FOXBORO - Look, what you saw on Sunday night was this: A game the Patriots would not have won without a 71-yard kickoff return by an offensive lineman (Gale Sayers Connolly) and a can of corn surefire INT drop by a future Hall of Famer (I'm thinking Charles Woodson might not open up that bed and breakfast in Foxboro when his playing career is over). 

OK, it happens. We've seen enough to know that it ain't always going to be a masterpiece. Every team -- every great team at least -- is going to mix in an ugly win once in a while. Understood. And that's exactly what happened on Sunday. No team wins 45-3 every week. 

So the panic button can sleep safely tonight. But, if we dare take a peek at the big picture following a 31-27 Patriots win over a Green Bay Packers team that frankly deserved a better fate, I think probably one question has to be asked.

Is this defense good enough to win a Super Bowl?

"I'm not going to answer that one," Dane Fletcher said after the game. "First of all I have no idea what it takes to win a Super Bowl. Second, we have to worry about Buffalo."

Before we get into this let's at least be fair: Every time the Patriots defense has really needed to make a play this season they've stepped up. Whether it was the three stops in overtime against the Ravens, the Brandon Spikes tackle of Adrian Peterson at the goal-line, the James Sanders INT of Peyton Manning or the final drive sacks against the Packers this group has made the big play. Without question a trademark of the three title teams and a quality that has been lacking on this team the past few seasons. And that means something.

So we know that they have passed the gritty and gutty check. Swell. But to win a Super Bowl - which at 12-2 is really the only way a team can end a season with any level of satisfaction - there has to be more than just intangibles and the ol' bend but don't break. 

There have been moments in 2010 when you've had to wonder if this is a defense that can win three playoff games. And for a great majority of Sunday night we saw what might be the roadblock between the Pats and the Lombardi Trophy.

Maybe when his career is over Matt Flynn will have thrown for 45,000 yards, win three MVP's and carve a spot next to Montana, Unitas and Brady on Mount Rushmore (a fourth spot that currently belongs to John Elway). But probably he's destined to be, at best, a guy that some team dramatically overpays after one terrific start on national TV (see Johnson, Rob) before embarking on a career as a backup. Those are just the odds. But he looked an awful lot like a Pro Bowl quarterback in his first career start on Sunday night, completing 24-of-37 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns (good for a passer rating of 100.2). He led the Packers on five drives of 10 plays or more and converted 11-of-19 on third down. 

In short, he was Colt McCoy Redux. And raise your hand if the prospect of facing a quarterback in the playoffs who can scramble out of the pocket and make throws (Roethlisberger, Vick, Garrard) doesn't at least give you a little pause right about now. 

And the Patriots sure helped Flynn out when he needed it on Sunday. A buffet of missed tackles, with Gary Guyton, James Sanders, Kyle Arrington (really lousy angle and attempt on the third-quarter John Kuhn TD catch) and Brandon Meriweather heading the list. Dopey penalties were also tucked in the stocking - Vince Wilfork extended a pair of TD drives with flags and Tully Banta-Cain had a hands to the face penalty that wiped out what would have been a game-icing INT from Flynn with just under three minutes left in the game. 

"We have to clean it up," said Rob Ninkovich. "This just wasn't good enough. But we'll watch the tape and learn from it. Bill [Belichick] will have plenty to say, I'm sure."

There were some scary stats on Sunday night. Time of possession? Green Bay 40:48, Patriots 19:12. First downs? Green Bay 26, New England 14. The Packers rushed for 143 yards - this is a team that ranks 24th in the league in rushing yardage. This was a defense dominated by a quarterback making his first career start and a rushing attack ranked in the bottom third in the NFL. 

And if you want to write it off as just one of those games I guess that's OK. But you and I know that if the Patriots sacked Flynn nine times and won 24-0 there would be an endless parade of "the defense keeps getting better and better" phone calls to 'EEI. A plea for consistency, folks.

"There are some things I think we can learn from this game," said Wilfork. "But I am not taking back that we played our tails off. We got off to a slow start but we made plays to get the job done."

Just enough to get the job done against Matt Flynn. No need to pull out the Paul Pierce bows after this one, fellas. There's still a lot of work to do on the way to Lombardi.