Patriots make their mark

FOXBORO, Mass. — With less than a minute left in their NFL record 19th straight victory Sunday, the New England Patriots finally acknowledged the streak by dousing coach Bill Belichick.

“To lead a team to 19 victories in a row is something to be proud of,” said safety Rodney Harrison, who, with defensive lineman Richard Seymour did the pouring. “He’s the captain of the ship and we wanted to let him know we feel grateful to him.”

That was one of the few indications the Patriots had done anything special.

Yes, from Belichick on down they all acknowledged the streak and even celebrated a bit. Then they went back to their standard “We play them one at a time” routine.

Cliche or not, playing them one at a time is what put the Patriots past five other teams to a spot by themselves in the record book.

In this era of parity, almost everyone suffers a letdown at one point or another and loses to teams they shouldn’t. But when the Patriots play badly, they win.

That’s what they did in Sunday’s 24-10 victory over winless and offenseless Miami, the game was as ugly as they come. But the Patriots don’t lose, in part because they won’t allow it to happen.

“I’m used to this,” said rookie defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, who played college ball at Miami. “I don’t know how long our longest winning streak was in college, but I know we only lost two games the whole time I was there.

“Of course this isn’t like college.”