Patriots keep it simple in playoffs

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FOXBORO, Mass. -- Keep it simple. That, say the three-time, Super Bowl champion New England Patriots -- who certainly ought to know -- is the key to winning a pressure-packed, one-and-done, lose-and-you-go-home, NFL playoff game. "I've always believed," Pats linebacker Tedy Bruschi said this week, "that when you have games that get bigger and bigger in magnitude, you have to break them down to their simplest form." Veteran defensive end Richard Seymour agreed. "The pace picks up in the playoffs," he said. "Every play is magnified. You never know which play is going to be the big one, and you never want to be the guy who doesn't take care of your responsibilities. "In situations like this, the best thing you can do is just simplify the game. Take your responsibility, do your job, and, hopefully, the guy beside you takes that same approach." It may be simple, but it's not easy. It requires a focus that is difficult to attain, and even more difficult to maintain. Longtime PGA Tour player Brad Faxon has often said: "You have to putt as if it doesn't matter if you miss." Which, in theory, is absolutely correct. In practice, however, it can be all but impossible to do -- especially if, for example, a golfer has a 6-foot putt to win The Masters. You'd better believe it matters then, and there's almost no way to block that knowledge out. In the blocking-and-tackling business of professional football, emotions and nerves have to be kept in check when so much is on the line; when one play -- one mistake -- can mean the difference between victory and defeat, between going home or advancing to the next playoff game. "You realize the finality of the playoffs," said Bruschi. "You realize that, if you don't have good preparation, and you don't play well on game day, that's it. "It comes down to the preparation from day-to-day, up to that game -- what quarter is it in, what situation is it in, what down is this, and what are the team's tendencies on that down. What are my responsibilities? "If I just break it down that simply, it helps me forget about the magnitude of 'if we lose, the season's over.' I just focus on how to win and how to beat the opponent. "Because of that, you dive headfirst into your preparation. You'll watch more film, you'll pay a little bit more attention. It's in the back of your mind that this is the playoffs and, if you don't win, the season is over, so you dive into your preparation even more. You take it home with you, you do whatever you can -- it's all you focus on, every single minute of your day." Bruschi and his teammates walk a fine line in that regard because, while they want to focus intensely, they also want to be "loose" on the field -- they don't want to feel "uptight" during the game. "You can't put pressure on yourself because it's a playoff game," said running back Kevin Faulk, who, like Bruschi and Seymour, has played on all three of New England's Super Bowl championship teams. "You have to be mature enough to understand what's at stake but, at the same time, understand that you have to play a football game." Seymour understands that perfectly. "You can't come in and be tense, be tight, not have fun," he said. "This is something you work for all year long. This is one of the reasons that you play this game -- to be in situations like this, to have great opportunities." The 16-0 Patriots have the opportunity to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as only the second team ever to finish as undefeated, NFL champions, and the first to go 19-0. But they're not thinking about the Super Bowl right now. Nor are they entertaining thoughts of a possible rematch with the defending champion Colts in the AFC Championship Game next weekend. That kind of thinking only complicates matters. Instead, they are thinking only about Saturday night and the Jacksonville Jaguars. They will approach the playoffs, not just one game at a time, nor even one quarter at a time, but one play at a time. "You just do your job, whatever it may be," linebacker Adalius Thomas said. "Your job doesn't change, just because it's the playoffs." The Patriots know the task ahead of them. More importantly, they understand how to get the job done. "We've put ourselves in a great position to finish our goal," said Seymour, "and Saturday night will be our first step." They've walked this road before. They know the route to success. Simply put, don't expect the Patriots to trip themselves up.(Contact Jim Donaldson at jdonalds@projo.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)