not getting injured. Nobody wants a repeat of last year’s Welker injury. Nobody outside of New York or Indianapolis, at least.
The field is wet, but the sun is out. The Patriots go for 14-2 starting now.