Three months after a miserable trip to Florida, Patriots will return to Sunshine State Sunday a changed team

FOXBOROUGH — The first time the Patriots were in Florida this season, they were humbled by a young and feisty Jacksonville team. Shorthanded on both sides of the ball, New England looked vulnerable in sweltering September temperatures.

This week, they’ll return to Florida as healthy as they’ve been all year, needing just one win to clinch a playoff spot and win the division, all while looking to keep the heat on the rest of the AFC contenders in the race for home-field advantage.

Yes, three months can be an awfully long time when you’re talking about a football season. The truth of the matter is that this year’s pair of trips to Florida can almost serve as seasonal bookends for the 2018 Patriots: In September in Jacksonville, they were struggling. Now, as they prepare to return to the Sunshine State in December for a date with the Dolphins, they are on the cusp of an AFC East title.

“We’ve come a long way,” said special teams captain Matthew Slater when he was asked Wednesday about comparing this trip to Florida to their last.

Along the way, it hasn’t been perfect. And while they remain a work in progress — there are still questions on both sides of the ball — the bottom line is that the difference between where they were almost three months ago and where they are this week is pretty stark. How have they been able to do it? According to multiple players, they’ve narrowed their focus in recent days to one simple word.


Steadfast.

It’s a phrase that was echoed several times on Wednesday by the veterans, including Slater and Trey Flowers.

“You can see it in previous years — the start, the early part of the season. It was just one of those deals this time around,” Flowers said. “Early on, we had a lot of moving parts. A lot of guys trying to find out what they can do as a team.”

“Now, everybody understands their role, and now, they’re just trying to perfect their roles as best as possible. We have a group of guys who are unselfish and put the team first and understand their role and can take it to the next level now.”

From a practical perspective, there have been schematic and personnel changes. A suddenly aggressive defense that is clicking at the right time. Flowers and Patrick Chung were both injured and lost for the afternoon in the early going against the Jags. Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon and Marcus Cannon also didn’t play that afternoon, and Sony Michel had yet to emerge as a dependable presence n the ground.

Now, they have won eight of nine, the injury report appears to be shrinking by the day, Gordon and Edelman are vital to the success of the Patriots’ passing game, and the defense has allowed an average of 16 points per game over the last month.

“I’ve never been discouraged about this team,” Devin McCourty said Wednesday. “We have a lot of hardworking guys in here. But it’s hard to be consistent. It’s hard to put in that work each week. I think we’re all understanding that as a team, as a whole. And I think we just have to continue to do that each Sunday.”

“We’re in a pretty good position to put ourselves in a pretty good position,” Flowers said with a knowing smile when asked about the mindset going into Sunday.

To their credit, this is a team that has remained pretty steady throughout the season. There wasn’t a lot of panic in the locker room after the loss to Jacksonville: Asked that afternoon what his biggest takeaway from the Jaguars’ game was, Kyle Van Noy replied flatly. “That it’s September.”

“Perspective is key,” Slater said when reminded of Van Noy’s quote. “You have to realize where you are on the calendar, who you are as a team. What every game means. That is important. Two games in, after what happened in Jacksonville, it wasn’t time for us to be waving the white flag or jumping off the ship. Even though some people were ready to do that.”

With that in mind, it’s clear they also haven’t swung too far back in the other direction — this week, there’s a constant state of caution about the Dolphins, which is well-earned given the Patriots’ occasional late-season struggles in South Florida. Bill Belichick has already scalded the memory of past Miami struggles into the cerebral cortex of the roster — in the moments after the win over the Vikings, several players said that was one of the first things Belichick addressed.

“The Dolphins are a good football team. They have a lot of talented players,” Belichick said Wednesday. “I'm sure it'll be tough against Miami, like it always is. Wherever we play them, it's hard. They did a great job against us down there last year in the second game. It's going to be a big challenge for us.”

Ultimately, while the opponent and circumstance will be different from the September trip to Florida, this weekend represents a renewed opportunity to flip the script and remind everyone of just how far they’ve come in a few months.

Oh, and picking up a 10th straight divisional title along the way? That’ll be nice too.

“It was a bad feeling going down there to Jacksonville and losing a tough game,” says Slater. “Not playing our best, and then having some other hiccups along the way as well. But I think this group has been able to do a great job of staying steadfast and committed to the cause. Not changing, regardless of what the narrative was around this team, or what our circumstances were.

“We continued to trust our process. We continued to believe in one another. And we continued to tell ourselves, ‘If we continue to play hard, if we continue to play the right way, if we execute, good things are going to happen.’ And to be able to keep that mindset, to stay steadfast in everything that’s gone on this season, it’s allowed us to get to where we are. And I think it says a lot about the character of the guys on this team.”