Patriots coach Bill Belichick says there’s no benefit to having played Broncos in regular season

With their win over the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick are once again in a position to make a trip to the Super Bowl, to try and claim their fourth Lombardi Trophy.

The Pats will play the winner of Sunday’s contest between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos.

This season, the Patriots haven’t played the Chargers, but they have seen Peyton Manning and the Broncos, a game they won in overtime back on Nov. 24.

Regardless of that outcome, Belichick stated on a conference call Sunday morning that the fact they have played the Broncos already doesn’t mean that much to him, nor does the fact that they haven’t seen Philip Rivers and the Chargers.

"“I do think this: whoever we play, these are the two best teams in the AFC and in order to play next week, you have to play well this week. Whichever team that is today that plays the best will deserve to play next week. We played well enough last night to be able to play next week. So whoever we play, we’re playing the other best team in the AFC,” Belichick said. “We’re going to have to play well. We’re going to have to play better than we played last night. The competition is going to get stiffer. I think we’ve all seen in the playoffs that it’s really about that game, that matchup, that day. Whatever happened during the regular season or some other year or some other time, or whatever reference point you want to take, is really not that significant.”"