Brady OK as underdog: Everyone ‘thinks we suck’
Tom Brady said he expects a tough game when the Patriots play the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. (0:31)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is embracing the underdog role in next Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, telling CBS in a postgame interview that “everybody thinks we suck and can’t win any games.”
It was a theme that resonated throughout the locker room after the Patriots’ 41-28 divisional-round victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Let’s reset the chances to win the title for the teams in the conference championship games, according to the ESPN Football Power Index.
“Tom said it, so I can comment on it, yeah, everybody does think we suck, everybody thinks we don’t have enough,” said wide receiver Phillip Dorsett. “But the only thing that matters is what we think in this room and we believe. When you have a whole group of guys that believes, it can be a special thing. So we have to keep playing, keep going hard.”
Fellow receiver Julian Edelman added: “We’re the underdog this week. I’m going to jump on that train and roll with it. That’s my life.”
The Patriots visit the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday (6:40 p.m. ET). It will be Brady’s 13th appearance in the conference championship game.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, at 15 percent the Patriots have the lowest chance of winning the Super Bowl out of the four remaining teams.
Asked if it’s sweeter when he’s proving people wrong, Brady said, “I just like winning.”
Teammates took a cue from Brady after the win.
“We know we have a lot of doubters, a lot of people saying this and that, counting us out and things like that,” said fourth-year defensive end Trey Flowers. “It’s football. If it was going by what people said, there would be no reason to play the game. We let the pads talk, we let the scoreboard talk. That’s our motto.
“A lot of guys understand that we are doubted and counted out, and you definitely get a little sense of motivation to prove people wrong. … We understand what we have to do. We understand what we got. … It is what it is. I get a few laughs out of it.”