Patriots don't fear pressure of undefeated season

Tom Brady and the Patriots rallied to beat the Ravens 27-24 on Monday night. New England improved to 12-0. AP

They're golden now. The Team That Can Not Lose got away with one Monday night in Baltimore. The still-perfect Patriots can't possibly have a closer brush with defeat and live to tell.

Watching how New England responded to the pressure-cooker situation they were in against Baltimore reminded me of the primary reason I believe these Patriots are uniquely positioned to record the NFL's first 19-0 season.

The Patriots win in part because they're not afraid to lose. They don't fear the pressure and ever-mounting hype, or the reality that they're going to get every opponent's best shot. It's part of the landscape, and more often than not they thrive on it, rather than cower from it.

Granted, it took a wildly improbable combination of resiliency (17 second-half points), stupid luck (Rex Ryan's ill-timed timeout call), and clutch play-making (Jabar Gaffney's eight-yard, toe-tapping touchdown catch with 44 seconds remaining) to get it done against the self-destructing Ravens. But the Pats did, and that may prove they're not just good, they're charmed. That's typically a history-making combination.

Somebody might wind up beating the Patriots in the next two months, but I'm convinced it won't be the burden of expectations or the intensifying glare of the national spotlight that does them in. Most teams try to use the underdog role to their motivational advantage, but the Patriots like being in the top-dog role, and are accustomed to the view.

In the cases of the 1998 Broncos and 2005 Colts -- the last two teams to make it to 13-0 -- the pressure of perfection seemed to weigh heavily on them as December arrived. After Denver had lost at the Giants in Week 15 of 1998, more than one Denver player bemoaned how the quest for a perfect season had become almost suffocating, with the media coverage and expectations driven to unbearable levels. Far from embrace their shot to make history, many Broncos admitted it was a bit of a relief to lose and return to some sense of normalcy that season.

The Colts of two seasons ago had their own struggles dealing with the possibility of perfection. Tony Dungy and his players never got a handle on how to think of their potential date with destiny, getting caught up in the issue of when, and how much, to rest the starters for the playoffs, and sending conflicting signals over the significance of going undefeated. After the Chargers beat them at home in Week 15, the Colts seemed drained and unable to recover the aura of invincibility that had been theirs in the season's first 13 games.

Indianapolis, of course, hadn't won a Super Bowl at that point, and protecting the viability of that quest meant everything for Dungy and the rest of the organization. The perfect-season talk wound up being a distraction of sorts for the Colts, and focusing on it served only to siphon away energy that could have been used toward the goal of winning that elusive championship.

But the playoff-savvy Patriots are already a three-time Super Bowl winner, and wrestle with no such burden. I think they're relishing the chance to run the table this season and make history, without letting it distract from the ultimate goal of adding a fourth Super Bowl trophy to their collection. New England isn't intimidated by the rarified air it's breathing, it's invigorated. The Patriots want it all -- perfection, immortality, vindication, you name it. The more glory the better.

This is a Patriots team that has played in twice as many big games this decade as any other NFL franchise, and has a sterling 12-2 playoff record in the Bill Belichick era. Perfect season or not, in many ways New England has been there, and done that when it comes to playing with everything on the line.

And don't forget, going 19-0 won't be completely novel to these Patriots in one respect. Over the course of their back-to-back Super Bowl-winning seasons of 2003-'04, the Patriots won a league-record 21 consecutive games, 18 of them in the regular season (also an NFL record). In addition, New England's 10-consecutive playoff wins from 2001-05 set yet another league mark.

Pressure? They don't feel no stinkin' pressure. What could be tougher than practicing four times a week in front of Belichick?

On Monday night in Baltimore, the Patriots again showed us they have flaws and weaknesses that can be exposed and exploited by opponents. Their run defense is questionable. Their pass protection is starting to turn suspect. The monumental upset the struggling Eagles nearly pulled off the week before at Gillette Stadium was very nearly executed by the lowly Ravens. Next up are the dangerous Steelers (9-3), who definitely could be the team to end the Patriots' run.

No, the Patriots aren't unbeatable. But they also haven't been beaten yet. New England keeps winning, partly because it's a team that has no fear of losing.