Seems like you can’t look at any Patriots related site today without finding an article comparing the 2007 Pats to the 2010 Pats. Sure, the Patriots offense has been dominant the last few weeks, and any dominant offense has to be measured against the most dominant one ever.
While the two teams have shown some offense fireworks they are completely different. Dominant offenses can take many shapes, and in the grand scheme of football the 2010 offense is more balanced and, for now, harder to defend.
Of course no one will even mention how completely different the defenses of these two teams are. Remember the “old and slow” days? Well now we’re in the “young and inexperienced” days, with a little touch of “hitting the rookie wall”.
I don’t really care about the comparisons. As always, BB has continued to evolve. Once teams figured out the answer to the spread offensive attack revolving around Moss and Welker, BB changed the question again. Now we’re seeing a horizontal passing attack that is peaking and no one can figure out how to stop it. Yet.
No one thought the 2007 Patriots offense could be stopped for a good chunk of time, but as the November and December came their dominance began to fizzle. The difference now is that the 2010 offense is just starting to hit it’s stride.
Lost in the comparison is the biggest lesson of the 2007 season, and that is that the regular season is about progressing and building to a climax in February. The 2007 Patriots just ran out of gas at the end, and that is what this 2010 must avoid.
The 2010 Patriots are far from unbeatable folks. Many of their wins earlier this season were far closer to those of the early dynasty teams than they were the 2007 edition. They just find ways to win games. Continuing to do so when your teams life is on the line is a far more difficult task and not something anyone should just assume.
Let’s remember this is still a young defense, and a good chunk of Patriots players have never experienced the intensity of the playoffs. They will need to raise their level of play again.
Many Patriots fans and pundits are already booking their tickets to Dallas, but there are still many hard battles that must be won if the Patriots are to take the field in Super Bowl 45. Even with the way the offense looks right now, it only takes on bad game, even one bad play, to put an end to the 2010 Patriots.
To quote BB “no matter who we play [in the playoffs] will be pretty good. We’ll need our best football”. Let’s hope their best football is still to come.
