Here are Three Big Things (and a few little one) that learned today in the Patriots' 26-10 win over the Falcons:

1) Games are won in the trenches. I said in my prediction that it would come down to the big boys and it did. New England's offensive line hasn't looked that good since pre-Super Bowl 2007 and the D stepped up huge, especially up front and without Vince Wilfork for much of the game. Tom Brady wasn't sacked and was rarely knocked down, allowing him time to take a few chances downfield or dump the ball off to his check-down receiver. As good as Fred Taylor looked -- and he looked awesome -- what was even more impressive was the push that the O-line was getting all game long, something that just wasn't there in the first two weeks. Michael Turner's fumble on a key 2nd quarter drive was really the momentum-changer that put the Pats in control for the rest of the afternoon.

2) The deep ball just isn't there ... yet. Patriots fans will come away from today's game with a smile on their faces, but there is still plenty of work that needs to be done before this team is mentioned in the same breathe as the '07 squad. Despite the late TD pass to Chris Baker, as well as some nice hook-ups with Randy Moss in the drive that closed the 3rd quarter, Brady is still showing a lot of rust. He missed on just about every pass attempt over 20 yards, and if it weren't for the fact that Falcon's safety Thomas DeCoud couldn't catch the swine flu in a Mexican hospital, he would have thrown a pair of horrible interceptions that could have easily cost them the game.

It was very frustrating to see them force the ball to Moss on both 2nd and 3rd down from the Atlanta 4, especially with the way Taylor had been running the ball. I think the best thing for the Patriots to do, and we saw glimpses of it this week, is to go back to what made their offense so successful, before Tom Brady was THE Tom Brady: pretend it's 2001 and throw lots of screens, draws, and dump-offs ... at least until he is back in 2007 form. The three balls that Sammy Morris caught out of the backfield for a total of 46 yards should serve as a prime example.

Also, who was calling the plays today??? Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were too busy making sure their hair didn't move to discuss who was actually coordinating the offense. I saw Belichick with a play sheet at one point and there was no mention of Bill O'Brien, who had the responsibility against the Bills and Jets. If Belichick was calling the plays, it seemed like he was struggling between whether or not to channel his inner-Charlie Weis and treat Brady like a rookie, or his inner-Josh McDaniels and let it fly. It'll be interesting to get more details about this.

3) Atlanta does not have a very good defense. I don't want to play the role of Debbie Downer today, because I am in fact pumped about this win, but let's make sure we don't go overboard. The Falcons didn't produce 10 percent of the pass rush that Rex Ryan and Jets had on Brady last week and Fred Taylor simply ran the ball right down their throats. The 2007 team would have won this game 56-3. I'm dead serious.

Finally, here are more little things that we learned ...

- Brady and Joey Galloway may need to go to couple's therapy. They need to spend some time in the trust tree.

- Michael Turner's legs are considerably stronger than Mike Wright's arms.

- Playing quarterback in the NFL is apprently not just like riding a bike ... but we're getting there.

- Roddy White needs new cleats. He fell down more times without contact than a French soccer player.

- Bill Belichick throws like Johnny Damon.

- Matt Light dominated John Abraham worse than Marlo Stansfield dominated that poor convenience store security guard.

- The guys in the Patriots' end zone who dress up in Revolutionary War attire and fire the muskets could have put on the zebra outfits and done a better job than today's refs. They were ALL OVER that Michael Jenkins' offensive pass interference on Leigh Bodden.

- Somebody forgot to tell Tony Gonzalez that the game was in Foxboro.

That's all I have for now.

Namaste.

--- MIKE STIRITI