I don't really care how the Patriots are perceived, truthfully. I really don't. I really don't. Look, if you're a fan of our team, you root for us, you believe in our team, and you believe in what we're trying to accomplish. If you're not a fan of us, you have a different opinion.

You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.

When you're one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.

How can you disrespect a team that's 12-4?

As a team you're always trying to improve and there's a different identity this year than there has been in the past. We have to find that identity and continue to improve on our weaknesses while maintaining our strengths.

Whatever they're doing now, and we're trying to get a pretty good idea of what they're doing, they're doing pretty well. Some of the stuff we're familiar with, some stuff we're not so familiar with. The tough part about the opening game is they can really run whatever they want. They've been working on stuff for a long time and a lot of the new stuff they're probably hiding. So that's probably what they're thinking.