PHOENIX — Go ahead, pile on the Patriots.

Declare the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era over after they split their first four games this season. Call them cheaters when their footballs lose too much air. Predict the Legion of Boom will bring the hammer down on Rob Gronkowski.

Then jump on the New England bandwagon.

Watch one of the greatest quarterbacks ever lower the pressure on himself with handoffs to big LeGarrette Blount and quick passes to small receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola. See the second-best defense in the Super Bowl silence Marshawn Lynch’s running and put the burden on Russell Wilson to move the Seattle Seahawks with his arm and legs.

Finally, concede that the Lombardi Trophy raised by New England owner Robert Kraft on Sunday night is well deserved, no matter how much fans of 31 other teams dislike the leader with the hoodie and the scowl — and his fourth Super Bowl championship as coach of the Patriots.

“No matter what goes on around this game or outside this locker room, whatever it may be, you have to be ready to play,” defensive tackle Vince Wifork said. “We can’t let any distraction alter our course of what we want to be and how we want to do it.”

They want to be champions. How can they do it against the NFL’s best defense?

Start with Brady getting rid of the ball fast to a runner or receiver.

Or let Gronkowski occupy two defenders after lining up wide, in the slot or beside a tackle.

Or toss in some trickery — maybe a double reverse or even a flea-flicker. There’s no end to Belichick’s football imagination. What would he like to establish early?

“What I’d like to establish is the lead,” he said Friday, flashing a rare grin he breaks out in the Super Bowl spotlight as if trying to show there’s more to him than an obsession with Xs and Os and victories.

The Patriots have scored first in just four of their last eight games.

But they’ve won six of them, with one of the losses coming in a meaningless regular-season finale.