MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2002 — Now we know how fans of the 1972 Dolphins felt. Now we know what it was like to root for the Dallas Cowboys circa 1993. Now we have a true connection with the followers of the 1985 San Francisco 49ers. Now we know what it is like to pledge your allegiance to a champion.

How long has it been since New Englanders have had a team take the field, court, or ice, knowing that their team was going to win; to have that confidence that there was nothing that the opponent could do to snatch victory from the hometown lads. You’d probably have to go back to the 1986 Celtics, a team that went 48-1 at home and completely dominated the NBA that season. Other than that? Perhaps the three-week-long streak of hardball improbability known as "Morgan Magic" back in July of 1988, or maybe even the 1976 Patriots team done in by referee Ben Dreith’s phantom roughing-the-passer call in the AFC playoffs.

Yet nothing in recent years can compare with what the current New England Patriots are doing to lift the spirits and confidence of their legions of supporters. They are Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. They are Jeff Bridges in Fearless. They are Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2. Even Pee-wee Herman in Big Top Pee-wee.

They are Rocky Balboa looking up at Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, as the Russian taunts, "I must break you," then proceeding to bust up the odds-on favorite.

They are Supermen. Spider-Men. X-men. International Men of Mystery. Men in (eye)Black. Made Men. Maine Men. Men at Work.

Best of all, they’re all ours, and right now they are the most feared team in the NFL.

Are we surprised? No, we’re not surprised, because we experienced the miraculous nine-game run late last season that took New England to the pinnacle of the National Football League. Maybe we’re a little surprised at the total domination that this team is exhibiting, but when you take a Super Bowl champion and then proceed to address the weaknesses and improve the personnel when necessary, then there should be improvement. And therefore what you have is: instead of a 17-16 Meadowlands victory over the Jets (December 2, 2001), you get a 44-7 pummeling; instead of a 24-17 AFC Championship Game win (January 27, 2002), you get a 30-14 thrashing; and instead of being 14-point underdogs against the Rams (Super Bowl XXXVI, February 3, 2002), what do you think the spread would be if those two teams were to meet head-to-head this Sunday? A wee bit different? As Rocky would say, "Absolootely."

A recent edition of ESPN The Magazine had a page which showed a photo of various uniformed Patriots players, all with Rodney Dangerfield heads atop them. That was thematic of the mantra the champs crowed throughout the off-season: "We just won the Super Bowl! How come nobody believes we were really the best team?" Oddsmakers, prognosticators, and particularly fans throughout the 44 states that do not make up New England all pooh-poohed the Patriots’ 2001-2002 run, and instead chalked it up to luck, some kind of freak. They laughed off New England’s late-season run through supposed powerhouses New Orleans, Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis and dismissed it as a fluke.

Well, laugh it up, funnyboy. The back-to-back throttlings of Pittsburgh and the Jets in the recent seven-day period is emblematic of the superiority of this Patriots team right now. They are dismissed no longer, and they are in fact downright admired by the nonbelievers of before. How do you think the Kansas City Chiefs — a team that should have lost to Cleveland in Week One (if not for a helmet-throwing incident) and lost at home Sunday to an awful Jacksonville team — feel about coming into Foxborough on Sunday? Think San Diego’s second-year QB Drew Brees feels a bit of a flu bug coming on as he looks ahead to the Week-Four schedule that has the Pats visiting the Chargers? Ah-choooo!

The Patriots took two of the best teams the NFL schedule-makers had to offer — three, if you include the Redskins, a team that New England manhandled at DC in the final exhibition game — and completely dismantled them. The taunters and doubters from the Steel City and the Big Apple were out in force in the weeks leading up to those respective tilts, but they’ve been forced to shut their yaps and bow down reluctantly before the crowned heads. Flukes indeed.

The sense of invincibility stirring throughout Patriot Nation has been built through various means. In the Gillette Stadium (hereupon referred to as the Razor’s Edge — let’s see if it sticks) opener a week ago, the Patriots took it to the vaunted Steeler linebacking corps, throwing 25 consecutive passes at one point and waiting to see how the Pittsburgh defense would react. It couldn’t, even when QB/wonderboy Tom Brady set up time after time without anyone in the backfield. The Pats’ running game was practically nonexistent, but it didn’t need to be prolific because the offense still revved to the roar of 30 points against the team favored by many to reach the Super Bowl. The Patriots’ defense, meanwhile, gave up only one impressive Steeler scoring drive, and then proceeded to make QB Kordell Stewart’s life miserable the rest of the way until a meaningless TD was scored in the game’s final seconds.

In this past Sunday’s game, the Patriots brought back the running game, which ultimately grounded out 163 yards, and Brady threw for 269 yards, even though conditions were at times monsoonish. Throw in some razzle-dazzle, another particularly strong defensive effort (which gave up just one scoring drive — a lightning-quick, four-play, 69-yard third-quarter march), a complete shutdown of the previously explosive Jets running game (just 32 yards, 14 of which were accumulated on a scramble off a fake punt), two more defensive TDs, and a game plan which spread out the passing game among nine different receivers, and you have the recipe for another New England annihilation.

The Pats coaching staff had just six days to prepare for the Jets, and reportedly head coach Bill Belichick (or, as announcer Dick Enberg referred to him, Belitieri) had the team work on Jets preparations even during the late stages of training camp and prior to the Pittsburgh game. It probably helped in his planning that he had so many ex-Jets on his coaching staff and roster, and that the Patriots, who came into the game as two-point underdogs, shut down aging NY QB Vinny Testaverde to the tune of 150 yards, with nearly all of those passes to his RBs and tight ends. The Jets, who reportedly were motivated to succeed Sunday by a visit to Ground Zero and the donning of their white road jerseys (New York’s road record in recent years has been much better than their log at the Meadowlands), were no match for the visitors from up the coast, and were exposed for the 4-0 preseason frauds that they are.

The offensive line continues to play at a particularly high level for Belichick, as Brady was rarely under pressure from the New York insurgents, and the defense harassed Testaverde into a Tebucky Jones sack and fumble return, and a 90-yard interception return courtesy of Jets cast-off Victor Green. The New England linebackers, safeties, and cover guys blanketed the Jets receiving corps throughout the muck all day long, and forgotten linebacker Ted Johnson did an admirable job in the middle in place of the injured Roman Phifer. All in all, the Jets racked up just 200 total yards on offense, and were just 1-for-12 on third-down conversions, while the Patriots collected 432 overall yards and completed 63 percent of their third downs (10 of 16). Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who will more than likely be offered a head-coaching job before the 2003 season opens, has picked up right where he left off last season, as his superior play-calling and injection of trickery and high jinks into the offensive scheme continue to dazzle and confound the overmatched opponent defenses.

Along with Denver and Miami — two upcoming New England opponents — the Patriots were one of the few NFL teams to offer up a positive Game-Two effort that was consistent with its opener. Meanwhile, the crybaby Rams and Steelers both dropped to 0-2 on Sunday, the 49ers, Packers, and Titans all fell flat after impressive 2002 debuts, and the Jaguars, Cowboys, Cardinals, and Browns rebounded nicely after Week-One debacles. Indeed, there were a lot of Jekyll-and-Hyde performances over the first couple of weeks, but other than Denver, no team faced the level of competition that New England did in its first two games and still managed to emerge with decisive victories.

In other NFL news, Drew Bledsoe and the Buffalo offense continue to generate great numbers, as the Bills rallied to beat the Vikings on the road in overtime to confirm what many already believed: that the AFC East is the toughest division in football. Buffalo has scored 76 points over its first two contests (unfortunately, they’ve also given up 76), and Foxborough’s former favorite son again impressed the western New York faithful, throwing for a franchise-record 463 yards and three TDs, including the game-winner in the extra frame. The Bills will face a stiff test next week, as they head out to meet the unbeaten Broncos in Denver, while the only other unbeaten AFC teams in action next week, Miami and San Diego, will meet the Jets and Cardinals, respectively.

Over in the NFC, the Rams, who already had gone 0-4 in the exhibition season, again stumbled, as the Giants — like the Broncos last week — picked up on the Patriots’ successful Super-Bowl strategy and disrupted the Rams’ receivers right off the line, winning at St. Louis, 26-21. The Giants held Kurt Warner to "only" 266 passing yards, but more important, kept the once-potent offense off the field for the majority of the game, and limited the Rams to just single TDs in each of the second, third, and fourth quarters. The Lambs have no easier task this week, as they head to Tampa Bay and meet Jon Gruden’s new team, the Bucs, who blanked the once-mighty but nevermore Ravens, 25-0. It’s no surprise to see the Bears at 2-0, although they’ve been somewhat lucky to win both, but the only other NFC unbeatens are the Panthers, who were 1-15 a year ago, and the Saints, who quit the second half of last season and traded away their best player during the off-season.

For New England fans, it’s tempting to strut and start talking trash, but that kind of showboating is hardly in line with the team with which they are enamored. With upcoming games against Miami, Green Bay, and Denver on the October horizon, it’s a little early to be talking about undefeated seasons and late-January hotel bookings in San Diego. Nonetheless, it’s a great time — maybe the best time ever — to be a fan of New England professional football. It sure does make for a long wait between games, but for Patriots fans, it’s a feeling like no other. Ever. And as Patriots fans don their Brady or Milloy replica jerseys each Sunday in anticipation of another New England victory, one harkens back to the memorable words of the Kraftmeister, who spoke in terms as true today as they were that February night: "We are all Patriots, and today, the Patriots are Super Bowl champions."

At least for now, it’s almost like being a Yankee fan. Without the attitude ... and the 26 matching trophies.

But New England has one, and counting.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays on BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com