An interesting stat has put the spotlight on how dominate the New England Patriots have been thus far this year.Longtime head coach Bill Belichick has now earned an awesome stat himself as he now has 17 straight winning seasons.His answer spoke volumes as to how the New England Patriots have managed to pull off such an impressive feat."That's what we're here for -- to win games. We take a lot of pride in it. That means a lot to us. But that being said, there's probably another time to talk about that and reflect on it and so forth," he said. "None of those other -- however many seasons it was or however many games it was -- really makes any difference this week. I mean, nobody cares about that."This is just strictly a matchup between the Patriots and the Bills in 2017, and how these two teams compete against each other is really what it's all about. So I don't think living in the past is going to help us, and I don't think living in the future is going to help us either."In clinching a 17th straight season with a winning record, the Patriots broke a post-merger three-way tie with Dallas (1970-85) and San Francisco (1983-98), both of which had 16.Since 2001, the Patriots' streak of 17 seasons with nine-plus wins is followed by Indianapolis (12), Green Bay (12), Pittsburgh (12), Philadelphia (11), Seattle (11) and Baltimore (10).The all-time record for most consecutive winning seasons, when accounting for before the 1970 merger, is Dallas with 20 (from 1966-85).
"I was kid growing up in San Mateo [California] when the Niners were doing that too. I mean, they didn't do it for as long as we've done it, but it's pretty cool," quarterback Tom Brady said after Sunday's win over the Dolphins."Obviously, the expectations are really high because of what teams in the past have done and I think the guys that come and sit in these chairs right here and look up at Coach Belichick and understand kind of what we're playing for and the history of the team and the expectations."Ben Volin showed off a stat that shows how dominate the Patriots’ defense has been this year. Since Week 5, no NFL team has allowed fewer points than the Patriots.