As a mass of New England faithful sent the Patriots off to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI around noon on Sunday, the AFC Champions prepared for their fifth Super Bowl appearance in a decade.
And, with the extra week between the conference championships and Super Bowl, most people would assume coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots are eating up the extra prep time heading into the game.Patriots wide receiver and former Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch uses the extra time a different way, though.
"That's the most important thing about this game," he told the media on Friday. "There's so much down time. The Super Bowl should be the next week (after conference championships). Now we got to wait two weeks to play this game. I think that's for you all —the fans."
That's probably true, supported by the move that slated the Pro Bowl on the Sunday between conference championships and the Super Bowl a few years back, but that extra week still does help Branch and others players.
"I think right now everything is based on getting mentally prepared to play this game," Branch said. "And the team that's mentally prepared — the more focused team is probably going to come out on top."
Mentally preparing means not overthinking too much, too.
"To play in this game, it's something you always want to do but I think we still got to approach it like it's another game and prepare like we've always prepared," running back Danny Woodhead told reporters this week. "So, it's another game; it's a big game but we're excited."
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