Tom Brady's New England Patriots Go To 9-2: Are Pats Super Bowl Bound?

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots offense absolutely scorched the Detroit Lions  for 35 points in the second half to help the Pats move to 9-2, and seemingly into the top spot in the power rankings.

The Lions have been playing teams tough all season, with their biggest loss coming to the rejuvenated Dallas Cowboys a week ago; their record in no way reflects their play.

The Patriots took control of this game in the second half. Everybody (myself included) thought this was a potential trap game, as they have three high powered matchups coming up in the next three weeks. With today's win, they removed all doubt that they are an excellent team.

New England came into the game looking sluggish, and ripe for an upset, with their first drive stalling out after a sack by the phenom that is Ndomukong Suh. They continued their sluggish play into the second quarter, at one point trailing by as many as 11 points.

The most important thing, however, is that they never looked a bit flustered, and Brady never got frustrated. Even after he had drives stall out and penalties stop the Patriots from scoring, Brady took his 110 passing yards into halftime and kept looking forward.

The second half was like a different game.

It took the Patriots less than 10 minutes in the second half to tie up the game with the help of a 79-yard pass from Brady to Deion Branch, and going into the fourth quarter tied, they were still working to doing better in the next quarter.

The Patriots scored two minutes into the fourth quarter and the game was in hand from there, as they stymied the Detroit offense and scored twice more in the quarter, turning the game into a blowout.

Something the Pats have done all year is calculate their risks in order to put them into a position to win games. If ahead going into the latter minutes of the game, they do enough to hold onto a lead, and if behind, they do enough so their opponent cannot hold onto a lead.

They have been ahead in seven games going into the fourth: San Diego, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Miami.

In each of those games they have come away with a win, never giving up enough for their opponent to come back and beat them.

They have been close to blowing it a few times, most recently against Indianapolis, but they are so good at controlling the ball, taking time off the clock, and coming up with big plays in big situations that they haven't allowed a single fourth quarter comeback all season.

They have come back to win twice, however, beating Baltimore in overtime and today's Thanksgiving game against Detroit.

Something that is invaluable in the playoffs is holding leads and cutting away from leads.

One thing to say about this Pats team is that once they are ahead, they stay ahead, but when they are behind, it is hard to count them out, as they have had four potential losses this season, but came back to win in two of them.

Their biggest roadblock when it comes to getting back to the Super Bowl for the first time since their perfect season is their defense.

One thing good about their defense is that they are great at taking the ball away from the other team, as they have forced 20 turnovers this year, good for second in the AFC, and have three defensive touchdowns, most in the AFC.

They may give up yards, but they are able to stop drives in their tracks when a team gets on a roll, something that swings momentum and frustrates quarterbacks, something that there is no stat for.

And then there's the offense.

Tom Brady is playing like an MVP right now, and if he keeps it up, it will be hard to keep the award away from the guy.

He registered the first perfect quarterback rating of the season in the NFL, and his first since October of 2007, and has been immaculate as of late.

With the return of Branch, to go along with Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski and the exciting and speedy little Danny Woodhead, opposing defenses have many players to keep track of, otherwise one can easily slip past the secondary and burn the defense for a big play.

This New England Patriots team may not be the complete juggernaut that the 2007 Patriots were, but what they do good, they do great, and what they do bad, they don't do too bad.

They have a core that has the experience of the postseason and a quarterback in Brady who is arguably the best in the league, and can win games in bunches come postseason time.

This is definitely not a team that I would want to see my favorite team play in the playoffs, as they are hard to pull off a comeback against, and they are hard to keep out of a game for long, with an offense that can strike at any given time.

This team just may be another one of the Brady/Bill Belichick teams to make it to the Super Bowl.