A Team of Destiny

We live in a new world this morning, a world in which an NFL team has remained focused enough for four months to win all 16 of its regular season games.

The New England Patriots finished the regular season 16-0 after rallying to defeat the New York Giants last night, 38-35. Quarterback Tom Brady set a new season record for touchdown passes and receiver Randy Moss set a season record for touchdown receptions.

The Patriots will have next week off, then they will be set to host the next two playoff games en route to the Super Bowl.

A win for the Patriots on the weekend of January 12-13 will match the single season mark set by the 1972 Miami Dolphins of 17-0. Another win on the weekend of January 19-20 will make New England the first team ever to go 18-0 in a single season -- and it would clinch a berth in the Super Bowl.

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe crowed that the Patriots were "just perfect" and provided the "fitting finish to Boston's magical year in sports" -- which included a World Series title for the Boston Red Sox and the winningest football season for Boston College in more than half a century, but no similar success for the NBA's Celtics or the NHL's Bruins.

As good as the Patriots are, a little humility would suit them better, according to SI.com's Andrew Perloff, who says the Pats "walk the fine line between supreme confidence and arrogance."

It's true that going 16-0 is going to make a team very confident. Does it have to make a team arrogant as well? Perhaps that's the negative side that the Patriots must contend with as they enter the home stretch of the season. After all, the playoffs and the Super Bowl will force them to play three of the best teams the NFL has to offer in the coming month.

That could certainly include dates with last year's Super Bowl winner, the Indianapolis Colts, who played New England earlier this year, and an NFC team the Patriots beat this year, the Dallas Cowboys. For the record, the usually dominant Patriots only beat the Colts 24-20. They handled the Cowboys by a wider margin, 48-27.

Other teams New England beat who are potential playoff foes include the team New England beat last night, the Giants; the Chargers (losers to the Patriots, 38-14); Steelers (who lost to the Pats, 34-13); Browns (who can clinch a playoff spot today and lost to New England, 34-17); and Redskins (who can clinch a playoff spot today and lost to the Pats, 52-7).

The Patriots did lose to two potential playoff opponents back during the preseason games in August. They lost their preseason opener to Tampa Bay, 13-10, and they followed that with a loss to Tennessee, 27-24. But, counting the last two preseason games, New England has proceeded to win 18 in a row.

One thing the Patriots can be sure of -- in the postseason, they won't be facing teams like Miami, Buffalo and the New York Jets, who accounted for six of the Patriots' wins in the regular season and, thus far, have combined for a record of 11-34.

Each postseason opponent will want to be the one to knock the chip off the Patriots' shoulder.