After being counted out, Pats alive and winning

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It happened quickly and quite casually, a minor tweak, a quick little conversation and adjustment that might've changed the course of a season.

Chris Baker scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter vs. the Falcons. (Getty Images)

Midway through the fourth quarter Bill Belichick and Tom Brady conferred on the sideline during a timeout. Belichick designed a new wrinkle and offered it up to his thrower. "Well," he said to Brady, "what do you think about this?"

Brady liked what he saw and off he went. Knowing the Atlanta Falcons wouldn't be expecting tight end Chris Baker to be a big playmaker for New England, Belichick decided to dramatically alter Baker's route. Instead of Baker running in a more flattened direction towards the sideline, Baker was instead instructed to run a deeper route towards the end zone.

Baker happily obliged to his newfound Randy Moss-ness. The pass from Brady was a perfect spiral and the ad lib worked. Baker scored on a 36-yard play that turned a tenuous 19-10 lead into a comfortable 26-10 one.

That's how the score remained. Thus, just when you try to stick a meat thermometer in the Patriots, they leap out of the frying pan, and instead shove that thermometer up the rear end of their critics.

The death of the Patriots, it turns out, has been greatly exaggerated. They weren't deceased. They were just taking a nap.

The Patriots' obituary was written tenfold this week. The only thing that's received more recent dire forecasts is health care reform. That's the Patriots, though. Just when a priest stands over the body ready to listen to the last confession a pulse emerges and the Patriots sit up straight like a jolt of energy was sent through their system.

To say that this was a must-win isn't an exaggeration. The franchise was reeling after an embarrassing loss to the Jets and there were plenty of questioners asking if Brady and Belichick both had lost their respective touches.

There's no question the Patriots felt the pressure. Several times Brady expressed visible frustration at his teammates and one player explained that at halftime in the locker room Brady was also slightly more fiery than normal.

The Patriots simply aren't used to struggling on offense.

"There [are] a lot of emotions out there and the bottom line is that we are trying to win the game and set up the defense," said Patriots offensive lineman Stephen Neal when asked if Brady was more emotional than normal. "The special teams [try] to set us up so everybody is playing together. When you can't do as well as you would like then people will get frustrated."

"That's why he's great," said running back Fred Taylor of Brady. "If he was the type of guy that didn't demand that type of perfection, we'd just get another guy. But he's Tom Brady and he hasn't won all those championships for nothing. As a player, you get in line, you listen. I'm an older guy but I pay attention. He's the leader, he calls the shots, [you've] got to do what he says. That makes the offense go."

The Patriots responded by whipping a highly talented Falcons team that could easily represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and the game wasn't as close as the score indicates. The Patriots should've won by four touchdowns.

New England's defense was spectacular. Entering the game quarterback Matt Ryan was completing 65 percent of his passes and had five touchdowns. The Patriots held Ryan to zero touchdowns and future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez didn't get his lone catch until early in the fourth quarter.

Everything still isn't perfect with the Patriots. The team salvaged its season but their atrocious red zone issues remain. In the red zone Brady completed only 3 of 10 passes for 10 yards. That's absolutely Cleveland Brown-like.

The red zone is about performing with precision and Tom Brady still isn't Tom Brady. Yet.

"We can't keep kicking field goals," said Brady of the red zone troubles, "I know that. We've got to be better than that. Just figure out what the problems are..."

"I don't want to sit here and B.S. you and search for an answer," said Taylor, who rushed for 105 yards on 21 carries. "But [the answer's] coming."

Just when the Patriots look deader than Julius Caesar, here they come.

No, they're not dead. Not yet.