The Patriots Run the Regular Season Table

It was truly a night to remember as a large crowd turned out at Professor Thom's to see if the New England Patriots could indeed run the entire NFL regular season table and defeat the New York Giants.

What they witnessed was simply one of the best nights in NFL history, and one of the best games of the 2007 season.

And the champagne can now stay on ice in Miami. Uncorked.

The Giants gave the Patriots one helluva game at the Meadowlands. All the worry and speculation over whether the Giants should rest their star players was all for nothing as they led for most of the contest, until the Pats came on charging in the fourth quarter to wrestle the game away from them, and make NFL history. (And yes, the game didn't end 23-7, so no worries now about doom being around the corner.)

The 2007 New England Patriots may go down as the greatest team in NFL history. They shattered all kinds of NFL and team records just on Saturday night:

Tom Brady set the record for TDs by a QB in a season (50)

Randy Moss set the record for TD receptions in a season (23)

The Patriots set the NFL record for points in a season (589)

The Patriots set a record for TDs in a season (75)

Wes Welker set the Patriots record for receptions in a season (112)

The Patriots broke their own record for consecutive regular season wins (19)

The Patriots became the first team in NFL history to win all 16 regular season games (since 1978, when the schedule was expanded)

Brady and Moss' records were set on the same pass, a majestic 65-yard bomb that gave the Pats a 31-28 fourth quarter lead, one they would not give up. It was simply a brilliant game, and the Giants did themselves proud by playing the Patriots as tough as they could, even though the game had little meaning for them. Eli Manning looked sharp for the first three quarters, and threw four TD passes. But a fourth quarter interception was his downfall, and the Patriots converted it into their final TD of the night, on a five-yard run by Laurence Maroney. The final score was 38-35.

Many of the Patriots fans hung around Giants Stadium long after the game had ended, very reminiscent of the Red Sox fans who stayed in Yankee Stadium long after the Red Sox vanquished the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. At Thom's there was lots of joy among the Patriot faithful.

But as everyone knows, all those records are great, but the Patriots haven't finished the job yet. They still have three more wins to get to have an undefeated season. Remember, the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears teams also won every regular season game, but both teams are almost forgotten because they both lost the NFL title game. Congratulations to the Patriots and all their fans on a truly memorable season. But there's still three more wins to get before you can truly call 2007 perfect.