On Sunday, Patriots Finished ‘The Job’

Do your job.

That’s the message the Patriots preached all year.

On Sunday, the Patriots finished the job.

With the game on the line, Tom Brady completed 13-15 passes and two touchdowns to give the Patriots the lead with just over two minutes remaining. It was perhaps the best moment in Brady’s illustrious 14-year career, but it all would have been for naught if Malcolm Butler and Brandon Browner hadn’t done their job at the end of the game.

“You look at that Kansas City game and I think we had to go back and ask ourselves ‘How can I do my job better to help this football team?” said Patriots team captain Matthew Slater during the players’ last media availability before the game. “[Since then] everybody’s bought in, everybody’s doing their job and come Sunday that’s really all you can do. Do your job and we’ll see what happens.”

It seems like such a simple concept, but for the Patriots there’s more to the phrase than what you might think. It’s a reminder to block out all the noise and focus solely on what they can control.

“I think every team around the league has that same mentality but I guess we preached it so much because of the way we started off the season,” explained wide receiver Brandon LaFell. “We had a lot of guys worrying about what eleven other guys are trying to do on the field at one time instead of eleven guys [each individually] doing one thing right.”

The phrase manifested itself on the most important play of the game when Malcolm Butler stepping in front of Ricardo Lockette to grab his first interception of his short NFL career. In order for Butler to secure the game winning interception in the end zone with 26-seconds left in the game, Brandon Browner had to do his job right.

The play was designed for Jermaine Kearse to step in front of Malcolm Butler and block him from being able to cover Lockette over the middle of the field. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, that didn’t happen. Kearse wasn’t able to execute the pick because he was jammed on the line of scrimmage by Patriots CB Brandon Browner. As a result, Butler was able to read the throw and beat his receiver to the ball.

Browner and Butler each had a role to play, and if either one hadn’t executing their job to perfection, the interception wouldn’t have happened.

“Everybody has a role and to fulfill your role as best you can is your job,” said wide receiver, Danny Amendola. “If everybody does that, we’ll be alright.”

On Sunday, the Patriots were more than alright — they were Champions.