New England Patriots Taking Control as NFL's Best Team

"Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes.” - Albus Dumbledore

The New England Patriots were left for dead. Tom Brady had seemingly succumbed to Father Time, as evidenced by an awful start to the season culminating in a 41-13 thrashing at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs. 

The immolation was complete. All that was left was to scrape up the ashes and place them in an urn at Canton.

Then the football gods smiled.

Or, perhaps if melodrama isn't your thing—we all simply overreacted to a handful of games. After all, four games is a little early to call it a dynasty.

New England might be the best team in football right now, and it's not just a league-best 11-3 record that says so. The Patriots lead the league in points differential at plus-162, and they are starting to pull away from the competition. 

New England is 9-1 since that Monday night debacle at Arrowhead, the sole loss a close one on the road against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau, which seems to imbue quarterback Aaron Rodgers with superpowers.

Weeks	Points	1stD	Yds	PassY	RushY	Yds	PassY	RushY	PA
	Offense					Defense
Weeks 1-4	20	17.5	298.5	201	97.5	315.25	185.5	129.75	22.5
Weeks 5-15	36.2	25.8	416.3	302.7	113.6	367.0	274.0	93.0	19.0

It may not hold a candle to the 2007 squad that went undefeated in the regular season—few teams could—but this is becoming one of the more dominant New England squads in franchise history as it continues to improve. 

How did we get here?

Balefire Offense

At the core of New England's midseason renaissance is, of course, the team's hyper-competitive quarterback—Tom Brady.

A shell of himself to start the season, Brady's competitive juices kicked in after the loss to Kansas City, and he has laid waste to his enemies ever since.

Weeks	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rating	Y/A	AY/A
Weeks 1-4	20.25	34.25	59.1%	197.75	1	0.5	82.7	5.8	5.7
Weeks 5-15	26.1	39.4	66.2%	305.6	2.8	0.6	106.9	7.8	8.5

Of course, it's not all Brady. In fact, were it not for the contributions—or sometimes a mere threat—from tight end Rob Gronkowski, we might not be talking about the Patriots in this light right now.

There is no question Gronkowski has keyed New England's midseason offensive renaissance. The massive tight end has been a catalyst since entering the league, and the injuries that plagued him during the past couple of years have been a bane for Brady and the offense.

He was still coming back from the torn ACL he suffered near the end of last year when the 2014 season tipped off, hence a slow start for Gronkowski and the offense.

When he was healthy and confident enough in that knee, Gronkowski reverted to form as destroyer of worlds. He leads the tight end position in receiving, by far, and he's closing in on Julius Thomas in touchdowns.

The big tight end is one of the most difficult threats to neutralize, and attempting to do so tends to result in offensive success elsewhere.

Of course, it's difficult to get anything going on offense with a bad offensive line, which was the case at the beginning of the season. Against all odds, that weakness has been turned into a strength over time. That's because the line was in flux for the first couple of months of the season, per ESPN.com's Mike Reiss:

"

What has resulted in recent weeks is that the Patriots have settled on five starters -- left tackle Nate Solder, left guard Dan Connolly, center Bryan Stork, right guard Ryan Wendell and right tackle Sebastian Vollmer.

Injuries prevented the Patriots from opening the season with that combination, as Stork missed significant time in training camp with a leg injury and was limited in what he could do once the season started. Injuries also forced a mid-October shuffle as Connolly and Stork both missed time with concussions. And then there was the team's internal decision-making, which deemed first-year player Jordan Devey and four-year veteran Marcus Cannon better initial fits at guard over Wendell before they lost their jobs after three weeks.

"

The afterburners were engaged when the line began to jell.

A Healing Defense

If there is one thing the Patriots have lacked in their championship drought, it's a reliably stout defense. 

While these Patriots might not quite be Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law and Willie McGinest, the unit has become a strength where it has been a weakness in years past.

"

In the past four games, the #Patriots have yielded a combined six points in the second half.

— Erik Frenz (@ErikFrenz) December 14, 2014"

Belichick must have cracked a smile when cornerback Darrelle Revis signed on during the offseason. Arguably the best cornerback in football, Revis allows the defense to do things it hasn't been able to do for year.

Heading into Week 15, he was the second-best cornerback in the league by Pro Football Focus (subscription required), having allowed just two touchdowns and a 67.9 passer rating on an island.

Revis is the first great cornerback the Patriots have had in a long while, but he's just one piece of a puzzle that is coming together nicely. 

Inside linebacker Dont'a Hightower has blossomed into one of the better inside linebackers in the league, also rated near the top of PFF's rankings. The same can be said about safety Devin McCourty, who has thrived since moving over from cornerback.

Injuries have ravaged the defense, but players are getting healthy at the right time, as alluded to by Kyle Brasseur of ESPN.com:

"

“Getting [Chandler Jones] back this week, getting Sealver back last week and Hightower back this week, we’ve got all our dogs back,” Wilfork said. “That’s where we want to be. We want to be healthy going into December these next games ... so we can be at full speed moving forward.” 

The Sack Man is back, along with the rest of the dogs. And the Patriots are prepared to make a full push heading toward the postseason again. 

"

That much was evident against the Dolphins on Sunday as the Patriots defense put a vise on the Miami offense and held it scoreless in the second half.

It was part of a stellar showing that included a blocked kick—by linebacker Jamie Collins, another nascent player on that defense—for a touchdown, four sacks and two interceptions in Jones' triumphant return. 

Not only do the Patriots possess the top offense in the league, but their defense has allowed just 19 points per game over the past 10 games and ranks ninth in scoring and 12th in total defense overall this season to go along with that streaking offense.

The team is beating opponents by an average margin of 17.2 points per game since its trip to Kansas City.

The path to a championship is clearer than it has been at any time over the past decade, even more so than when destiny pinned itself on David Tyree's helmet. The AFC is a paper tiger, the only squad truly seeming like a threat being a Denver Broncos team the Patriots throttled earlier this season.

Of course, the Seattle Seahawks look like world-beaters once again over in the NFC, making for a tantalizing Super Bowl matchup should they meet the Patriots in the Big Game.

The phoenix soars again.

Unless otherwise stated, all statistics courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com. 

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