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Patriots were installing new plays Sunday morning

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The Patriots, written off by some due to struggles in the regular season, once again saved their best football for the postseason and are now headed back to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots seem to have a plan for every contingency.

But they are always willing to add layers, just in case.

Via Peter King of NBC’s Football Morning in America, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said they were still installing new plays into the game plan Sunday morning in the hotel ballroom.

We just put in eight new plays in the game plan this morning,” Brady said.

When players went in for the 11 a.m. team meeting at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, players were told they were installing the new plays then. They walked through each of them, and Brady said they ran four or five of them during the game.

The third-and-10 pass to Rob Gronkowski in overtime wasn’t practiced either. That quick slant that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels decided to dial up was based on the coverage played by Chiefs safety Eric Berry.

Because most game plans are in the can well in advance, and because most coaches would want to practice such plays multiple times, it’s the kind of improvisation most teams won’t try to emulate.

Or can’t.