While an 0-2 start can be discouraging, Patten said it's no worse than a two-game losing streak during any point in the season. It might even be better because there's so much time to come back from it.
"Everybody expected us to be so high and be so good and right now, we're not looking like that," Patten said. "We have 14 more games and even if we were 2-0 right now, it doesn't mean a thing. We could still end up 14-2. We just have to keep working."
Patten said he doesn't look back on the 0-2 record of that 2001 Patriots team for inspiration. In fact, one thing playing for the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick taught him was to never look back unless it was to see a mistake on film and learn how to correct it.
"The only thing that I know what to do is go out there and play better on a day-to-day basis," Patten said. "That's one thing coach Bill Belichick did a good job with and one thing coach Payton is doing a good job with is not focusing on the past.
"When we were on that 22-game win streak (in New England), you would have thought that we hadn't won a game. We would come out of a game feeling good about ourselves ... coach Belichick would come in and make us feel like a dog. He would put up everything wrong we did. ... It still felt like we had not won a single game. It was always: Focus on the next opponent."
