“I’ve done training across the country,” Tom Buckley, the town’s deputy fire chief, said. “When I’m asked where I live, I never mention the Patriots. I just say Foxborough. And instantly, everyone starts talking to me about the Patriots and how they always win there.

“Does that happen with any other N.F.L. team? I mean, I don’t know where the Miami Dolphins play, even though I know it’s not Miami.”

The Patriots, unbeaten in their last eight home playoff games, will put that streak on the line Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Chargers in an A.F.C. divisional playoff game. The Patriots, who have won five Super Bowls since the 2001 season, have had, for them, an uneven season, losing five of eight away games. But they were the only N.F.L. team to be 8-0 at home, a substantial source of pride in Foxborough.

“In the town, we feel like we bring a different type of energy at those home games,” David Tynan, a longtime Foxborough resident, said on Wednesday outside the town’s primary grocery store. “Game days are like holidays. By kickoff, the streets are quiet — you’re either at the stadium or inside watching the game.”

Because there are few hills, trees or other buildings near Gillette Stadium, the landscape is windswept in January and bracing, with temperatures typically in the 20s. The Patriots intentionally built their practice facility adjacent to the stadium, and they almost always practice outside, acclimating to the elements in a way that their playoff opponents — from mostly warmer regions — cannot. The atmosphere in Gillette Stadium is also especially hostile to visiting teams, as Patriots home crowds are considered among the most vociferous in the N.F.L.

Rich Noonan, a lieutenant in the Police Department and a fifth-generation native of Foxborough, recalled the town’s blue-collar origins and said area fans “were protecting their home turf.”