There's no place like home.
The Patriots extended their winning streak at Gillette Stadium to 17 games with their Week 1 victory over the Steelers Sunday night.
This streak goes all the way back to October 1, 2017, when the Patriots lost at home to the Panthers 33-30. Tom Brady threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns, but the New England defense struggled to stop Cam Newton from moving the ball at will.
The loss put the Patriots at 2-2 on the year, which didn't make much of a difference since they made it to Super Bowl 52 anyway.
Protecting home field is a characteristic of every great team no matter the sport, and the Patriots have consistently been incredibly hard to beat in Foxboro under Bill Belichick.
The biggest advantage comes in the postseason. When you're automatically winning half your games, you have a good shot at a top-two seed in the postseason. And when you've been unstoppable at home all year long, you're more likely to make a deep run into the conference championship game.
New England Patriots
Considering the Patriots have made it to the last three Super Bowls and eight AFC title games, there's no doubt their dominance at home has something to do with it.
The Patriots' next three home games are Week 3 against the Jets, Week 6 against the Giants and Week 8 against the Browns, so there's a good chance this streak hits the 20-game mark.
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