If a team fakes a pump and throws toward the end zone, one would assume that the aforementioned team is down and needs to score in a hurry. Most of the time, that would be a fair assessment, but if the team in question is the New England Patriots, that assumption would make an ass out of you and me. 

The Patriots are not essentially running up the score; instead they plan on getting even. The Patriots have embraced the dark side. Darth Cheatious is sending a message to the whole NFL: Never question geniuses.

Oscar Levant was famously quoted with saying, “There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.” Well, Coach Bill Belichick has done more than erase the line; he obliterated it with 52 unanswered points.

If the Patriots were a college football team, no one would be questioning their napalm-like offense; instead they would be absolute shoo-ins for a January 7, 2008 date with some would-be No. 2 sacrificial lamb. Yet, their fate is not tied to some BS computer and some people have questioned whether Belichick has gone mad, or is just plain mad.

The Patriots all-out annihilation of the Washington Redskins definitely raised a few eyebrows. The past few weeks, the Patriots’ opponents had been able to at least score a few times to make the game only appear like a blowout, not a scrimmage between the J.V. and the varsity. But Sunday’s offensive explosion was aimed at every one who questioned whether the Patriots are serious about humiliating the opposition. And that answer is yes.

Even though the scores have been lopsided, many analysts would cite an obvious opinion: If you don’t want them to score all those points on you, then stop them. Well, hello. What do you think they were trying to do the last three quarters? Am I the only person who sees that this offensive attack is almost unstoppable?

Tom Brady was already the best QB in the league to me, but then the Patriots added the Ultimate Weapon, Randy Moss. Now, points come in bunches. Which should be of no surprise. I know Moss was unhappy in Minnesota and Oakland, but who wouldn’t be?

After Chris Carter’s departure, the Vikings failed to surround Moss with a capable wingman, like Wes Welker. Then Oakland had an offensive genius/team-leading dummy running them in Moss’s first season, and Mr. Belvedere was his offensive coordinator in Year 2.

Moss raises the level of any QB he plays with: Chad Pennington from average to above average, Daunte Culpepper from above average to MVP caliber, and Tom Brady from great to gaudy.

The Patriots’ offense has no apparent weakness right now, but that could change if teams start to make the Patriots pay for leaving starters in the game in the fourth quarter up by 42 points. Last year, in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game, Michael Jordan said there would be no way Bryant would have reached that mark against him without Jordan using up all six of his personal fouls. Now, Jordan didn’t say he would deliberately hurt Bryant, but he did imply that Bryant would have to earn all 81 of those points the hard way. Right now, only one of the eight NFL defenses that has faced the New England air assault attempted to make the Patriots earn it.

The Cowboys applied pressure to Brady a few times in the first half, but decided to play back in the second half. This was their ultimate demise. The Patriots offensive line is good and sometimes great, but they are not flawless. The only way to slow down this offense is to attack it like it attacks the defense. The Patriots come out on offense in a predatory manner; they instantly become the hunter. Meanwhile, the opposition’s defense becomes the hunted.

Blitzing an offensive attack like the one the Patriots deploy does two things: burns the QB or the QB torches the defense. Brady’s poise is the ether to their whole offensive explosion. How can a team rattle the coolest QB since Joe Montana?

Blitzing, blitzing, and more blitzing.

Even if you don’t get to Brady, you have to knock him down legally as much as possible. Brady is still a QB and all QBs have one thing in common: they do not like to get hit. I’m not stating that blitzing Brady will automatically rattle him, but it should at least make him think more. The more you have Brady thinking about the blitz the less time he will have to decipher a defense. On the flip side, Brady’s toughness and guile will allow him to stand in the pocket and continue delivering precise missile strikes to Moss and company.

I assume this weekend is kind of a big game. I assume it could be a potential AFC Championship preview. I assume this is the true litmus test. I assume Manning will finally get a taste of his own medicine. I assume that this game will do only one thing: make an ass out of you and me. On second thought since no one really reads my stuff; I guess I’m the ass.