In their last six games the Patriots have scored 255 points (more than eight teams in the league have scored this season) and have allowed 111.

There is peaking at the right time and then there is this.

When the Patriots walked off the field in Seattle on October 24 there were, to be kind, questions. This was a 3-3 team with serious defensive issues, an inability to hold late leads and, and for the first time, some whispers that maybe Tom Brady was beginning to resemble a quarterback in his mid-30's. 

Pete Carroll danced, Richard Sherman taunted and the Patriots were just another team.

Think things have changed?

Eight weeks later and the Patriots are once again the Patriots. This is the clear-cut, no-argument best team in football, confirmed with a 42-14 humiliation of the Texans on Monday night, the kind of beating that can somehow invalidate 11-1 in 60 minutes (well, really in about 16 minutes -- when Aaron Hernandez caught the TD to put the Patriots up 21-0 a minute into the second quarter this game was over).

Care to pick some nits? Why not, let's get that out of the way. Stevan Ridley fumbled right at the goal line, Wes Welker had a couple of drops and the Texans were able to get some shots on Brady.

That's it. Even as a glass is half empty guy, I have to surrender to greatness. And that was what we witnessed on Monday night at Gillette. There will be some national (and local) spin that inform us Patriots 42, Texans 14 (and, for once, it really wasn't that close) is more about Matt Schaub, Wade Phillips and Gary Kubiak than it is about Brady, Bill Belichick and this defense. Don't believe it. 

Statement games are a cliche and can have a shelf life of six days but if there was ever one we just watched it. There was a sneaking suspicion that this team was this good, but it was hard to justify without an A-list win on the resume. And the Texans entered Gillette with the best record in football, 11-1 and a roster full of guys having terrific seasons and were promptly bludgeoned for three and a half hours in front of the entire football world.

Maybe the Texans -- still tied for the best record in the NFL at 11-2 -- will still end up with the overall No. 1 in the AFC, but I think they lose one of the two games left against the Colts and finish at 13-3 and in a three-way tie with the Patriots and Broncos, who I think will both win out. That would give the Patriots home-field advantage, but does the prospect of having to go to Houston terrify you? The AFC playoffs may or may not go through Gillette, but we learned Monday that it will absolutely go through the Patriots.

Barring a disastrous performance on Sunday night vs. the 49ers -- which isn't going to happen -- Tom Brady clinched his third MVP on Monday, carving up the Texans for 296 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Since that Seattle loss, Brady has 19 touchdowns, one interception and has completed at least 60 percent of his passes in each of the seven games. I don't know if this is the best seven-game stretch of his very brilliant career, but it's on the shortest of short lists. 

Oh, and the last three games from Brady -- eight TDs, one INT and 857 yards passing -- have been accomplished without Rob Gronkowski, only the most productive tight end in the history of the league.

The offense has been built around Brady (that's why I'm here, folks) and the defense around Vince Wilfork. When Wilfork's candidacy has its day in front the Hall of Fame committee, whoever is making the case could do a lot worse than showing some highlights from Monday. You saw Wilfork's best game in what has maybe been his best season, a destructive presence on the line against Schaub and Foster (just 46 yards). I'm sure he won't win it -- no gaudy numbers makes it a tough sell -- but Wilfork is a legitimate candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. And the rest of the defense was superb -- Jerod Mayo had his best game of the season, Devin McCourty is playing exactly where he should be as Aqib Talib (very good against Andre Johnson before leaving with an injury) and Alfonzo Dennard look an awful lot like a solid duo at cornerback. 

Look, maybe this will be a repeat of exactly two years ago -- a near-perfect Monday night effort against a team that came back to knock the Patriots out of the playoffs. Other than coincidence, though, or a reason to generate page views or phone calls there is nothing to suggest that this will actually happen. The Patriots are trending one way and the Texans (and every other significant AFC team not named the Broncos, and am I the only one who thinks the Patriots are going to face both Manning brothers in the playoffs?) are trending the other way. Give me another team in the NFL playing at this level right now. There isn't one.

For the first time this season, there is no question that the Patriots are the a) the best team in football and b) the obvious favorite to win the Super Bowl. Doesn't mean it will happen, of course, but it's reality on December 11. There will be no moral victories, no lessons in defeat, no wait 'till next years. Patriots 42, Texans 14 means this is a Lombardi Trophy or Bust team, plain and simple. Anything short of that will mean a wasted season for Brady and Belichick. 

Just Another Team to the NFL's Best Team in eight weeks.

Wonder what Richard Sherman has to say about that?