Which Patriots team is better: 2007 or 2010?

Where would you rank this year's Patriot team? As good as 2001? Better than 2007?

Proud, yet humble owners of an NFL-best 11-2 record, the 2010 New England Patriots appear to be the early favorite to play for the Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in early February. Sure, winning 11 of their first 13 games is impressive but the real story within the story is the fact that the Pats have not only beaten some of the league's best teams, but more often than not it wasn't even close.

Take, for example, the recent string of Patriot victories. A much anticipated, overly hyped rematch with the Jets at home on Monday Night Football? Result: A 45-3 demolishing of Rex and the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS. How about this past weekend, when Brady and the boys marched into a blizzard at Soldier Field in Chicago? You guessed it. Despite the unfavorable conditions, Belichick's team lit up one of the league's most feared defenses en route to a 36-7 victory. 

Flash back to earlier in the season and the victories get even more impressive. In early October, the Pats travelled to Miami and singlehandedly sunk the fish with stellar special teams play en route to a dominating 41-14 victory. It officially marked the Patrick Chung coming out party as the second-year safety blocked two kicks and returned an interception for a touchdown. 

Weeks 6, 7 and 8 helped define the season as well, as the Pats ripped off three straight victories. First, they battled back to upset the Raven 23-20 in overtime, found a way to escape San Diego with a 23-20 victory and then silenced Brett Favre and the high-flying Vikings offense 28-18 at Gillette. 

Even though they got humiliated in Cleveland, losing a trap game 34-14 to the Browns, the Pats responded by crushing the vaunted Steelers 39-26 on the road and then hung on to defeat Peyton and the Colts 31-28 in Foxboro. 

Remember, before the season started, many of the football talking heads had already written off the Pats. ESPN analysts predicted they would be competitive but nothing better than a 10-6 team, or maybe 11-5 if Belichick got lucky. We heard all the bashing over and over, how their defense was too young and inexperienced. How they had no clear-cut running back. How they had too many rookies and couldn't rely on them to pick up the intricacies of the NFL game quick enough to make an impact. 

Not so. The 2010 New England Patriots have surprised us all. They paid no attention to what everyone else was saying about them and stayed true to their core beliefs along the way, trading away players like Randy Moss and Laurence Maroney who failed to fit the "team-first" mantra. 

Now, they're 11-2 and on the fast track to the Super Bowl. They control their own destiny and have the ability to earn a first round bye in the playoffs and earn home-field advantage throughout. Even without Randy Moss, they have the best offense in football, scoring a league high 415 points (which averages out to nearly 32 points per game). Their once bemoaned defense has evolved into a formidable play-making group as well, forcing countless turnovers and stepping up in key situations. 

So, the question must be raised: which Patriots team is better, this one or the record setting 2007 version? For all intents and purposes, no Pats team will ever approach the 2007 club that came within a David Tyree helmet of hoisting their fourth Super Bowl of the decade. After all, that club was the single greatest offensive unit ever put together, with Brady and Moss setting the single season touchdown passing (50) and receiving (23) records en route to the NFL's only perfect 16-0 regular season. We watched completely enthralled each week as the headlines read "Pursuit of Perfection."

And the Pats weren't just beating teams, they were humiliating them. Remember when everyone hated Belichick for trying to run up the score? I guess he was supposed to just stop the game in the third quarter when it was already 35-7. Of course, we loved the defense because all our favorite warriors were still on the field, guys like Vrabel, Bruschi, Seymour and Harrison. But, the truth was that they were aging and on the decline, unable to come up with the season's biggest stop when they needed it most. 

Still, despite the glamorous 2007 season, my money's on this year's Patriots club. It just feels like the glorious old days again, when the Pats were winning Super Bowls left and right at the turn of the century. This team has that same feel: lots of team-first players with one common goal: to win. Gone are all the big name stars like Randy and Donte Stallworth. Instead, Deion Branch is back and Belichick added old-school players of his design like the pint-sized bottle-rocket Danny Woodhead. The offense may not set any records but they're still the best in the league. And defensively, from the lineman to the linebackers to the secondary, every player has bought into Belichick's system and thrived, getting better and better each week. 

In the end, when comparing the two clubs the ultimate measuring stick will be whether this year's edition does what the 2007 version couldn't: win the Super Bowl. And, with an 11-2 record, it's beginning to look more and more like that's what they're destined to do.