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INDIANAPOLIS — When the Patriots lost 24-20 to the Giants in November, their critics pounced: The dynasty is dead. Tom Brady can’t do it anymore. This is the year they stumble.
Yeah, so much for that.
The Patriots went out and blasted the Jets 37-16 that week at MetLife Stadium to begin a 10-game win streak that landed them in Super Bowl XLVI, where they will face the Giants on Sunday.
COMPLETE GIANTS SUPER BOWL COVERAGE
“We knew exactly what we had in this locker room,” Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork said yesterday. “We knew exactly how well we could play. We knew we could play with the best. That’s what we believed. We didn’t care what other people believed that weren’t in the locker room. Here we are at the Super Bowl. … So much for the critics.”
The Patriots’ haters had reason to believe the dynasty might be over on the morning of Nov. 7, when the Boston Herald wrote an obituary for it. The Patriots had just lost two in a row to the Steelers and Giants. They were 5-3 and tied with the Jets and Bills atop the AFC East. Brady had thrown 10 interceptions with half a season left.
Then, the Jets came along. Just like the Giants did at the end of December, the Patriots would galvanize the week before facing Gang Green. Talk about the Jets taking over the division had the same effect on the Patriots that the talk of the Jets taking over the city had on the Giants.
“We’ve both got common enemies,” guard Brian Waters said of the two teams’ winning streaks starting against Rex Ryan’s crew. “Let’s just say that.”
The Giants have said the talking from the Jets sparked them the week before their Christmas Eve game. Patriots players said they’ve grown immune to the noise that comes from Florham Park.
“The Jets, we know they’re full of hot air,” Patriots guard Logan Mankins said. “We see where they are right now. … They just like to say whatever they feel like saying and sometimes that can come back to bite you in the butt.”
The Patriots say they did not need any outside motivation. They knew they just needed to play better. Everything came together for them that night in East Rutherford. Brady found tight end Rob Gronkowski for three touchdowns, they forced Jets turnovers, and they inserted receiver Julian Edelman into a defensive back role that helped their depleted secondary.
“It just kind reminded us of what we’re capable of if we’re able to put together 60 minutes of football,” Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo said. “That game was huge for us, huge for our confidence. We’ve been rolling ever since.”
Waters, who is in his first year with the Patriots, said he never saw any doubt creep into the locker room even as the cries about what was wrong with the team grew louder.
“This is a very confident organization,” Waters said. “If you look at the course of the last 10 years there have been points in the season that have been up and down. This football team was never shaken, never taken aback. We understood we weren’t playing our best football at the time. We had a lot of good football left to play. We were doing the things it takes to lose. We were earning those losses because we were doing the things losing teams do.”
They haven’t done those things since they played the Giants the first time. They don’t plan on returning to that Sunday.
brian.costello@nypost.com