what's that you say?

here's where we stand:
UNDEFEATED.

the last time New England started a season 6-0 was the magical year of 2004 when Boston reverberated with the cheers of fans from Fenway to Foxboro. i'm not going to say it out loud, for fear of the Jinx, but if you don't know what i'm thinking, you need to check out the sports pages.

and enough of that.

i had the surprise of being able to watch the Patriots on tv this afternoon. and i have to say, while the defense left me wishing we were getting to Romo the way Dallas was able to pressure Brady, the sweet steady march of New England's offense was something to behold. they have now officially scored on their opening drive in all six games this season. and they challenge you to cover the receivers. double teaming Moss? ok, the ball gets tossed to Stallworth. coverage on Stallworth now? here ya go, Welker! the options appear endless for Brady & he works them all like he's throwing passes in practice. even when they temporarily gave up the lead in the second half for the first time this season, they just shrugged it off & come out marching again. it didn't matter if the defense wasn't lights out today. they didn't spend much time on the field anyway. i marveled at one point that Bruschi wasn't even sweating, just chilling out on the bench with a smile on his face, like he was watching the game on his couch or something. this team is marvelously built.

what i really hope is that we can finally stop hearing the noise from the talking heads & the sour grapes, who have repeated endlessly that the Patriots aren't really that great, because they haven't actually played anyone yet, unlike the Colts, of course.

let's have a little comparison, shall we?

Patriots have played six games:
Week One against the Jets (1-5, as of this week), 38-14
Week Two against the Chargers (3-3), 38-14
Week Three against the Bills (1-4), 38-7
Week Four against the Bengals (1-4), 34-13
Week Five against the Browns (3-3), 34-17
Week Six against the Cowboys, (5-1), 48-27

Colts have played five games:
Week One against the Saints (0-4, with the game on right now), 41-10
Week Two against the Titans (3-2), 22-20
Week Three against the Texans (3-3), 30-24
Week Four against the Broncos (2-3), 38-20
Week Five against the Bucs (4-2), 33-14
Week Six, bye

i am willing to admit the Patriots haven't played any formidable opponents before this week, but i have to ask: who exactly have the Colts played??

so to save you the math:
the Patriots biggest win was by 31 points against Buffalo; the Colts biggest was by 31 points as well over New Orleans.
the Patriots smallest win was by 17 points over Cleveland; the Colts smallest was by 2 points over Tennessee.
the Patriots opponents have a combined 14-20 record; the Colts opponents have a record of 12-14.
the Patriots have scored 230 points & given up 92; the Colts have scored 164 & given up 88.

i don't think the Patriots have played a much easier schedule than the Colts, and yet their smallest win was by 15 more points than the Colts smallest. in order to tie the Patriots total points after six games, the Colts would need to score 66 points next week & give up only 4.

i'm not saying the Colts are playing poorly. they *are* undefeated. i'm just saying it's getting very old hearing how the Colts are playing better football than the Patriots, and the Colts are the team to beat. after watching the Patriots in action today, i hope we can at least call the playing field even.

anyway back to this afternoon. i like Romo. never been a Cowboys fan, but it's difficult for me *not* to like Romo. he's scrappy & he improvises. he's not afraid to take risks -- or responsibility for the risks when they don't pan out. so i'm sorry he had to lose, but i'm not sorry we beat him. he's Favre-esque, which explains why i enjoy watching him play. it's the same reason i like Delhomme, but he doesn't appear to have the durability required to be labeled "Favre-esque." i digress though. to that end, it was a good day in football for me: my boys proved that they could win against a "real team" and the Packers are now 5-1.

i just hope the magic carries over to baseball...