The New England Patriots walked off the field in Santa Clara less than three months ago after coming out on the wrong side of Super Bowl 60.
As players cleaned out their lockers and went their separate ways for the offseason, the disappointment traveled with them.
“I watched a little. It still stings, to be honest with you,” Hunter Henry said. “Obviously, we haven’t played to the capability that we wanted to play at on the biggest stage, and that was very disappointing and hard to process for a while. It’s definitely taken a while — it still stings — but I think that’s good. It’s good that it stings. It makes you want to work a little harder. To get all the way to the end and then not achieve it was hard.”
The Patriots authored a surprising turnaround last season to reach the Super Bowl. After posting back-to-back four win seasons, the team won 13 regular-season games in Mike Vrabel’s first year as head coach.
But after winning three straight playoff games to reach the Super Bowl, they were unable to finish the job, falling 29-13 to the Seattle Seahawks.
“Disappointing. It stings, it hurts. It feels like that wasn’t supposed to be a part of our journey. But obviously it is,” Robert Spillane said. “All you could do from that is learn from it, grow as a person, as a player, and that’s our focus.”
After a shorter offseason than usual, the Patriots returned to the facility last week for the start of the voluntary offseason program.
As they begin the process of coming together again as a team, they are looking to build off both the positives and the lessons from last season in hopes of finishing differently this time.
“There were a lot of positives when you step back and look at the full picture,” Henry said. “Making it all the way there is a blessing, and it’s really, really hard to do. Getting there was big, but we didn’t make it all the way. We didn’t do enough, so you’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror. What can you do more? How can you be better? How can I be a better teammate? How can I be a better player?
“So at the end, we can hold that trophy and be the ones walking off the field.”