The surprising Atlanta Falcons, the not-so-surprising Philadelphia Eagles, and the utterly surprising New York Jets all remained undefeated Sunday. There, however, is still no comparison between these teams and the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots who have not lost a game in nearly a year.

"Call me when they get to 16-0 this season,'' retired Miami Dolphins' head coach Don Shula told someone when asked how New England's streak compared to the 17-0 1972 Dolphins team he led to an undefeated season and a Super Bowl championship.

Technically, Shula's got a point. In baseball you don't get credit for hitting 80 home runs in a season if you hit 40 in the last half and 40 more in the first half of the next. Still, 18-0 is 18-0 and that's what the Patriots will be when they square off against the struggling Dolphins, who have their own streak going. Problem is that it's a defeated one.

Miami has yet to win this season, slipping to 0-4 after being run over by the Jets and Curtis Martin. This came as no real surprise to long time Jets watchers because New York has now won 10 of its last 13 games against Miami.

Like the Patriots, the Dolphins are on a record pace of their own.

Their 0-4 start is their worst since they joined the old AFL in 1966. The Dolphins switched quarterbacks to try and shake things up, putting Jay Fiedler back in ahead of A.J. Feeley. He managed to turn the ball over four times, throwing two interceptions and fumbling twice twice. Thus proving he isn't any more likely to turn this ragtag collection of second and third line players into an offense than Feeley was. In fact, if Dan Marino came back it wouldn't make any difference, even if he came back at age 25. The fact is, these guys just stink.

The Patriots are the polar opposite of the Dolphins, and they claim to not care about the streak.

"We're 3-0,'' safety Rodney Harrision said. "That's what we are.''

At the moment, they're also the best team in the league. Although the Falcons, Eagles, and even the Jets can at least argue the point until further notice.

The Jets have been doing it with an unexpected combination of youth on defense and old man Martin rolling along at running back. Martin said before the season he felt like he could gain 1,500 yards this season and so far he's made that prediction look like he underestimated himself.

As for the Falcons, as long as Michael Vick is back in the saddle and in one piece they are dangerous as the defending NFC champion Panthers found out Sunday. A year ago, Carolina plowed over the Vick-less Falcons, 23-3, but it went the other way Sunday and not simply because Vick did everything. The elusive quarterback merely used his presence to create a threat that seems to keep opposing defenses off balance and off their feed.

When Vick flinched, half the defense ran in the direction of whichever shoulder moved, opening up running lanes for his backs and passing lanes for him when he chose to throw. Coupled with a defense that seems finally to have emerged as the powerhouse many thought it might be a year ago, the Falcons are in flight, and it won't be easy for anyone in the NFC South to catch up to them now.

As for the Eagles, they've been among the elite teams for nearly half a decade but have slipped in the NFC championship game in each of the last three seasons. Wisely concluding that even Donovan McNabb needs reinforcements, they finally brought in a deep threat in Terrell Owens during the offseason and haven't lost since.

On Sunday, they gave the upstart Chicago Bears a beating to increase their record on the road to 27-7 since 2000. Winning on the road is among the most difficult things for a team to do in the NFL, but not for Philadelphia. At least not yet.

You don't, however, have to be undefeated to be a factor. The New York Giants proved this by defeating the staggering Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, improving their record to 3-1.

New York's defense has been producing turnovers at a furious rate, but this time they turned over Brett Favre himself. They left him feeling like Oscar De La Hoya felt two weeks ago after being knocked out by Bernard Hopkins.

Favre was on his knees, then on his back, and finally on the bench after a crushing hit left him wondering why he was hearing an ice cream truck bell behind him. The ringing didn't stop long enough for him to save the 1-3 Packers. The Giants may be mad at Coughlin and his encyclopedic rulebook, but on Sundays they band together and make their opponents pay for whatever grief they had to put up with all week from the cranky coach.

Aside from the team's impressive defense, the resurrection of Kurt Warner now seems to have fully begun. The two-time league MVP hadn't won a game in three years when he was cut by the Rams in June. He then signed with New York to run their offense and mentor rookie Eli Manning until he was ready. If Warner keeps playing the way he has been the last few weeks, getting him out of the huddle may not be as easy as the Giants hoped.

New York piled up over 400 yards in total offense on Sunday. Warner spread his passes around all over the field, and running back Tiki Barber ran up 182 yards on the ground, a performance that has Giants fans babbling about a Jets-Giants Super Bowl. Don't count on that as long as the Patriots are around and Vick or McNabb is healthy.

There's another team that will have to be reckoned with before the year is out too, even though it's no longer undefeated. The Colts upped their record to 3-1 as they held off the startlingly competitive Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also 3-1 and tied with Indianapolis in the AFC South. Where are the Tennessee Titans in all this, you ask?

They were Flat on their backs again after being embarrassed by San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who rushed for 147 yards, dropping Tennessee to 1-3. The Titans are about to learn that there is a limit to how much talent you can let leave in free agency.

The decision to let both defensive end Jevon Kearse and defensive tackle Robaire Smith walk in the offseason seems to have decimated a defense that was once among the best in the league.

Unable to stop the run and with no apparent answers on their roster, Tennessee is facing the growing possibility that it may not be competitive this year in the AFC for the first time in awhile.

Of course, they can argue that Steve McNair, their heart and soul, was unable to play Sunday but even that gives one pause to wonder. McNair has played through one injury after another the past several seasons. On Sunday, however, he felt so bad he couldn't play at all. As things turned out, neither could the Titans.

There is one other undefeated team in the league by the way that also survived the weekend. The Seattle Seahawks began the week 3-0 and will begin next week with the same record, having had their bye on Sunday. More than likely by this time next Sunday somebody will have said bye to their unblemished record, but know this.

It won't be the Patriots.

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 17 games TITANS 16, COLTS 10: Collins leads way after Young hurt BEARS 33, SAINTS 25: Chicago eliminates New Orleans REDSKINS 27, COWBOYS 6: Washington storms into playoffs BROWNS 20, 49ERS 7: Quinn makes debut; Cleveland must hope CHARGERS 30, RAIDERS 17: Rivers, L.T. lead S.D. to 6th straight TEXANS 42, JAGUARS 28: Davis returns 2 kickoffs for touchdowns BENGALS 38, DOLPHINS 25: Tuna era starts badly, Miami ends 1-15 PATRIOTS 38, GIANTS 35: Brady-to-Moss TD vaults team to 16-0 FALCONS 44, SEAHAWKS 41: Atlanta ends terrible year on high note PACKERS 34, LIONS 13: Green Bay rests key players, still rolls EAGLES 17, BILLS 9: Westbrook sets two records in victory BRONCOS 22, VIKINGS 19: Elam's field goal wins it in overtime JETS 13, CHIEFS 10: Nugent's FG in OT wins meaningless game PANTHERS 31, BUCS 23: Carolina sends Testaverde out a winner RAVENS 27, STEELERS 21: Pittsburgh plays it safe, rests stars CARDINALS 48, RAMS 19: Arizona has first winning season in 9 years

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