It's funny when the Pats were up against the Falcons getting destroyed 28 - 3 I was involved in a huge group chat with my coworkers. They were ALL against the Pats, making their "stick a fork in them, they're done!" comments and such.
I had already predicted to them the score of 34 to 28 in favor of the Pats, which came to pass. When we were down 28-3 and they were tearing me up in the group text I told them they had no idea who they were dealing with, and that they'd see in the 2nd half.
Later I got to type in "wow, you guys got quiet all of a sudden!" when the Pats started closing the gap. And of course when they won all the other guys could say was "they must've cheated"
I think at this point it's pretty obvious what's happening. The Patriots are like a cat and their opponents are the mice. Cats like to play with their food, make it think it has an actual chance at escape, or winning the competition.
So the Pats just let the other teams get these huge leads, they gift them a handicap advantage for half the game, only to return and smoke them with a few minutes left on the clock to show how utterly dominant they are.
Tom Brady, if you're reading this, I want you to put a baby in me.