FanHouse BrandonMerriweather

Brinson got the ball rolling Sunday night, but NFL FanHouse brainiacs put their humongous eggheads together to continue the discussion: is the Patriots dynasty in the books, or will everything be fine when Tom Brady returns?

Ryan Wilson: Watching the Chargers systematically dismantle the Patriots secondary sent a pretty clear message to the rest of the league: WHEN THROWING THE BALL, FIRST FIND DELTHA O'NEAL, AND THEN CHUCK IT. And while there's a good chance the Patriots would be undefeated (or, at worst, a one-loss team) with a healthy Tom Brady -- and arguably still considered the NFL's best club -- now they're barely ordinary.

Which I think just reinforces the point that great coaches need great players. Hardly original, I know, but a lot of people were interested to see what Bill Belichick would do to keep things going in New England. The answer, it seems, is "start going to church again."

Maybe we've forgotten that the beginning of the Patriots' dynasty did not at all resemble the brash, overconfident, devil-may-care Patriots that ran up scores league-wide last year. Really, they looked a lot like the team that beat the Jets today.

That's not to say that these Patriots are legitimate Super Bowl threats; circumstances and contexts change all the time. But it's a reminder that the Patriots don't have to set records on offense to be good (no matter what I've previously said); you can make up for an inexperienced quarterback with the right pieces elsewhere. So the Patriots certainly can continue to win, if they do remains to be seen.

But they won today. They did it by running the ball with a lot of different legs, relying on defense, and capitalizing on mistakes. Matt Cassel, in his first start since 1970, was certainly reliable yet unspectacular. The first half wasn't exactly the prettiest football you've ever seen, but the Pats did enough to walk into the locker room with a 6-3 lead. And though the second half wasn't much better-looking, Brett Favre showed why you have to curb your enthusiasm when he hits on a desperation hail mary throw in the end zone, because he'll follow that up a week later with a poor, poor decision that leads to an interception (this one by Brandon Merriweather), an interception that essentially loses the game.