The New England Patriots are the standard by which any modern NFL team is measured. That comes with the territory with five Super Bowl titles in the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era and, in the recent past, the Pats have been unfathomably consistent. That consistency includes six consecutive seasons in which the club reached at least the AFC Championship Game, with two Super Bowl victories and another Super Bowl appearance over that time frame.
That type of dominance would work wonders in providing confidence and, frankly, cockiness for all parties involved and that may have been on display in the way the Patriots provided season tickets this season. In short, owner Robert Kraft and company elected to include AFC Championship Game tickets before the season even began.
Skeptics would undoubtedly argue the efficiency in sending every ticket out at once and it should be noted that there is no visible guarantee or anything of the sort. Still, this isn't a move that the Jacksonville Jaguars would make and the Patriots have embraced their confidence as a franchise quite a bit in recent years.
Until Tom Brady slows down, New England will be a big-time favorite to reach the Super Bowl on an annual basis and 2017 is no different. In addition, the Patriots seem to know it.
