ESPN article fueled Patriots desire to win another Super Bowl

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The fine folks in this state of corn and lakes and malls the size of small nations spend about $2 billion annually to heat their homes.

There is even a Cold Weather Rule that protects against unlawful shut-offs from mid-October to mid-April, which makes me hope Nevada will soon adopt a Stupidly Hot Weather Rule that forces the wife to keep the summer temperature lower than a balmy 90 degrees.

The woman turns our Summerlin residence into Death Valley each July.

The Patriots arrived for Super Bowl LII motivated by a different kind of fuel.

Here they are again, all prepared to prove others wrong.

The most hated team in sports history — you no longer wear such a badge of distinction, Yankees fans — meets the Eagles on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, where New England tries for a sixth championship while simultaneously annihilating the one obstruction many naively believed could derail their journey back to the game of Roman Numerals.

I mean, what in the world did you think would happen when that ESPN the Magazine article hit the news cycle?

These guys don’t hate drama.

They freaking feast off it.

They will swear to the opposite, that theirs is a locker room void of any worry about what others think or say or write, that permeating from the leadership of a Hall of Fame coach (Bill Belichick) and quarterback (Tom Brady) is this sense of maniacal defiance against anyone or anything that dare cross their prideful stature among the most despised.

Don’t believe it.

They love this stuff.

ESPN ran its piece Jan. 5, and it was entitled “For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?”— a tale that portrayed a troubled relationship between the trifecta of owner Robert Kraft and the team’s two most famous employees.

It turned out to be the beginning of the beginning … of another deep playoff run.

It was an account mostly built on anonymous teammates and staff members supporting a theme of friction at the top, one that suggested the Patriots could be in their final season of a Kraft-Belichick-Brady marriage.

New England’s answer: Playoff wins against Tennessee and Jacksonville en route to a 10th Super Bowl.

“I really think it’s all about the resiliency this team has shown all year,” Brady said. “There are (outside) things we have to deal with every year, and as a team we’ve been able to collectively overcome them. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. It’s about perseverance.

“We take a lot of punches, and then we give them right back.”

They took a cross to the head with Spygate and answered with an undefeated regular season and Super Bowl loss to the Giants when David Tyree’s helmet made one of the greatest catches in NFL history.

They took a straight right to the jaw with Deflategate and won the Super Bowl.

They do it all because of an obsession with being the best, and adding to their collection of rings far outweighs any jealousy or resentment.

It’s simple. They love winning far more than they dislike each other.

There is every chance the article was completely factual, that Kraft did order Belichick to trade two backup quarterbacks in a two-month span to appease the ego of the 40-year-old Brady, that the star player’s close relationship with his trainer, Alex Guerrero, had become an unnecessary distraction and caused problems with teammates and team personnel, that the current dynamic would prove untenable in the near future.

It all could be true, and yet it also appears the sort of fuel New England needed most.

“The only thing we care about is avoiding distractions and getting ready to play this game at the highest level,” tackle Nate Solder said. “The truth is, we have leadership that wouldn’t allow such (an article) or account of it in the room. Anything that has been said or written doesn’t matter to us. The only thing that matters is what’s on the film, what we can change objectively and what we can improve on.”

Don’t believe it.

They feast off this stuff.

They love it, almost as much as winning.

And nobody loves that more than the Patriots.

I mean, what did you think would happen?

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.