Most would assume that special teams legend Matthew Slater has seen it all in the 16 seasons that he’s spent with the New England Patriots.
But that wouldn’t be completely true.
He has never seen a 2-8 Patriots team on the brink of an organizational collapse and complete rebuild. He has never heard people use the words Patriots and tanking in the same sentence. He has never been a part of a situation where coach Bill Belichick was legitimately believed to be on the hot seat.
It would be easy for Slater to lose himself with so much changing around him. But even in dark times, there’s an unrelenting belief that burns brightly within the greatest special teams player of all time.
“We need to approach and treat each game like it’s the biggest game of the season from here on out,” Slater told media members on Monday, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “It’s important that we find our footing and some consistency. Crazy things happen in this league, but the teams that finish strong, and continue to build, and continue to improve upon on their fundamentals and continue to compete, those are the teams that separate themselves. So we have to find a way to get back to doing that. The beauty of it is that we have an opportunity and that opportunity is now.”
Matthew Slater: “We need to approach and treat each game like it’s the biggest game of the season from here on out. It’s important that we find our footing and some consistency. Crazy things happen in this league, but the teams that finish strong, and continue to build, and… pic.twitter.com/u780IhdgK9
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) November 20, 2023
The Patriots have seven more games to try and end things on a high note. They might not be able to change how the season started, but they still have complete control over how it ends.
