FOXBOROUGH — Tom Brady had a message for his teammates last Sunday immediately following the big win in Denver:

There will be no repeat of 2015 for the Patriots.

“We got on the airplane, and we said, ‘Look, we’re finishing strong,’’’ Brady said Sunday shortly after the Patriots thoroughly pounded the Jets, 41-3. “Last year, we didn’t finish strong. We didn’t like the way things ended. We need to keep playing well down the stretch.’’

Every Patriots fan remembers how 2015 ended — with a thud. The Patriots were 12-2, and only had to win one game against the Jets or Dolphins, two teams that missed the playoffs, to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

But they lost in overtime to the Jets, then tripped over themselves in Miami in Week 17, while the Broncos won out and stole away the No. 1 seed. The Patriots had to travel to Denver for the AFC Championship game instead of playing it at home, and the Patriots lost a game, 20-18, that they probably would have won in the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium.

Fast forward 12 months, and the Patriots find themselves in the same predicament. They were 12-2 entering Saturday’s game. They get the Jets and Dolphins to close out the season. The Week 17 game is also in Miami, site of last year’s bizarre loss, when the Patriots ran the ball 18 of the first 20 snaps of the game.

The Patriots spent all of last week talking about how they wouldn’t limp to the finish line again.

Saturday’s 38-point win over the Jets was a good start.

“Last year, whatever we thought of how good of a position we were in and, ‘blah blah blah,’ the season didn’t end the way we wanted it to,’’ defensive captain Devin McCourty said last week. “The biggest thing is learning from those experiences. Obviously those games have no bearing on this year’s games but just learning of, ‘What did you do that week?’, ‘Did you go the extra step to try to prepare?’, ‘Did you go the extra mile at the toughest part of the season — two games left, Christmas, New Years, holidays — just trying to put in a little extra?’ So I think obviously Coach [Bill] Belichick reminded us of that, and I think as guys that were here last year and veterans, we’ve got to try to urge the team to have that sense of urgency.’’

This year isn’t quite a mirror image of last year. The Patriots are much healthier this time around, with Rob Gronkowski as the only key player on either side of the football to suffer a season-ending injury. They’re a more complete team on offense, with the ability to run the ball 35-plus times per game, as they have done in each of the past two weeks. They’re deeper at the offensive skill positions with Michael Floyd joining Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Martellus Bennett, Dion Lewis, LeGarrette Blount, and others.

And the offensive line has been healthy and productive, with five players starting at least 14 games this year.

A Patriots win or a Raiders loss in Week 17 will secure home-field advantage for the Patriots this time.

“Right now, we’re playing pretty decent,’’ defensive tackle Alan Branch said. “I thought we were playing well last year, but then we started losing at the end of the season.’’

It wasn’t just the last two games of the season where the Patriots faltered. After starting 10-0, they uncharacteristically dropped four of their last six regular-season games, including a baffling loss at home to Philadelphia.

“Everybody knows that the season can go sour real quick, and it did last year towards the end of December,’’ Branch said. “So we just want to make sure we keep playing our best ball toward the end of the season.’’

To that end, the Patriots are riding a six-game winning streak since losing to Seattle in November, and they do appear to be playing their best in all three phases as the season reaches its crescendo. The offense is finding its groove without Gronkowski, and after forcing just two turnovers over a seven-game stretch, the Patriots’ defense has now forced 12 turnovers in their last five games, including four against the Jets on Saturday.

“We’re really trying to harp on that, just finishing strong now,’’ safety Duron Harmon said. “I wouldn’t say redemption, but it’s definitely, you want to go out with a better feeling than we did last year. Just the fact that we didn’t play the way we wanted to down the stretch, we want to get back to that, playing great football in December so it can carry over.’’

Bill Belichick was in a bit of a dour mood in Saturday’s postgame press conference, but he’s certainly not down on his team. It’s just that he remembers how last year ended for the Patriots — back in September he called the Week 17 loss to Miami “sickening’’ — and he doesn’t want his players getting overconfident.

“Of course it’s all good right now, but when we go back into the film we’ll know that we messed up some stuff here and some stuff we need to fix,’’ Harmon said.

Monday’s film session might have a negative tone, with the coaching staff pointing out some of the Patriots’ flaws in their 41-3 win over the Jets.

“Oh, trust me — all the flaws,’’ Harmon said. “Flaws that we didn’t even know we had in the game. But they’re going to find them, and they’re going to make sure we learn from them.’’

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin