PSR Showdown
Are The 2007 Patriots The Best Ever?

NO WAY
By Paul Alexander, FSN Pittsburgh

Why are we so quick to anoint greatness? Why do we do so without applying proper perspective? Why do we get caught up in the moment and fail to be objective in our observations?

While the Patriots have been dominant and are clearly are the class of the NFL, they are achieving this status while the rest of the league is struggling to produce decent competition. The ridiculous, college-like point spreads involving the Pats is an indictment on how bad the best of the league is, rather than illustrating New Engand's greatness.

Even if the Patriots run the table and blow out whomever the NFC offers up as a Super Bowl representative, I don't believe that automatically puts the Pats into the "best-ever" category.

I have no problem including Tom Brady in that conversation, and even though it has been a small window, Brady and Randy Moss are among the great QB/WR combos we've ever seen. That combination, however, does not elevate the rest of the team to all-time greatness.

Bill Belichick has also earned elite status as an NFL head coach but his ability to take spare parts and mold them into a cohesive, winning team doesn't do anything to validate New England's greatness as a team, just his ability as a coach.

Any of the four Super Bowl champion Steelers' teams of the 1970s is far superior to the current Patriots' team. The biggest disparity would be on defense. Lambert, Ham, Blount and Greene; or Seau, Bruschi, Harrison and Vrabel? Those guys are good, but simply not in the same class.

How about the 1985 Chicago Bears or the 1989 San Francisco 49ers?

Mike Dikta's '85 team was more dominant on defense, and the '89 Niners were just as unstoppable as these Patriots.

If and when the Patriots complete a perfect season in February, I'll gladly put them ahead of the 1972 Dolphins. But I could do a little more digging and come up with a vintage Packers team or maybe even the 1991 Washington Redskins as teams that will go down in history as being greater than these Spygate-tainted Pats.