Patriots midseason report

The New England Patriots were off this Sunday, hopefully getting some much-deserved rest after whipping Peyton Manning's Broncos 43-21 in Week 9. The victory, New England's fifth in a row, improved the team's record to a division and conference-best of 7-2. The Broncos are 7-2 as well after Sunday's rout of the Raiders, but if the Pats can hold on to the top seed in the AFC then they'll have home field advantage during the playoffs, which will make the road to their sixth Super Bowl appearance of this millennium significantly easier.

With their season more than half over, now seems like a good time to reflect on how well the Patriots have played this year and to wonder how they'll fare going forward. New England ended Week 9 with the best record and point differential in the NFL, atop the short list of championship contenders. The playoffs are all but guaranteed; it's only a matter of how far they'll go.

The Patriots have played so well lately that it's difficult to remember just how thoroughly mediocre they were at the start of the season. It has truly been a tale of two halves for the Pats, the team that many pronounced dead at the end of September. Just 2-2 at the time and reeling from a 41-14 defeat in Kansas City, New England's football machine appeared to be broken. Their dynastic run seemed over.

The last month and a half has erased those doubts and then some, as the Patriots have re-asserted their dominance over the rest of the league. They've outscored their opponents by 93 total points during their five-game winning streak, an average of 18.6 per game. Nobody's talking about whether the Pats are toast. Now, Patriots fans are back to dreaming about the end of their decade-long championship drought.

The turnaround can be attributed to the elite performance of New England's franchise quarterback, Tom Brady. Brady struggled mightily in September, managing just four touchdowns and fewer than 200 passing yards per game. He was having great difficulty hitting targets downfield as well, averaging just 5.77 yards per pass attempt and leading many to wonder whether the 37 year-old's best days were behind him. New England's offense was lost without its star signal-caller, averaging only 20 points per game and ranking 29th out of the NFL's 32 teams in offense.

Since then, he's looked like the Brady of old, and so have the Patriots. Over his past five games he's tallied 18 touchdowns and only one interception, on a ball Danny Amendola should have caught. He's been as efficient as ever, completing 67.5 percent of his passes and averaging 320.2 yards per game. One of the league's worst quarterbacks in September, he's now squarely in the MVP discussion. It's no coincidence that with Brady at the top of his game, New England's offense has kicked into high gear. They ranked second in the NFL in points scored with 281 through Week 9, only nine fewer than the 290 put up by the Indianapolis Colts. They've averaged 40.2 points per game since Week 4, more than doubling their September output.

Brady's recent hot streak is due in large part to better play from his offensive line, which resembled a row of turnstiles for much of September. Brady was constantly under pressure, forced to rush his throws and unable to survey the field for open targets. His blockers have improved dramatically since then, allowing him to step up into the pocket, set his feet and find open receivers. As long as Brady is healthy and comfortable, he's going to keep reminding everyone why he's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

And the Patriots will continue to roll.